Veritas Editor responds to KC Star columnist
ONE OF THE “BOURGEOIS” STEPS FORWARD…BUT WILL IT SAVE HIM?
Where else but the ultra liberal Kansas City Star would one expect to see one of the University of Missouri’s progressive faculty members step forward to accept his “public shaming”.
Steve Kraske owns that distinction. The Mizzou journalism instructor, caught up in his liberal fervor and perhaps a little fearful for his long-term future on the school’s faculty, took to the pages of the Star last Friday to proclaim that he had undergone a “racial epiphany”.
Steve Kraske: MU racial crisis brings a personal revelation
The challenge of trying to understand the oppressive nature of racism takes time — and events like the one at MU this week
In the aftermath of incidents around the nation involving blacks and police (he includes of course, “Ferguson” and Baltimore), the recent events at MU, and a Facebook post, did Mr. Kraske realize he “had had his head in the sand”, but now, his eyes are opening.
The Star’s former political columnist disclosed that, as a former Star police reporter, he had been aware of lots of racist stuff occurring over the years in the Kansas City area. But now the scales have fallen from his eyes and the truth has been revealed!
Thus, Mr. Kraske steeled himself to reveal to Star readers his anguish over his insensitivity to the many “kinds of actions which have caused so much “anger and hurt” MU students have felt “growing up black” in Kansas City.
And, to underscore the injustice of all this, he bravely confesses that he is a “white- privileged 50- something”**.
To some, this might seem to be just more groveling and pandering on the part of a liberal college faculty member. America has seen a lot of this on campuses all over the country.
But I believe it is a chilling symbol of something more ominous. Something of which Mr. Kraske and many of his fellow academics have thought little about.
I see this as a product of what could be called Barack Obama’s “Cultural Revolution”. (Breitbart relates the “shaming” now underway on campuses: http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2015/11/08/only-conservatives-can-save-the-american-campus-but-should-we/)
In 1966, China’s Mao Zedong launched an effort which would fundamentally transform his nation. It was called the “Cultural Revolution” and historians see it as motivated by Mao’s need to rid the Chinese Communist Party of his opponents after the horrific and tragic failure of his policies, including the disastrous “Great Leap Forward”.
Knowing that other party leaders were possibly planning to marginalize him, Mao appealed directly to his supporters among the people to join him in his “cultural revolution”. He announced his intention to “rid the nation of the so-called ‘Four Olds‘- old customs, old culture, old habits, and old ideas” *. (Sound familiar? (MAY, 2008, MICHELLE OBAMA: “Barack knows that we are going to have to make sacrifices; we are going to have to change our conversation; we’re going to have to change our traditions, our history; we’re going to have to move into a different place as a nation.”)
And who answered Mao Zedong’s call?
Students, some as young as 14, but mostly college. They called themselves “Red Guards”. Later they were joined by workers and soldiers.
“The Red Guards publicly humiliated teachers, monks, former landowners or anyone else suspected of being “counter-revolutionary.” Those suspected were publicly humiliated, sometimes by being paraded through the streets of their town with mocking placards hung around their necks, forced to publicly “confess” their sins against the ‘revolution’. In time, the public shaming grew increasingly violent.
“Sadly, the damage done by the Red Guards, which was really carried out purely for political gain by Mao Zedong, can never be completely undone. Ancient texts, sculpture, rituals, paintings, and so much more was lost. Those who knew about such things were silenced or killed. In a very real way, the Red Guards attacked and defaced the ancient culture of China.”
Thousands of people were killed outright, and many more committed suicide as a result of their ordeal. The final death toll is not known.
*http://asianhistory.about.com/od/glossaryps/g/Who-Were-Chinas-Red-Guards.htm :
Now we see Mr. Kraske, whom we suggest stands before his journalism class as a greatly diminished figure. He has admitted his insensitivity toward the trials and tribulations of the Kansas City black community and his indifference to the oppression that MU students of color, past and present, have endured. His heartfelt “confession” strongly suggests that whatever goals he has met or the job status he enjoys, has been won, not by hard work or competence, but by undeserved “white privilege”. And, sadly, he leads a class divided by students who enjoy the same “privilege” which put him there and students he has essentially affirmed as victims.
So what has Mr. Kraske gained by his voluntary public shaming? Probably little more than the targets of a long ago “cultural revolution” gained.
DLH
*(One of the “1950’s” demands was that the university’s former president hold a press conference and read a “letter of apology”, and “acknowledge his white male privilege” and that “systems of oppression exist” at MU!.)
Note: This is not to suggest a direct comparison between Mao ZeDong and Barack Obama nor between the Red Guards and the Black Lives Matter movement or Hitler’s “Brown Shirts”. Comparisons should not be made between two dictators or would be dictators for they can be misleading and may easily lead to miscalculations regarding individual leaders. Times, cultures, economic and political structures…no two are ever the same. Comparisons, however in my opinion, can be made between tactics, strategies, objectives. Desired outcomes can be compared and I submit that Barack Obama’s governing methods, expressed objectives, and tactical actions differ little from those of some of the worst despots of the 20th century. But, of course, I could be wrong. I hope so.
