John Derbyshire
Have you heard about
The Talk: Nonblack Version? John Derbyshire a former National Review writer wrote a piece in response to a number of recent high profile stories by Black parents describing a generic talk many Black people have given their children, especially their boys about how to act to avoid being profiled. Things like don’t walk with your hands in your pocket, what to do if stopped by the police if walking or in a car; basically what to do to stay out of trouble and stay alive. I am not sure my mother had The Talk with me, but the lessons I learned one way or another come to mind at times today giving me pause before I do one thing or another. For example, I do not run out of my neighborhood corner store at night because I don’t want my haste to be misunderstood.
For some reason Derbyshire felt a need to share his version of The Talk from a non-Black perspective. He published his essay The Talk: Nonblack Version on Takimag.com, an online zine that states labels like conservative and liberal are outdated and claims no ideology. This is either true so just about anything well written can go on thier site or they really do have an ideology and a facet of it is racism because Derbyshire’s piece is blatantly racist.
Derbyshire assembled in his essay 15 pieces of advice and direction he has given his two kids now 16 and 19 about Black people. The piece is so racist that it is silly and I found myself laughing and feeling sorry for him. It is so over the top that few Conservatives if any are defending him and the National Review, a bastion of Conservative thought fired him because of the piece.
Please read it for yourself, but here are two examples: Avoid concentrations of blacks not all known to you personally; Do not attend events likely to draw a lot of blacks.
Derbyshire is married to a Chinese citizen and made it point in the essay to inform us that he told his children, “Your own ancestry is mixed north-European and northeast-Asian, but blacks will take you to be white.” He has been
quoted as saying he is, “I am a homophobe, though a mild and tolerant one, and a racist, though an even more mild and tolerant one.” I applaud him for his candor.
When contacted by the
Daily Caller to ask him his take on the controversy Derbyshire said he was surprised by the uproar and thought his advice was common sense. Either he is completely out of touch or an excellent showman. More people know his name today than in his whole career.
I wrote this because I think you need to know what people are writing and just how much racism the Trayvon Martin killing is surfacing. Trayvon’s death is a tragedy, but it is surfacing tensions that need to be uncovered in our society so that we can work on them. And that is a good thing.
