“There’s nothing wrong with ethnic pride, and we don’t all have to eat the same foods or listen to the same music, but we do all need to: (1) speak English, (2) respect other racial and ethnic groups, and, conversely, (3) not ask for special preferences for our own racial or ethnic group. We must also not (4) bear historical grudges, (5) believe that working and studying hard are ‘acting white,’ or (6) have children out of wedlock. On the [sic] hand, we should (7) follow the law, (8) be reasonably polite to one another, and (9) respect women. Finally (10), we should all be patriotic, proud Americans.
“How are we — those of us already here — doing? Well, we are doing pretty well in speaking English, but there is room for improvement in all the other categories.
(…)
“Do rappers, for example, show proper respect for women? Is it a problem that 7 out of 10 African Americans are born out of wedlock (the 1 out of 4 rate for non-Hispanic whites is lamentable, too, I hasten to add)? Are Bill Cosby, John McWhorter, Shelby Steele, Juan Williams, and plenty of other African Americans — across the political spectrum — right that too many African Americans are not following the law and behaving civilly, and not enough are buckling down in school and taking advantage of the opportunities the civil rights movement has opened up for them there and in the workplace? Is the civil rights establishment building social cohesion by pushing reparations and racial preferences?
“And, as for you white folks blogging on the Left, blaming American first, writing fictional diaries at The New Republic, and holding forth (a la Ward Churchill) at our universities: Are you as gleeful and obsessive in your fault-finding as you seem to be, or are you patriotic, proud Americans — and do you periodically remind your audience that you are happy and lucky to be living in the world’s greatest nation ever?
“Just asking.”
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