Transcripts from mediamatters.org:
Quote:
BENNETT: All right, well, I mean, I just don't know. I would not argue for the pro-life position based on this, because you don't know. I mean, it cuts both -- you know, one of the arguments in this book Freakonomics that they make is that the declining crime rate, you know, they deal with this hypothesis, that one of the reasons crime is down is that abortion is up. Well --
CALLER: Well, I don't think that statistic is accurate.
BENNETT: Well, I don't think it is either, I don't think it is either, because first of all, there is just too much that you don't know. But I do know that it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could -- if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down. That would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down. So these far-out, these far-reaching, extensive extrapolations are, I think, tricky.
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The fact that he qualifies his statment - not once, but twice - makes it clear to me that even if he was speaking satirically, he tends to believe it to be true. In fact, he even says it's true.
What I find bothersome is that crime is not exclusive to race. It is more indicative of economic position than race. If Bennett is as educated as I believe he is, then he is also aware of this. His statement was veiled as satire but was very indicative of the way in which people of his ilk think. Tying into the false media reports of the savage blacks in New Orleans after Katrina hit, it is also indicative that we are all too quick to believe that blacks are predisposed to crime simply because they are black. When institutional racsim is discussed, this is the very kind of thinking we are talking about.
To me, this is also representative of many of those on the right who claim that racism no longer exists because of a few appointments to the president's cabinet while being able to make comments like this on the air without even for a moment being aware of the irony. This is the kind of racism that ires me the most. It's a modern version of "some of my best friends are black..."
A caveat: my next comment is not meant to flame, though I'm sure it will, so I'm prepared to edit if necessary.
If you are able to listen to comments such as those made by Bennett and say with all sincerity that it is in no way racist, then you are part of the problem.