Rice: Race Still Issue Because Of U.S. "Birth Defect"

Washington Times:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday that the United States still has trouble dealing with race because of a national "birth defect" that denied black Americans the opportunities given to whites at the country's very founding.

"Black Americans were a founding population," she said. "Africans and Europeans came here and founded this country together -- Europeans by choice and Africans in chains. That's not a very pretty reality of our founding."

As a result, Miss Rice told editors and reporters at The Washington Times, "descendants of slaves did not get much of a head start, and I think you continue to see some of the effects of that."

Read the whole story: Washington Times

Comments

[coolaid]

Interesting comments from someone whom many in the republican party were pushing as a candidate for president. Maybe it's because she was not speaking as a member of the Bush Administration that that her comments actually sounded more genuine. I'm just not sure how too many comments like this would be accepted by the neocon wing of the republican party and talking heads like Limbaugh.

[sansego2000]

With a lot of these post show just how racism is still alive. Everyone is still talkling about the Reverend Wright, but none of you are talking about McCain's ( not one but at least two) that have come out with racial and hateful speech. "If it is white it is alright" - Chris Rock . Come on people Condi is talking about the birth of the nation, not of a person. So far this is about the most intelligent thing that has come out of her mouth.

[djhaza]

Condi got it wrong. It was the American Indian that founded America.

[brooklyncitizen]

Not exactly.
America the country USA was not founded by Indians....they were besides the point and treated as such. THey still are treated poorly and marginalized.

[HumeSkeptic]

What she said is true, of course, but I expect analysis by a Fifth Grader to stop there, not by the U.S. Secretary of State.

[Knowledgeseeker]

I find Mr. Rice Comments very Interesting...
I have never seen Condi RIce on Fox News

[eridees]

I would suggest that people who really want to educate themselves about race in America, go to your local library and check out "Eyes on the Prize." PBS used to show this during Black History Month every year but no longer. If you don't have the time or a library card, just go to youtube and search the title. They have many clips of the program. It is a riveting and unapologetic look at the civil rights movement. I personally think it is a must see not matter what your ethnic background may be. For those of you who just want a glimpse, I'll post a link to one of the many clips.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=mGuGDqlfsf0

[robXdion]

Condi: "Me too! Me too!"

[lee4]

What the hell has this woman ever done except wave?

[Felicty]

The only 'birth defect' I know of is Black or Latino Republicans.

They hate you. They will ALWAYS work against your peoples' best interests.
GET THAT.

Now wake up and get over to the Democratic side where you belong.

[Melkor]

This election has really fuzzied the accepted wisdom about the nature of politics and race in American society. We have Clinton-wing Democrats showing surprising amounts of bigotry and xenophobia (see the 25% of Democrats think Obama is a Muslim story). Meanwhile we have two of the most eloquent statements on the conditions of blacks in America coming from Far Right, Neo Con enabler Condi Rice and Southern white Republican, Mike Huckabee.

Whatever the results of this election I do believe the light that has been shone on what people REALLY think irrespective of party will have wide-reaching, longterm effects of America's political future.

[mawrm]

Brilliant Observation. In many ways, I'm not surprised that folks Condi Rice and Mike Huckabee are making these assessments. In a sense, they have nothing to lose in telling the truth while the Dem party is being forced to face and verify what was an "accepted" truth - the Dem party didn't have racism and that blacks were seen as "equals" in the Dem party. To a degree, this belief is being challenged and being found untrue in some limited quarters but for the most part it seems to be holding. The question is how long will it hold up to continued challenge.

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

Ironically, this statement proves more than ever what a traitor Condi is.

First to her country, now to her race -- BOTH for supporting the Repuke agenda.

[brooklyncitizen]

so should she be a "credit to her race"?

nationalism is dangerous....easy on the traitor accusations. I'd say those that voted for Bush were traitors if by traitor we mean someone who has caused harm.

[SpookyTooth]

never stopped you from buying shoes and more shoes and more shoes... while people in new orleans were drowning and living in filth in the superdome. has she actually gotten anything like a treaty or agreement anywhere in the world since she became sect. of state?

[HuffJob]

and she should know...she works for a birth defect.

[rwe]

Thanks to the likes of Rev Wright it is no longer amazing the racism of the liberal mindset.

[HumeSkeptic]

Reading your comment, your lack of education becomes apparent. No wonder your thinking is so flawed.

[Alessan]

Rev. Wright is a hate monger, you don't solve problems, by cursing God, if the black people in
that church were not aware of the racism in this country, they need to wake up and smell the
roses. Of course Obama tried to pretend he didn't hear the Rev. at the sermons and never
talked about race as a problem in this country during his entire campaign, race in relation
to poverty, only John Edwards did this, he talk the talk and walk the walk and his interest still
lies with 37 million people living below the poverty line in this country. Not a mention from Obama. Obama is part of the elist blacks that have left the poor behind because it doesn't
affect him and it is not a popular issue in the presidential campaign.

[LITU]

Mindsets of fear (racism) are CONSERVATIVE mindsets, not liberal. Amazing how unedumacated you are.

[biglover]

Now the Repuglican attack dogs will have at her. I am sure there go her change for a VP on the McCain ticket..

[loki]

And what about the white , Asian and latin slaves ?? Sure, not as high in numbers, and not nearly as vocal, but they were all slaves. Some worked their way out of slavery, some were freed, many died in slavery. Just as Blacks did. Our racial divide is not a birth defect, but a social defect. If I walk into my one daughters school , ages pre thru 2nd grade, you see kids of all race sitting and laughing, playing and just being as people should be. Then I can walk into my other daughters schools , elementary and high schools, and you will see it mostly divided by race. Kids are not born racially divisive, they are made that way. Most likely by parenting and or peer group influences.

[PhyloSeFiser]

True that. It's not skin color that divides us; it's ideologies. We aren't born with these ideologies. We are taught them, by the people who raise us.

Damn those who teach their little ones to hate someone because of such superficial distinctions. Damn them for steering us away from the aspect of our experience in which we are all intimately interconnected. Damn them for steering us away from the aspect of our experience in which we can start to understand each other.

We need to get back to basics if were going to solve our problems.

[fact finder]

loki; Yup.

[Pecola]

Loki, I don't think she's talking about social relations as much as economic equality. She's saying, you can't keep people in utter ignorance for 370 years, then give them equality and expect that after one generation their level income, number of college graduates, etc. will rival the majority. You also can't expect all the resentment, rage, and frustration to have died off after one generation, either, or for every single person within the majority to have relinquished all traces of belief in white superiority. It's like having twins, keeping one in the basement illiteratte, scrubbing floors, and washing clothes all her life and sending the other to elite private schools, and then on their 17th birthday letting the first one out of the basement and packing her off to college. Guess what? It's going to take time for her to "catch up."

Now yes, you can point out that some people like Condi, Barack, and, heck, me, have managed to buck ignorance pretty well. But so far we are the exception, rather than the rule.

[thankulord13]

Those where called indentured servants and yes they had an opportunity to work their way out of their servitude. But slavery was a whole different ball game, you were a slave for life. For you to say something like what about White, Asian and Latin going through hard times is a minimalization of what Black people had to endure... You just said when comparing your two daughters schools that the younger one's school kids of all races are playing together (which I agree with your assessment) but when you go to your older daughters school they are already divided. My question to you is how does your child fit into the divisivness? Are you teaching her to tear down those walls or is she just being about of the problem? See I tell my son for change to happen it must begin with one person and why can't he be that person?

What we have to learn to do is when making a point we don't minimalize one persons struggle by saying well look what happened to group A and B it was just as bad. That is true but it doesn't take away from the fact that what happened to Black people is still a tragedy and a travesty!

Secretary Rice made some valid points and if we look at any government statistic we will see that after 200 years of slavery and 100 years of Jim Crow laws America cannot change it's psyche in just 40 years.

[GrainOSand]

Your burned finger should not negate my burnt gluteus maximus, I like it.


It is interesting that there is a larger allowance of time allocated for suffering than there is for recovery.

[mawrm]

loki - I think many appreciate the point you're making, but you have to admit there were significant differences between the experiences of indentured whites and Asians and African slaves. The poor whites and Asians who came to this country never faced the level of inhumanity that African slaves faced. They didn't face runaway laws, lynchings, brandings, Jim Crowe Laws, etc. Which is why the social effects over the years of this oppressive environment are far more pronounced in the Afr-Am community than in the white and Asian community.
But back to your point - I think the reason you see such divisions is because people have a tendency to do things "the way they've always been done." They grow up in the same neighborhoods, go to the same schools, repeat the same stories, etc., and so a lot of behavior is adopted from previous generations. I think where we can "change" this is if we do make the growing environments for future generations a much more leveled play field, encourage more exposure to people of different backgrounds and discourage adoption of failed social practices of the past.