Richard M. Nixon, while running for POTUS, delivered a national radio address on April 25th, which was called "Bridges to Human Dignity: A Concept."
This was certainly one of the greatest speeches, in terms of pure rhetorical mastery, that Nixon ever devised.
"Black extremists are guaranteed headlines when they shout "bum" or "get a gun." But much of the black militant talk these days is actually in terms far closer to the doctrines of free enterprise than to those of the welfarist 30's — terms of "pride," "ownership," "private enterprise," "capital," "self-assurance," "self-respect" — the same qualities, the same characteristics, the same ideals, the same methods, that for two centuries have been at the heart of American success, and that America has been exporting to the world. What most of the militants are asking is not separation, but to be included in — not as supplicants, but as owners, as entrepreneurs — to have a share of the wealth and a piece of the action.
And this is precisely what the central target of the new approach ought to be. It ought to be oriented toward more black ownership, for from this can flow the rest — black pride, black jobs, black opportunity and yes, black power, in the best, the constructive sense of that often misapplied term."
Can you believe this was from Richard M. Nixon? Yes, that Nixon.
But rhetoric can be empty, as we all know. And as Hunter S. Thompson said: He'd kill you as a lesson to the others. Badgers don't fight fair, bubba.
Sources:
"Bridges to Human Dignity: A Concept." CBS Radio Network (25 Apr 1968)
"He was a Crook," By Hunter S. Thompson, in The Atlantic (6 Jun 1994)
Nixon official: real reason for the drug war was to criminalize black people and hippies, by German Lopez, Vox (23 Mar 2016)
The New Jim Crow, by Michelle Alexander.
Comments
Post a Comment