THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM

I have never owned a slave. I do not personally know anyone who has ever owned a slave. My history books tell me James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington owned slaves, but I have never owned a slave. I have had black employees and black supervisors, but I have never had a slave of any color or nationality. In fact, had I lived during the slave period in this country, it is far more likely that I would have been a slave than I would have owned one. The reason I am pointing this out is that I feel zero guilt about slavery. I wasn’t there, period.

Because I have no guilt, I do not owe any special considerations, reparations, or, in fact, anything to black people or any other group who feels the need to have special privilege or identity. All legal citizens living in this country have the same opportunity to succeed and to fail. To those among you who would say, but Ron, you have never had to travel through life as a black man. That’s true but, let me tell you of an experience I had with a friend who happened to be black. He was an accomplished sales manager who made a very good living. I asked him if he, with his very important position in life, ever found racial discrimination directed at him. His answer was perfect. He said he found discrimination everywhere he looked for it. That pretty much says it all.

The reason for this essay is that the other day I was in a large store here in the south. The store was the one which was owned by a fellow named Sam from Benton, Arkansas. You know the one. Anyway, in the store was a multitude of black women shopping, many together. Most had several young children running around them. Virtually all of them had a cell phone connected to their ear. In their carts was junk food from soda pop to sugary cereals. So far none of this was my business, right? At the checkout stand, virtually all of them paid for their groceries with the famous EBT card (food stamps). That is when it became all of our business.

This occurred in the middle of the day during a normal work week, so it is easy to assume none of them were employed. Most were stylishly dressed. I didn’t see what sort of car they got into.

What I just described is no mystery to anyone. It happens everywhere, not just here in the south. We have a class of people who are living off the system, period. I would bet you that none of these young women had a husband and most probably don’t even know who the father of their children is. The practice of pumping out babies has become their career. Sadly many of these babies will grow up to be the next generation of criminals and welfare mothers.

The media never talks about this. This has become “The Elephant in the Room.” My question is does the media not know about this problem, or do they know and not think of it as a problem? Is their guilt about perceived past injustices so great that they ignore this serious problem?

One thing is crystal clear, you are paying for these excesses. You are financing these generations of dependents on the system. You are funding the next generation of thugs and criminals growing up in our inner cities. Another thing is also clear. It is not going to change until you see it as a problem and demand it come to an end.

Nobody seems to want to publicly speak about this. They seem to want to ignore it. I say that unless and until the black community chooses to deal with this and change it, their lot in life in this great country will continue to decline. How sad.

Ron Scarbro October 17, 2012