Actual Black Run America

Paul Kersey has coined a useful variant on his term Black Run America (BRA) which I wasn’t aware of until today. Last December he wrote:

BRA doesn’t mean that America is run by Black people; it means America—at every level of society—is run for the benefit of Black people, to the detriment of everyone else.

ABRA means, literally, that Black people control all levels of society in a given geographic area (be it city or county).

In BRA, freedom is denied to, well, everyone who isn’t Black. In ABRA, most white people have completely fled the city or county, leaving behind Black people to tend to running the government, courts, schools, city services, and sustaining an economy.

Examples of ABRA would be Clayton County in Georgia, Prince George’s County in Maryland, Baltimore, Birmingham, Memphis, Newark, and, who can forget, Detroit.

Now as readers know, I love the term Black Run America which so crystallizes the issue of race in this country, and I applaud Mr. Kersey for having coined it. However, I have also made clear that the term is in need of qualification. It is manifestly not true that America, at every level of society, is run for the benefit of black people to the detriment of everyone else. When the U.S. military was homosexualized, was that an example of America being run for the benefit of black people? When the Obama administration issued a fiat saying that all women in America have an unquestionable right to free birth control, was that an example of America being run for the benefit of black people? When the U.S. government allies itself with Islam against the West, is that an example of America being run for the benefit of black people? Mr. Kersey has discovered an important truth, but he overstates it when he claims that it is the whole truth. He needs to beware of the danger of being a single-issue thinker.

In my opinion, a correct definition of Black Run America would be something like the below, though my definition is also in need of further refinement:

America, in every area of society that touches on the interests and desires of black people, or on the concern for black equality and advancement, is run for the benefit of black people, to the detriment of everyone else.

- end of initial entry -

Paul K. writes:

The problem that you point out with the expression, “Black Run America,” is that we also live in “Woman Run America,” “Muslim Run America,” “Illegal Alien Run America,” “Gay Run America,” etc. We really live in Minority Run America, in which the rule is, “In any instance in which the interests of a designated minority conflict with the interests of the majority, the interests of the designated minority shall be held paramount.”

The problem is that that’s not striking the way “Black Run America” is. Whatever its logical flaws, that expression brings the hearer up short, forcing him to examine its underlying truth, and that is its power.

LA replies:

I agree. To make a powerful statement of the essence of the truth of a subject, you sometimes need to simplify and not go into all the details and qualifications that strictly logical and correct exposition would require. Each type of utterance—let’s call them the prophetic and the scientific—has its place.

June 19

Thor Christopher writes:

I too enjoy Mr. Kersey’s acronyms. Another one he uses, DWL (disingenuous white liberal), is also very good.

Your conversation on the definition of BRA (Black Run America), immediately brought to mind this story you may or may not have covered at the time:

Black actor Isaiah Washington, from the highly popular television series Grey’s Anatomy, essentially had his career destroyed in 2006 for using the word “faggot” on the set of the hit show. While rehearsing for the television series, Washington got into a heated argument with coworker and straight actor Patrick Dempsey. Washington used the word “faggot” (meaning “punk”) while arguing that he was being disrespected over some issue. During the argument, homosexual actor T.R. Knight, on the set at the time, overheard the word and took offense. The media firestorm that resulted from this event was astounding. Consider that the word was not directed at a homosexual (nor at anyone for that matter). It was simply spoken within Knight’s hearing range, and Washington was subsequently fired for the offense (he apologized but later repeated the word in an interview). As you might expect, Washington is very unhappy about the turn his career took because of this incident. See this and this.

Interestingly, the show’s creator and executive producer is a black woman, Shonda Rhimes. She was the one who, personally (over the phone) fired Isaiah Washington. That must be a tough conflict with which to wrestle for many black Americans: a black actor on a very popular, high profile television series fired by one of the rare, highly successful black producers in television.

Unless Rhimes took this task upon herself (doubtful), someone above her in the chain of command (or perhaps outside forces that she saw as too powerful and career damaging to resist) wanted to send a message by firing Isaiah Washington for the crime of “homophobia.” The fact that Washington was black (a protected class) would usually present quite a problem for the left. However, the fact that Rhimes was black provided excellent cover, so she was forced by someone (or several people) to do their dirty political work. With little concern then for political backlash from black Americans, the left was able to send a message, loudly and clearly, that the homosexual agenda trumped the black agenda.

I can’t recall having ever seen another such highly publicized situation in which another minority won a contested situation versus a homosexual, resulting in the homosexual losing his job or something equivalent.

P.S. I just did a search and see that VFR previously discussed this incident.

LA replies:

There’s no question that Homosexual Run America trumps Black Run America.

Leonard D. writes:

I never liked “Black Run America” much. What we live is not even “Minority Run America”; it is “Progressive Run America.” Or perhaps “Actually Progressive Run America”—the two phrases are the same; the people who are actually running things are still mostly white men, although of course white women have some power, and there is even a sprinkling of powerful minorities among the ruling caste. And they are running things most particularly for themselves, and their 1.2 college-educated children, although of course they do have their client groups, who get pittances of the pelf in return for votes.

I do agree with you that the phrase Black Run America is striking, and the immediate rejection it inspires in the progressively-raised (such as myself) can help a person crystallize what he thinks about Progressive Run America. And it does have the advantage of the “Run” in there, with its sense of “the run of the place,” which is not something you want dysfunctional violent people to have for any place.

Still, to indict blacks is to miss the key aspect of the thing. Blacks are not responsible for the mess of modern America; whites are. Even in “ABRA,” where blacks are proximately responsible for the degradation, it was and still is whites who have allowed it to happen. After a reactionary restoration, most state and Federal “aid” would be withdrawn from cities, leading to their rapid bankruptcy and thus political takeover by responsible adults.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at June 18, 2012 05:24 PM | Send