Iraq war shows up divide between white and black in US

Sydney Morning Herald ^ | 4-7-03 | staff

[dennisw]

Idiots! Thankfully many Blacks serve proudly and many love America.

[Teacher317]

"I've heard black people say, 'This is not our war.' If you look at this as an American, then this is your war."

I didn't expect any decent comments in this article. Nice.

[cicero's_son]

What a depressing article.

This president has done more to reach out to blacks than any Republican since Lincoln, yet some still consider him "more of a threat" than Saddam Hussein?

[alancarp]

Idiot. That's roughly the same percentage as Democratic voter opposition/support of the war. To attribute this to race is tantamout to looking for a fight.

[Charles Henrickson]

Many blacks see wrongs in the conflict that white Americans often cannot discern, African American scholars and analysts say.

Now try reversing the sentence: "Many whites see what's right in the conflict, which black Americans often cannot discern."

For one thing, many black people say their history makes them especially sensitive to the spectacle of a dominant entity asserting its will over a weaker minority.

Like Saddam gassing the Kurds?

[TominPA]

What a pack of crap. Special consideration just because of who I am and where I come from? Baloney. Earn it just like everyone else in this world. As for the black soldiers, rest assured that 99.99999% of them are competent, skilled warriors that will do their duty as any other soldier.

[clintonh8r]

Blacks are not anti-war. They're anti-Bush, and using the war as cover for their abject hatred.

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

...Though they are 12 per cent of the general population, blacks make up 21 per cent of the US military...

But only 5% of the front line combat troops.

[EggsAckley]

This garbage reads like something sophomoric published in some undergrad college rag.

[ClearCase_guy]

For one thing, many black people say their history makes them especially sensitive to the spectacle of a dominant entity asserting its will over a weaker minority.

Again with the misuse of the word "minority". Asians are about 5% of the US population -- but they are not a minority. Women are 51% of the US population -- but they are a minority. Now, entire foreign countries are "weaker minorities". Ummm, were the Confederate States of America an oppressed minority? Who decides these things?

Then, too, the US policy of pre-emption - attacking Iraq without provocation - smacks of a kind of harassment with which many blacks say they are all too familiar.

Yeah, this whole War on Terrorism is a lot like being arrested for Driving While Black. Uh huh.

[Gil4]

Black America is hardly a monolith...

When 90 - 95% vote the same way, I'd say that is pretty monolithic.

[RKV]

1) "Black America is hardly a monolith": unfortunately this is not true. Black Americans vote RAT by overwhelming majority.
2)"If you look at this as an American, then this is your war.": indeed, the problem is that many American blacks view themselves as black first, then American. Visit Africa for yourself, and then revisit this assumption.
3) "He's against affirmative action.": not true. I only wish he were. Affirmative racism is what many blacks actually want - they want advantage based on skin color. This is immoral - as immoral as disadvantage based on skin color.
4) "We have war going on in our schools.": true. White liberal unionized teachers want black youth trapped in failing government schools. The war isn't only in schools - its on our streets. Black on black crime is epidemic, and only blacks can change their cultural and family structures which contribute so much to this problem.

[Darnright]

"For one thing, many black people say their history makes them especially sensitive to the spectacle of a dominant entity asserting its will over a weaker minority."

Oh, really? Then why are they supporting a dictator, who for years has oppressed and killed more than one minority group in his country?

Thank goodness for the countless fine black service members and their families. This article and the people of which it speaks slap every one of these great Americans square in the face.

[clintonh8r]

Reputable polls (there was one on one of yesterday's gabfests) have shown a very deep racial division on the war.

[Kenton]

"Bush is more of an immediate threat to me," says Quintel Harcum, a 21-year-old philosophy student at Lincoln University, one of America's oldest black universities, tucked into southern Chester County, Pennsylvania. "He's against affirmative action."

How exactly does affirmative action work at black universities? Does that mean a white guy can get a break?

[Servant of the Nine]

"Bush is more of an immediate threat to me," says Quintel Harcum, a 21-year-old philosophy student at Lincoln University, one of America's oldest black universities, tucked into southern Chester County, Pennsylvania. "He's against affirmative action."

What's wrong Quintel?
Can't make it on your own?

So9

[Redbob]

Let's see: 29% of blacks support the war, but only maybe 2% of blacks voted for Bush?

Sounds to me like Dubya is doing a GREAT job of improving his image in the Afro community!

[Pukka Puck]

"As for the black soldiers, rest assured that 99.99999% of them are competent, skilled warriors that will do their duty as any other soldier."

Then we have the black dude who rolled grenades into the commanders' tents.

[KellyAdmirer]

For those blacks who do not want to support their country in times of war, the solution is simple: do not join the military. Problem solved. There is no more conscription, it is all volunteer, if they do not want to go to war, they do not have to.

I hope someone does a statistical analysis of Coalition soldiers killed and wounded in the fighting after this is all over, then we'll see who is "over-represented." I doubt it will support arguments of discrimination against minorities.