Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

COLUMN: Racist, white commentators take talking points from Klan
By Alicia Mcghee
Iowa State Daily (Iowa State U.)
05/23/2006

(U-WIRE) AMES, Iowa — Lately, there has been an outcry for increased procreation to salvage the longevity of the "white power structure," or as some acknowledge it to be, white privilege or supremacy.

For years now, the Ku Klux Klan and Aryan Nation have been preaching the same message that media talk show hosts are now echoing: Whites must remain in power or America will lose its cultural identity.

Upon hearing the results of a recently released population study that stated half of the children under age 5 were "minorities," Fox News host John Gibson alerted whites to create more babies. Namely, the new majority would be Latin Americans, but this is not news to anyone.

Gibson's attempt at political correctness was his defense that "civilizations need population to survive" and "so far, we are doing our part here in America, but Hispanics can't carry the whole load."

Not too long after, fellow Fox News host Bill O'Reilly asserted that "the browning of America" is upon us because of the problems with immigration. O'Reilly claims that "there is a movement in this country to wipe out 'white privilege.'"

Well, it's about time. But it isn't that simple. Although the uprooting of "white privilege" would certainly provide for better solutions when it comes to race relations in this country, it's so deeply rooted that a change in the population won't necessarily guarantee freedom from racism and discrimination.

A perfect example of this is that there is a niche for white racists in our news organizations to have cable network soapboxes and spread messages of ethnic hate and inferiority.

To indicate that whites must have more babies for civilization to survive implies that unless whites are in power, there would be no civilization.

This concept sounds reminiscent of the days of Columbus, so-called discoverer of the Americas, and the slave-owning "founding fathers" scripting contradictory words in our Declaration of Independence and Constitution. The idea that the only way this nation will survive is by having enough whites to hold the reigns of political power causes much of the divisive problems we have in our society.

Perhaps if another population were the majority, these things would be handled differently - although there is always the possibility that power would be abused just the same for racial gain.

Just imagine the country led by a Latino majority. We would likely have a dual language structure to make the United States more welcoming to international travelers and enhance the education of our youth.

Perhaps our leadership would have a much better worldview as members of the once underdogged population the Latino community endures.

Perhaps the citizens and residents of this country won't feel the need to lose their ethnic identity for the sake of inclusion and national pride, but rather, be encouraged to maintain their cultural identities. Besides, what is so great about blending to be the same? This nation is distinct for being a nation of immigrants.

To be honest, it couldn't hurt the United States to gain a new worldview and be led by the less-privileged non-whites in this country. Then we wouldn't have to listen to the racist ranting of talk show hosts such as O'Reilly, Gibson and CNN's Glenn Beck.

At the very least, we wouldn't have to hear it without outlets for rebuttals. Until then, I will volunteer to host the anti-white-supremacy-and-other-racist-initiatives show - you know, for the sake of balance.

- Alicia McGhee is a 2006 graduate of journalism and mass communication. She currently resides in Ames

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