Villages Don’t Raise Children, Families Do

 
Bill Keezer is home from the hospital. And like any dedicatedcompulsive blogger, he put up a post a few days ago from his hospital bed. It’s a good one, too. He features Elbert Lewis, Jr. — a retired engineer, an ex-Marine who served in Vietnam, an artist, and a science fiction writer. All these experiences and talents give Mr. Ellis the scope to address his issue in the Cincinnati Enquirer. And his issue is the asinine treatment by the blowhards in the black community re the execution of “Tookie” Williams.

In the conflicted and strait-jacketed journalistic world, it is Mr. Lewis’ black heritage which allows him to speak, though no doubt he is roundly criticized for daring to state the facts behind the mess this putative “village” makes:

	If it takes a Village to raise a child, what happens when the Village fails?
	When the Village fails, the execution of Stanley "Tookie" Williams is not used to send a resounding message to our black youth that this is where you end up when you fail to educate yourself, follow the law and conduct yourself as a productive citizen.
	Instead, members of the Village, from the Rev. Jesse Jackson to callers to the local urban radio talk shows, idolized a murderer who organized a street gang that still terrorizes many urban communities and is responsible for hundreds if not thousands of deaths, rampant drug dealing and other criminal activities. They portrayed Williams as a victim of a racist system, and some even vowed to give him a funeral worthy of a statesman. How asinine.

As you can see, Mr. Lewis and I agree on the Tookie Williams situation: “asinine.” Well, actually I stole the descriptive from him, but I’m giving him credit here. The whole, stupid mess is asinine.

Last month on Baldilocks’ blog, a white student from the College of William and Mary got on the comments and railed against those who took exception to the (at the time) coming execution of Williams. His comment was so ignorant, so lacking in syntax or sense, I was embarrassed for the College. It is, after all, the alma mater of several generations of the Baron’s family, including his Boy, who is currently a junior. To get the full flavor, here’s Jeremy’s comment:

how come you all seem to be picking on tookie. about his impending execution when no one that has posted anything on this page was not in the court room when his trial took place you didn't here the evidence. so dont comment about it. As for his impending execution I hope Gov. Arnold gives him clemency because even if tookie did those murders. I believe and so do thousands around the world believe that stanley ‘tookie’ williams has done more good then bad. It is possible that he commited those murders and killed four people. But he has saved thousands check that millions from making those same mistakes that he made and probable has saved many lives in the process. Oh and another thing people talking about killing tookie because he may be a murderer. How about we kill the actual murderers like charles manson and stop protecting him behind laws. Oh yeah he's white.

from a 19 year old white william and mary student

Putting aside the fact that this child’s utterances demonstrate that he obviously doesn’t belong in college, let us use them to make Mr. Lewis’ point about the failed “village” metaphor:

	When the Village fails, an atmosphere of “anti-academic excellence” prevails where only the strongest black students overcome the peer pressure not to excel. As a result, more young black men go to prison than to college. Fifty percent of the current generation is allowed to drop out before finishing high school, the boot camp of life, thereby relegating themselves to the lowest rung of the employment ladder.
	When the Village fails, black families do not produce enough police officers and firemen to protect their community; enough teachers, doctors, engineers and other professionals to serve their needs or enough entrepreneurs to maintain a viable economic base.
	When the Village fails, an anti-white attitude predominates to the point where fratricide is preferable to assisting in effective law enforcement administered by the white majority. Young black kids are forced to join gangs out of self-preservation, and the elderly huddle in fear of home invasion and dare not venture out after dark.

But, as Jeremy proves, when the village metaphor fails in real life, it can still grab the fantasy of marginal people and rabble rousers. What on God’s green earth is there to admire about a killer? The metaphor is simply a way to get the spotlight, to defraud the very people it is supposed to help, and to intimidate those people, black (Bill Cosby) or white (Arnold Schwarzenegger) who refuse to follow the Pied Piper of the mandarins in academia and the MSM.

Recently, when Arnold’s home town in Austria took him to task for the execution of a cold-blooded murderer, he upped the ante and closed the conversation:

	In a letter that began “Dear Mister Mayor,” Schwarzenegger said he decided to spare the Graz city council “further concern” should he be forced to make other clemency decisions while he’s governor. Another inmate is scheduled to be executed in California Jan. 17.
	“In all likelihood, during my term as governor, I will have to make similar and equally difficult decisions,” Schwarzenegger said in the letter. “To spare the responsible politicians of the city of Graz further concern, I withdraw from them as of this day the right to use my name in association with the Liebenauer Stadium.”
	[…]
	Schwarzenegger also said he would no longer permit the use of his name ‘to advertise or promote the city of Graz in any way’ and would return the city’s ‘ring of honor.’

Arnold and Mr. Lewis and Bill Cosby are putting the lie to that asinine idea of some mythical village raising our children. Scratch that canard and peel back the painted layer and all you’ve got is collectivism under another name.

I dare Hillary to mention it in her primary speeches. Bring it on, Madam.