BFD: Belated Apologies Make Congress Sound Like The Southern Baptist Convention

The Bigotry Lingers On...And On...And On...

From characterzinging a scarf as "terrorist" to deriding a middle name, America's prejudice population always seems to crop up - or, more definitively, crawl out of the woodwork - when you least expect it. anytime. And as ridiculous as their rants seem, the ideologies behind them will stay and stay and stay.

Michelle Malkin in a rant about Rachel Ray's scarf on a Dunkin' Donuts commercial:
“The keffiyeh, for the clueless, is the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad,” Malkin wrote in her syndicated column. “Popularized by Yasser Arafat and a regular adornment of Muslim terrorists appearing in beheading and hostage-taking videos, the apparel has been mainstreamed by both ignorant and not-so-ignorant fashion designers, celebrities, and left-wing icons.”

Of course, Malkin is insinuating that some of her readers ARE clueless because she makes a point of defining a keffiyeh in a way as only they would understand. Suffer the little children...

Twelve percent of the U.S. public still believe that Barack Obama is a practicing Muslim. He is not. But they will think so until their dying day. "And Hussein is his middle name." They will scream that out loud and post it online, print it on placards and bumper stickers. They will photoshop turbans atop his head, and say that Michelle wears a burka whenever she is at home. Remember the flack about the fist-bump? They'll make it into a secret code of some sort, more ominous and obscure than Da Vinci's mirror writing.


These people have l--o--n--g memories for hate and, unfortunately, not much else. Many of them are the same people who will pick a verse out of the Bible to use as a weapon but can't recite the Ten Commandments in order and without help. Just ask the next "The Bible says..." placard bearer. The most virulent are usually the most clueless when it comes to their own religion.

They are also a VERY long time coming with apologies. It took the Vatican over 400 years to apologize to Galileo, and the Southern Baptists over 150 years to apologize for slavery. And, apparently, there were still some Southern Baptists in Congress who still lingered on that abusive policy, making Congress even slower:

By JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press Writer Tue Jul 29, 7:05 PM ET

WASHINGTON - The House on Tuesday issued an unprecedented apology to black Americans for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow segregation laws.

The resolution, passed by voice vote, was the work of Tennessee Democrat Steve Cohen, the only white lawmaker to represent a majority black district. Cohen faces a formidable black challenger in a primary face-off next week.

Congress has issued apologies before — to Japanese-Americans for their internment during World War II and to native Hawaiians for the overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom in 1893. In 2005, the Senate apologized for failing to pass anti-lynching laws.

Of course, according to people like Malkin, America has nothing to apologize for (I think she's currently trying to rebuild Manzanar internment camp into a resort for Japanese tourists.)

What good are belated apologies? Who cares if a pope cries real tears at Jerusalem's Wailing Wall for 1700 years of anti-Semitism? Is Congress acting nobly or just reiterating the fact that we've still got racists ion this country? They're not only apologizing for the ones we had, they're apologizing for the ones we've still got!

Slavery - forced internment - extreme anti-Semitism - overthrow of sovereign governments. Congress and the Religious Right can apologize now. Will they apologize for other acts of discrimination? I doubt it. At least not within the next 50-100 years.

And when they DO apologize, will there be anyone to accept those apologies?

Just a thought.




The photographer entitled
this photo:
Michelle Malkin's Dream