December 05, 2006
Apartheid?
Yesterday's P-I editorial alleging a "hateful, comprehensive U.S. apartheid system" was so over-the-top that it deserves more comment.
One member of the P-I editorial board, associate publisher Kenneth Bunting, happens to be African-American. In his role at the P-I, he is one the most influential corporate executives in this state. He has been elected to the national leadership of various professional organizations. He resides in a $1.2 million home in predominately white Magnolia.
The rhetoric of "apartheid" seems at odds with Bunting's stature and success. Of course black Americans of his generation faced legally-enforced race-based obstacles in decades past. But in what ways does he believe his personal experience in 21st century America resembles "apartheid"?
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at December 05, 2006
11:33 AM | Email This
1. "Biblical, Algonquin and other spiritual traditions speak of delivery from inequities after many generations. We trust legal remedies for segregation can end sooner."
The Bible is just part of another "spiritual tradition" and the law is going to save us all. Right.
2. I want good schools in all quadrants of the city so that children can obtain positions of power. I suggest that you direct the question to him. In my opinion, many communities have not been served by their leaders. In the Black community, Sharpton and Jackson have microphones shoved in their face and tons of ink is wasted writing about them. Address questions to the editor and see what he says.
3. If Bunting is so concerned about underprivileged blacks, I wonder how he is using his own vast personal wealth to help them??
Probably not much.
And the P-I and Bunting's chronic victimization of Black's only fuels hate & jealousy.
Apartheid??
My ass!
4. The same reason Je$$e Jack$son is still spouting off all the time - there's money in being a race baiting extortionist.
5. Wait a second. Why is Bunting's personal experience relevant? The editorial, although abominable, didn't imply that any P-I editor had experienced apartheid. It talked about the vestiges of legal segregation in this country--which I'm sure Stefan would have to concede continues to affect, at the very least, residential patterns and, from that, de facto school "segregation".
6. DJ -- Bunting's personal experience is relevant in this instance. By definition, apartheid ignores one's personal qualities and uses race as the deciding factor for one's eligibility for an entire range of rights and privileges.
If what we have is a "comprehensive apartheid system", then by definition, every black person would experience it. Bunting shares authorship for that line, so I think it's informative to learn more about his current experiences that led him to write that.
7. Marxists need classes to segregate the haves from the have-nots. When the have-nots become the haves, Marxists change the class goal-posts to make them have-nots again. And note that the one class that Marxists never question is the elite class of top Marxists. For them it's "do as we say, not as we do" and that's where Bunting falls.
In short, the message to all minorities from serious, honest and non-racist Americans is: Don't listen to the race baiters like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and Kenneth Bunting. Instead, believe in yourself, work hard, maintain a good lifestyle with positive values, and you will be a success. If you let the race baiters define you by your color, your culture, your socioeconomic status or any other collective criterion, then you no longer belong to yourself, but instead to a victim class and you are already defeated.
8. Seattle roads are chocked every morning and evening with yellow buses dragging kids all over town -- THERE IS NO ENFORCED SEGREGATION in Seattle schools and never has been -- after 35 years of this G-D liberal crap the biggest problem the Seattle schools have is finding enough white kids to spread around --
9. That's a pretty heavy burden to put on Bunting just because the brother's black, Stefan.
10. DJ, is Bunting your brother? Or do you use that as a racial term? I've never read here where you refer to non-black males as "brothers." Does Bunting want to be referred to as "a brother?" Is Bunting a brother because he is of color, and therefore an automatic adherent to your ideology, as in "brothers in arms?"
11. Bunting is just another example of a limo liberal hypocrite. He is in the same league at Senator Kennedy, who at this very moment is supporting the protestors outside the SCOTUS building. I don't recall the Kennedy clan sending many of their kids to the local public schools.
DJ--the editorial was the one playing the race card, not Stefan, so if the editorial board wants to play this game they shouldn't be surprised when people call them on the carpet. If things are really as bad as the editorial implies, then these accusations need to be backed up with solid evidence. Apartheid did not just happen in the schools; it was across the board. To me the editorial was a case of people using words they don't understand.
If Bunting would really like to do a great public service for the community, he could use his position to publish regular stories about people who have succeeded inspite of the odds. He could also extoll the virtues of hard work, personal responsibility, and the importance of education. Mr. Bunting did not get his position without a lot of effort on his part.
Looks like it's time for the PI to become the PU. "Post Upchuck" would be a more accurate description of what they print.
13. There's actually a point to be made on this subject, but the PI failed to make it. The way drug laws are inequally enforced across races is most certainly a form of apartheid as we now have numbers of African-Americans in prison (many for victimless drug crimes, while actual violent criminals are on the streets) that dwarf the amount incarcerated in South Africa under apartheid.
Focusing primarily on economics is a mistake. The root of America's racial divide lies in the justice system.
14. I'll assume your questions were serious, Jeff B. The word brother is sometimes used to mean "black male", and that's precisely what I intended it to mean. Because, you know, Mr. Bunting is just that: a black male. Which, if I understand Stefan correctly, means that he has no credibility discussing the legacy of segregation in this country unless he's personally experienced it.
Make no mistake: the P-I editorial was retarded. (And by that, Jeff B., I mean that it was dumb.) But Stefan's criticism makes no sense whatsoever, and I hope I've made clear why that's so.
15. DJ, I was okay for awhile. Now, I feel like the AFLAC duck after listening to Yogi Berra.
16. when Bunting hosts a Tent City in HIS backyard
(where, also as a victim, i can't afford to live near) i'll believe him.
walk the talk. dish out meals at a shelter. personally bankroll a private school for minority kids. go to Africa and drop some of YOUR $$ and help vaccinate your heritage-descendants. another whiny rich guy.
17. The King county Journal has never made such a ridiculous statement as this. That's why I'm taking it instead of this excuse for a newspaper, and why you'd have to PAY ME to take the PI. (and then it would go straight into the recycyled wastepaper can)
18. I LOVE THIS! Apartheid in schools? REALLY? Is that what black liberals think? If anyone is driving towards any form of apartheid, it's coming FROM the black community who are choosing to isolate themselves by rejecting inclusion in activities they deem "too white". Even someone as untouchable as Oprah is now being accused of being "a middle aged white woman" by some black celebrity named "Five Cent" or some such name. So being a multi-billionaire now makes you "too white"? I don't see Fifty Cent giving all his money away because it makes him "too white". Or is that different? What's the cutoff, $10 million, $20 million?
Now I see a black ex-professor is calling for the extermination of all white people. Now there's some Apartheid for you! All blacks alive, all whites dead. Well, at least we now know what that would look like. So would he want Oprah exterminated too?
19. Maybe I'm too young to remember much active bigotry, imo it's mostly history. I'm tired of hearing about it, sick of the counting, weary of the whining...some of these people need to get over themselves. In 2006 racism is about money and power for a few leaders.