What Kind of Idiot?

Randall Robinson reported at The Huffington Post two days ago that African American survivors of the hurricane were eating the dead to survive...after only four days. Apparantly even a racist old Republican me has a higher opinion of my black brethren than Robinson because I never would have believed it for a second. For God's sake, it took soccer players crashed into the Andes weeks before they were willing to even entertain those lengths to survive, and they weren't even white!

In fact, one must ask if Robinson is a racist himself to have such a low opinion of his own people. Somehow it made sense to him that black Americans could last only a few days without creature comforts such as food, before they were willing to go cannibal.

Robinson uses the cannibalism rumor as an excuse to launch into a blistering attack on his country for it's blatant racism, as if the hurricane was steered to a black region by the Bush administration and the federal government was relieved then because no action was needed. After all, it was only black people.

Of course, the cannibalism rumor turned out to be blatantly false, which Robinson acknowledges now. But he also stands by the angry and ridiculous remarks that resulted from his idiotic belief that the rumors were true.

My hand shakes with anger as I write. I, the formerly un-jaundiced human rights advocate, have finally come to see my country for what it really is. A monstrous fraud.

But what can I do but write about how I feel. How millions, black like me, must feel at this, the lowest moment in my country's story.

I would bet that millions of blacks in this country are horribly embarrassed today. Embarrassed by Mr. Robinson's willingness to believe that his countrymen would start eating human flesh after four days. It is a low point indeed. Not for our country, which appears to be doing everything it can in a massive disaster, but for Mr. Robinson's career and credibility with the very people who he can no longer claim to think very highly of.