Clutch Magazine: Ugh. Like, Don't Listen to This Derbyshire Guy, Mmkay?
This Monday for Clutch Magazine I went on one of my infamous long rants which can be summed up thusly as "Ugh, why is ANYONE taking this guy seriously." This time I'm addressing a cadre of internet commenters on Clutch who felt columnist John Derbyshire's racist rant was somehow written to "shed light" on the realities of black people, clearly ignoring that he was on some typical Bell Curve crap and doesn't give a flying fig about black people or our general safety. That's just some special mental jujitsu to read something obviously racist and to try and find something "truth-telling" and "positive" in it. Just because he quoted a kernel of true things about black-on-black crime, doesn't mean that he didn't twist them to fit his warped view of society.
This is one of those times where, even though he talked about black people, my dear black people, he did not write this for you.
From Clutch:
Derbyshire starts off with some “respect those who respect you” pseudo rational babble, then devolves into some unfoundable figure of how “five percent of blacks are hostile to whites.” He then further goes down the rabbit hole that every black person is one step from whipping out a match and shouting “Burn, baby, burn”.
Fine. Nothing new here to see. It’s your typical Bell Curve argument that it’s science that black people have “issues.”
What’s disturbing is when black people buy into that logic. Case in point, a debate broke out over whether or not black people should internalize Derbsyhire’s message in this comment thread as some kind of bold truth-telling, largely ignoring the fact that he doesn’t make any real distinction between genders or types of black people. Just that because, according to him five percent of us are nuts, so you should probably avoid the other 95 percent.
Based on that logic, you – as a black person – shouldn’t attend your historically black sorority boule. You shouldn’t go to anything related to the Congressional Black Caucus. Even if it’s a party the president is hosting. You also probably shouldn’t go to church (or any black church for that matter). Don’t attend a historically black college or university. Don’t join any kind of organization from the NAACP to the Urban League to Jack & Jill. Don’t go to a Beyonce concert. Don’t go to a Juneteenth barbecue. Don’t go to the UniverSoul circus or your own family reunions. Don’t visit Washington, D.C., Atlanta or pretty much any large urban center. Don’t visit large parts of the rural South.
You know? Because those places are full of black people. Move to Idaho.
I mean, I get playing "Devil's Adovacte," but I'm not interested in playing "Devil's Advocate" on something that's popular on Stormfront. Context matters, people.
Read the full post at Clutch Magazine Online here.
Danielle Belton | 4 Comments | Share Article | Email Article | Print Article | tagged Clutch Magazine, John Derbyshire, race, racism, stereotypes, the snob 
Reader Comments (4)
he's an idiot and completely out of touch he doesnt even have the creativity to be a racist at best he simply doesnt even get out the house. he is living on an island. SoccerBalls much!
Unfortunately, Derbyshire was speaking the truth. Not the truth about black people, but the sad truth about how many closet bigots feel but would never have say openly. Every black person has that friend that tells them about some disgusting warning they were given by their parents or a relative. I was the first black person my first college roommate had EVER met. Many of the things expressed by Derbyshire were told to my roommate growing up. Fortunately I was able to convince him otherwise but what if I were the “stereotypical black guy”? That bigotry would have been passed on to the next generation.
I know that interaction in the Fall of 2000 changed his entire view on my race. But many people like Derbyshire, and my roommate, never have that experience and the bigotry lives on. They become writers, judges, congressman, executives, waitresses, loan officers, tv producers, movie directors, etc.
^ What he said. I also was torn between laughing or barfing when I got to the part about making sure that if you manage to come across any IWSB (Intelligent Well-Socialized Blacks) that you make friends with them because if (or rather, when) someone accuses you of racism you can point to having a black friend as a defense. How many examples of that have we seen from the right?
my wife asked me to attend her sorority boule with our newborn son. i said it wouldn't be a good idea. not because i think i'd get robbed. THEN hazed. or is it hazed than robbed? or is it simultaneously? either way, i'd get in trouble because i'd be looking at her sorors and i might get smacked.
but yea, this was some foolishness.