Good For Business

Business has not been especially peppy in the grievance industry past few months. We have a half black president; a majority of Americans see race as incidental; a majority of blacks no doubt care for their family and community just as much as the next guy, sick of the constant reminders of a racism that they themselves rarely encounter. These conditions are not good for business for Jackson, Sharpton, H.L. "Skip" Gates and the rest who depend on racial conflict for a living. So, if it no longer comes naturally, they will manufacture it. This explains the recent accusation of racial profiling in Cambridge.

Most of us endeavor to stay alive. Post 9/11 the left flew into a tantrum when Muslims were questioned before boarding an airplane. But passengers and crew knew that although all Muslims were not terrorists, all terrorists were indeed Muslims. Naturally the precaution. The chatterers would see the wisdom of this if they were on the wrong plane.

Similarly, it is well known that blacks commit violent crimes in numbers far in excess of their presence in the population. Because of that, and human nature, law enforcement may sometimes error to the side of caution. After all, even Jesse Jackson said that if a black man’s behind him on a dark street, he’s nervous. Yet in the Cambridge situation, the arresting officer (as we all know now) had an exemplary reputation of dealing with the black community. All evidence indicates he acted property. Still, he was accused of profiling by the professor.

Instead, as most Americans realize, the only party guilty of racial profiling was Gates. And the situation was custom made for his industry. Without conflict he would have to transfer; maybe the literature department would fit. But then Gates once compared the lyrics of the rap group 2 Live Crew to the playwright Shakespear. "It’s like Shakespear’s ‘My love is like a red, red rose,’" he noted. Oops. That line was written by the Scottish poet Robbie Burns, about 200 years after Shakespear. Oh well. That won’t work. But then, with Obama's help, he won't need a transfer.

Robert Craven