BILL BENNETT AND THE FANTASY OF A WORLD WITHOUT BLACK PEOPLE

From The Black Commentator. "Comedian Richard Pryor posed a question about how and whether America saw black people in its future. He noted that futuristic science fiction films rarely if ever had black characters. Was this absence a creative oversight or were we being given a hint?" ... Read more: Freedom Rider: Bill Bennett's Fantasy.

From The Nation. "What's most striking about this little flap is not the lunacy of Bennett's remark, recycled as it was from an old theory advanced years ago by Freakonomics author Steven Levitt. Nor is it the speed of the response from the White House, which has been on permanent damage control since Katrina struck. Bennett's take on race as a key determinant of criminal behavior is so unsettling because it reveals in such stark terms the conservative conflation of poverty and race in America and exposes the racist fears that underlie our criminal justice policy." ... Read more: Bill Bennett's Abortion Fantasies.

From Salon. " Black babies come into the world burdened with the prejudice that they will become criminals, probably violent criminals, and that it would be better for America if their lives were cut short. His words give no thought to what it might cost America to lose these black babies -- to what leadership, what innovation, what artistry might be forgone. Every black mother must take note of the fact that this view is still extant; their children are considered by some to be a drag on the bright, boundless promise of America. To some, there is no upside in sustaining or investing in their lives." ... Read more: Are babies not equally innocent?