Yes I Can.
In an episode of Gutfeld! last month, a black guest made a controversial statement about a policy issue involving blacks and whites—I can’t remember what—and his statement was one that many conservatives might want to make. Then he looked at the white host, Greg Gutfeld, grinned, and said, “You can’t say that; I can.”
I’ve heard that kind of statement a lot in the last few years and it’s typically about issues where white people and Asians are the victims—things like affirmative action, federal grants that discriminate in favor of black people, and so on.
The statement is profoundly mistaken. If a statement is true, anyone should be able to say it. It might have more rhetorical force coming from a black person, but that’s a different issue. (Even if the statement is false, freedom of speech means that anyone should be able to say it. On that, although I’ll defend someone’s right to make a false statement, I won’t defend a statement that I know to be false.)
In the 1950s and early 1960s, black people were badly hurt by state governments’ segregation policies. They were clearly the victims, whether the policies were about who got to vote, whether municipal bus and streetcar companies were required to segregate by race, etc. When I was a kid, Martin Luther King, Jr. was one of my heroes for fighting against laws requiring segregation or against officials in the South who wouldn’t allow black American citizens to vote. Would it have been even more rhetorically effective if white leaders argued strenuously against these policies? Maybe. But any white leader who did so and then said, on a talk show, to MLK Jr., “You can’t say that; I can” would be wrong.
It’s symmetric.
READER COMMENTS
vince
Apr 5 2023 at 12:34pm
The statement itself is racist.
David Boaz
Apr 5 2023 at 1:20pm
If only libertarians had spoken up against segregation.
David Henderson
Apr 5 2023 at 5:26pm
Yes, that would have been great. At least Ayn Rand did speak out strongly against racism, although I don’t know if she ever spoke out against segregation. It would be weird to oppose racism but support segregation.
Of course you could argue that Rand objected to being a libertarian; but she pretty much was.
Rebes
Apr 5 2023 at 11:04pm
What about the N-word, which some comedians and singers use in every other sentence while for the rest it’s considered the most unacceptable word in the English language?
I would like symmetry to be created by nobody using it.
David Henderson
Apr 6 2023 at 11:56am
I would too.
Donald V.T. Bear
Apr 6 2023 at 12:33am
Yes, I can, and I did. About 15 years ago at a reunion of my high school class I became engaged in conversation with a few of my black classmates. (Background: the high school is a very high quality, non-district college preparatory school with grades 6-12 requiring 3 years of Latin and 5 years of math. Acceptance requires passage of a substantial written exam. It is located in a large city with a substantial black population. In the late 1940’s, when I attended, very few black students were present in the student body, and they were viewed as outside the main stream socially. E.g., swimming classes, which were required of all students, were strictly segregated. Racial discrimination was just below the surface in all activities except academic performance and competitive sports.) Somehow the issue of the school’s admission policies came up, and it was proposed that since it is a public school, its student body should reflect the composition of the city’s population. Of course Affirmative Action was an immediate segue in the discussion. To the surprise of my black classmates – and to some whites who came to listen in – I asserted any attempt to affirmatively use any criterion other than performance on the entrance exam for admission had to be racist. The entire discussion, though vigorous, proceeded without rancor; I was not excommunicated and was welcomed back to subsequent reunions.
David Henderson
Apr 6 2023 at 11:56am
Great story, Donald. Thanks for sharing.
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