Craig Bodeker responds to James Taranto of The Wall Street Journal

James Taranto

October 28th 2009

In an October 26th article defending Dr. Carol Swain’s support for my documentary film, A Conversation About Race, Mr. Taranto remarked, “…Mr Bodeker makes a compelling case…” And that he, “…sees the film’s value in illuminating the subject of race in America.” The case I made was that the term, racist has no real definition, and that it is used too often today to intimidate whites.

Mr. Taranto then called me a racist.

His evidence of my racism? The exact same anonymously sourced, third party “quotes” that the SPLC used to determine I was a racist, in their vicious attack on Dr. Swain.

Just how does one defend himself against anonymous, third party attacks? It’s not easy to defend surgically selected bits of three dimensional conversations in the two dimensional confines of a newspaper or a quick soundbite. Those “quotes” would indeed be highly inappropriate in a newspaper or on the TV, but they weren’t made on either of those 20th century forums.

They were made on the Internet, on discussion boards and, virtually every one of the terrible “quotes” attributed to me was said either rhetorically, in irony, or sarcasm. (Does anyone seriously call blacks monkeys today?) But why is it racist to call President Obama a monkey, but not President Bush? Might that be another of the disconnects the film illustrates? Real communication suffers if we continue to view all Internet content through 20th century, broadcast TV filters.

For nearly a decade, last-century media companies, including The Wall Street Journal, have been working to turn the Internet into another form of television. Want to watch a video? Here’s a commercial first….. Thankfully, their efforts have been largely unsuccessful. If the dinosaur-media had their way, the Internet, the last remaining arena of free speech on the planet, would become just another passive-viewing tool, used for keeping up with the likes of Keith Olbermann and Al Sharpton.

At one point in the film I corrected an African-American man who complained that my forefathers came to America and, “…did their dirty deed.” (No family members of mine have ever owned slaves or killed Indians.) Mr. Taranto says this somehow contradicts another part of the film in which I demonstrate that most people today feel that it’s OK to blame whites for historical wrongdoing, yet simply horrible to credit whites for any positive achievements. Finding contradiction there seems like quite a stretch to me.

Mr. Taranto appeared livid when addressing the film’s segment concerning interracial-rapes. The film uses a Justice Department statistic showing that in 2005 there were over 37,000 black-on-white rapes or sexual assaults in America, versus less than 10 white-on-black rapes or sexual assaults. He gets so wrapped up in the semantics of what does or does not constitute a hate-crime that he cannot see the larger issue here; the rampant rape and assault of white women by black men today. Whether you define rape as a hate-crime or a love-crime becomes less important when you consider the numbers; 37,000 to 10. Eldridge Cleaver told it like it is. Just how can a normal person be expected to be concerned about the rare and ill-defined racism of whites toward blacks, yet at the same time be oblivious to the more common, and clearly defined criminality of blacks toward whites?

It’s discomforting questions like this that the film addresses. We can continue to ignore them, as our legacy-media have done for decades in their increasingly biased treatment of whites, or we can choose to include them in the conversation. My choice is evident.

Mr. Taranto appears to confirm that A Conversation About Race does succeed in pointing out that the term, racism has become an ellusive “shut-up word” for whites. He also seems to acknowledge the legitimacy of my demonstration of the many disconnects we all experience when closely examining the sensitive subject of race. In fact, it appears that his only real problem with the film, is his own personal dislike for me.

I can accept that. I knew when I decided to produce the film, that mocking the racism industry was a sure way to make enemies in the 20th century media.

Craig Bodeker
A Conversation About Race.

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Craig Bodeker responds to James Taranto of The Wall Street Journal
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