Notes From D.R. | Random Thoughts on the Passing Scene

About a month from now, we’ll mark the ignoble 10th anniversary of the O.J. Simpson acquittal. The images from that deviant day are still disquieting: O. J. smirking as the jurors in the above entitled action declared him not guilty, Johnnie Cochran’s self-gratified smile as he stood next to him, the malevolent celebrations of African-Americans in streets all across the country.

We were told at the time that the African-American reaction to the acquittal was a sign of how deep the racial chasm went in this country; how blacks and whites lived in two separate worlds; how the experience of bias distorted perceptions of the criminal justice system.

We were told a royal lie.

Black jubilation over O.J.’s acquittal did not stem from racism but from racial paranoia—the drumbeat pounded into African-American heads by “progressive” writers, charlatan ministers, and hate-poisoned “civil rights leaders” that every institution in America was engaged in a grand conspiracy to sabotage people of color, and that every time a black person “defeats” one of those institutions, it was time to rejoice.

The enthusiastic response to the O. J. verdict was far from the only manifestation of this malady that occurred during the fall of 1995. Indeed, we will also mark the tenth anniversary of several events demonstrating the hold racial paranoia had—and, unfortunately, still has—on this country:

· The attack on Dinesh D’Souza’s seminal book The End of Racism: Principles for a Multiracial Society, an analysis of both black progress since the mid-1960s and the subtle ways in which such progress had been undercut by the guilty white practitioners of what D’Souza called “liberal antiracism.” His criticisms of race-based affirmative action programs and self-serving, self-appointed race activists—not to mention his bold declaration that white racism “no longer has the power to thwart blacks or any other group in achieving their economic, political, and social aspirations”—led Time Magazine columnist Jack E. White to smear the work as a “bigot’s handbook,” a work of “small-minded zealotry” filled with “obscene ideas” and written by someone attempting to seek “a sort of honorary status as a white man.” (It also led black conservative Glenn C. Loury—apparently weary of fifteen years of “self-hater”/”Uncle Tom” slurs hurled by the liberal antiracists—to use the book as a rationale to wash his hands of the Right.)

· The Million, er, Four Hundred Thousand Man March, an October 16 event commissioned by notorious anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan. The ostensible purpose of the Washington, D.C. gathering was to encourage black men to take responsibility for their lives and communities—something that conservatives had been encouraging for years, though their messages were not laced with deranged attempts to blame whites in general and Jews in particular for the plight of the “hood.” Celebrities such as Dick Gregory, Isaac Hayes and Stevie Wonder disgraced themselves by appearing at the event, during which the Nation of Islam leader delivered an interminable speech built around his peculiar fascination with the number 19.

· Colin Powell’s November 8 decision not to run for the US Presidency, a decision said to be influenced by his wife, Alma. Despite his outstanding popularity, Powell decided to stay in his corner rather than fight a historic battle. Despite his insistence that a bid for the White House was “a calling I do not yet hear,” one could not avoid the sense that he did hear the call, but that his wife slammed down the receiver before he could answer it—out of her fears for Powell’s safety. One can, of course, argue that her concerns for her husband’s well-being at the time were not unreasonable—but one can also argue that a country that admired Powell so was also a country that would not want to see him come to harm, and that by advising him not to run, Powell’s wife simultaneously deprived the country of a fitting conclusion to a great American success story and guaranteed the re-election of Bill Clinton, the depths of whose malignant behavior would be fully revealed in the second term.

Has racial paranoia been alleviated during the course of the past decade? Before saying “yes,” one must temper optimism with realism. While O.J. may not be as lionized as he was ten years ago, victimhood-peddling demagogues like Al Sharpton are still warmly embraced, and Farrakhan—still with unearned media cachet—is now planning an October sequel to the Million Man March known as the Millions More Movement. Those who write dissenting opinions from the civil-rights majority (such as Michelle Malkin) are still subjected to vituperative rhetorical assaults. Conservative Alan Keyes and liberal Carol Moseley-Braun have both made bids for the Presidency, but neither campaign gathered enough steam to even stimulate whispers about what would happen if they had a legitimate chance at a nomination.

Racial paranoia damaged the psyche of this country ten years ago. We should never forget the cheering throngs who celebrated O. J.’ s appalling acquittal, the failed attempt to distort the work of a courageous dissident, the misguided minions who showed up on the National Mall to hear words from the heart of a hater, the deep disappointment felt when Colin Powell allowed fear to defeat ambition. We’ve had a decade to heal from the wounds caused by these events—but it may be a bit too soon to declare ourselves fully recovered.