Bigotry, racism, John Wayne
I was presented with the following John Wayne quote, we’ll preface it by saying the person who presented it states it shows John Wayne wasn’t being racist.
…regarding the current civil rights of African Americans:
” I believe in white supremacy until blacks are educated to a point of responsibility. I don’t believe in giving authority and … See Morepositions of leadership and judgment to irresponsible people…. The academic community has developed certain tests that determine whether the blacks are sufficiently equipped scholastically…. I don’t feel guilty about the fact that five or ten generations ago these people were slaves. Now I’m not condoning slavery. It’s just a fact of life, like the kid who gets infantile paralysis and can’t play football like the rest of us. “
I contend that to NOT be a racist statement he would have had to say it had nothing to do with people being black, but that he would support removing rights for anyone uneducated or ignorant. He didn’t. He stated that black people were irresponsible and had to be educated to be responsible before being given rights. He singled out one race, and one race alone. It doesn’t matter if the question was about blacks rights – he answered it by saying blacks (and by leaving out every other race) blacks alone, were irresponsible.
I furthermore contend that plenty of white people, educated people, and even rich people are irresponsible. I don’t see him stating we should give them limited rights.
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