Come Again?

So this guy named John Derbyshire writes a column purporting to be a "non-black" version of "the talk," in reaction to chatter about the warnings that African-American parents give their children about how to deal with (white) authority figures without being arrested, beaten up and/or shot. Given that one of the most lasting legacies of racism in the United States is the continuing expectation of racism, it's likely going to be a long time before things like "the talk" ever go away, and the self-fulfilling prophecies generated by both sides are likely just as much an issue as actual racism.

Not having read the actual piece, my knowledge of it is secondhand, gleaned from the teapot tempest stirred up by yet another random racist screed.

Today, someone asked me if I was offended by Derbyshire's column.

"Why should I be offended?" I responded. "This man, if I understand him correctly, is telling you to raise your children to be sniveling cowards in the face of a group they outnumber four-to-one, out of the idea that we're stronger, more cunning, and better organized that you people can ever hope to be; and that as a group made up of intellectual, effete wimps, your only hope of saving yourselves is to keep your heads down and don't make eye contact.

"Why are you so sure it was us he was badmouthing?"