THE GUARDIAN: A leading US conservative magazine, the National Review, has fired a prominent contributor over an online column advising his children to protect themselves by avoiding African Americans, to closely scrutinise black politicians and to accept that white people are more intelligent. John Derbyshire wrote the offending article, The Talk: Nonblack Version, as a response to widespread debate over “the talk” that many African American parents give their teenage sons about racism in America following the shooting of Trayvon Martin in Florida. Derbyshire’s column appeared in another publication, Taki’s Magazine, run by the rightwing Greek socialite Taki Theodoracopulos, who has himself faced accusations of racism. Although the National Review had no editorial responsibility for Derbyshire’s article, it said he was so closely associated with the magazine that his “outlandish, nasty and indefensible” writing was in effect a letter of resignation. MORE
THINK PROGRESS: Popular conservative columnist and National Review writer John Derbyshire topped all of his previous racist screeds (and sexist rants) today by posting a long breakdown of all of the important lessons he has taught his children about race — and he’s outdone his own racism with this one.
Derbyshire wrote the column in the second person, as a list of lessons to his kids about race. The lessons are his response to “the talk” that black parents have with their children — conversations they are forced to have because of real, persistent racism. After spending a few minutes bemoaning that he can’t say a racist slur (“What you must call ‘the ‘N’ word’ is used freely among blacks but is taboo to nonblacks”) and opining on the hostility he believes all black people feel toward white people like himself (though he says he isn’t white before calling himself white several times), he cuts to the heart of his lessons for his children:
(10a) Avoid concentrations of blacks not all known to you personally.
(10b) Stay out of heavily black neighborhoods.
(10c) If planning a trip to a beach or amusement park at some date, find out whether it is likely to be swamped with blacks on that date (neglect of that one got me the closest I have ever gotten to death by gunshot).
(10d) Do not attend events likely to draw a lot of blacks.
(10e) If you are at some public event at which the number of blacks suddenly swells, leave as quickly as possible.
(10f) Do not settle in a district or municipality run by black politicians.
(10g) Before voting for a black politician, scrutinize his/her character much more carefully than you would a white.
(10h) Do not act the Good Samaritan to blacks in apparent distress, e.g., on the highway.
(10i) If accosted by a strange black in the street, smile and say something polite but keep moving.
(11) The mean intelligence of blacks is much lower than for whites. The least intelligent ten percent of whites have IQs below 81; forty percent of blacks have IQs that low. Only one black in six is more intelligent than the average white; five whites out of six are more intelligent than the average black. These differences show in every test of general cognitive ability that anyone, of any race or nationality, has yet been able to devise. They are reflected in countless everyday situations. “Life is an IQ test.”
While they are not included in the quote above, Derbyshire peppers the post with links to news stories of crimes, a few random videos, and his own columns. The only “fact” included in the entire piece (and just a small image, at that) is from the offensive book The Bell Curve. Every other hateful, racist claim is based on a one-off story or his own foregone conclusions. MORE
JOHN DERBYSHIRE: The reason I hang out with paleocons is that on a lot of topics they speak more honestly than “respectable” conservatives can, and I find that very refreshing. Don’t get me wrong: there are good reasons for the self-imposed restraints that “respectable” conservative journalists like me accept–mainly, that we would be crucified byt the liberal media establishment if we broached those limits, and have to give up opinionating and go find some boring office job somewhere. (This is probably going to happen to me sooner or later, actually. I am not very careful about what I say, having grown up in the era before Political Correctness, and never having internalized the necessary restraints. I am a homophobe, though a mild and tolerant one, and a racist, though an even more mild and tolerant one, and those things are going to be illegal pretty soon, the way we are going. Of course, people will still be that way in their hearts, but they will be afraid to admit it, and will be punished if they do admit it. It is already illegal in Britain to express public disapproval of homosexuality–there have been several prosecutions. It will be the same here in 5-10 years, and I shall be out of a job. Fortunately I have marketable skills.) It’s nice to know that there are people braver than we are, though. Kind of like watching the U.S. Marines in action. MORE
RELATED: My one appearance on the silver screen was as a villain getting thrashed by the late Bruce Lee in a low-grade 1970s gung-fu flick. The movie is on the Internet Movie Database here. I am identified (if you expand the cast list) as “Thug (uncredited).” […] I was in a single fight scene, which I have cut down here to two brief clips on YouTube. The scene is at just over one hour into the movie: the first clip at 1:00:27 on the Universe Laser & Video DVD (which is titled The Way of the Dragon), the second at 1:01:30. The scene takes place in the den of a crime boss who is trying to take control of a restaurant owned by Nora Miao. Nora has summoned Bruce from China — I think they are supposed to be cousins — to help her deal with the criminals. In Clip One I am sitting around with some other uncredited thugs playing cards when Lee comes calling. In Clip Two Lee deals with us. That’s me in the striped T-shirt & all the hair (this was my hippie-oriental phase). It was fun working with Lee, who was a really nice guy. Among the foreign devils in this movie, the only genuine actor is Chuck Norris, and I think he’s a bit ashamed of it now. The rest of us were just bums, willing to do anything for a day’s work — including, as you see in Clip Two, hurling each other backwards over the furniture. I nearly broke my neck. MORE