John Hinderaker:
Walz refers to “generations of systemic racism that have plagued our state.” Can he possibly be serious? What on Earth is he talking about? As recently as 1980, Minnesota’s population was barely 1 percent African-American. Since then the black population has grown somewhat, mostly as a result of lavish welfare benefits and the state’s welcoming attitude toward tens or hundreds of thousands of Somali refugees. What, exactly, did the generations of systemic racism consist of?
Presumably systemic racism has been manifested in the state’s public institutions. Tim Walz has been governor since 2019. Is he presiding over a systemically racist state government? If so, he should resign. Democrat Mark Dayton was governor for eight years preceding Walz. Is he a racist? Was his administration systemically racist? Come on, Tim, let’s name names.
Most African-Americans live in Minnesota’s cities. Is the administration of the City of Minneapolis systemically racist? Should Democrat Mayor Jacob Frey resign? There is not a single Republican on the Minneapolis City Council. Are the current Council members racists? Should they all resign?
Moreover, Minneapolis has not had a Republican Mayor since 1973, and the memory of man (or Google, anyway) does not record when Republicans last controlled the Minneapolis City Council. So the generations of racists in power in Minneapolis have all been Democrats. Maybe Tim Walz should switch parties.
In fact, Walz’s claim that Minnesota has been “plagued” by “generations of systemic racism” is ludicrous. I assume he doesn’t actually believe it, but rather is using “systemic” in the usual sense of non-existent. When it comes to race, Democratic politicians have taken leave of their senses. That is manifested, too, in the current paeans to George Floyd.
# posted by Ranger @ 3:46 PM
