Star Parker

Yesterday, Star Parker was on my campus to give a presentation sponsored by one of the conservative groups. For those who don’t know, Star Parker is a conservative black social critic.

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a problem with someone having a different view than me. I do have a problem with someone creating an image that is a huge false generalization.

In her talk about poverty and welfare, this woman destroyed the black family. She basically said that black people are lazy, irresponsible, and lack the Christianity they need to make good decisions, and that is why they are poor and on welfare. She engorged the negative stereotype of the black single mother, of black people in general, and her mostly white audience ate it up with smiles from ear to ear. During the entirety of her speech, she spoke of nothing but welfare and how it is the demise of the black family and gives us a sense of entitlement that we don’t have to work. She believes that black people oftentimes believe “the lie of the left”, and believe that they are poor because rich people are rich so they remain poor. Not until prompted did she even mention that millions of whites and Latinos also use welfare, but she quickly managed to bring that point right back to blacks.

She contradicted herself so many times. She continuously called for the country to return to the constitution and follow the guidelines that it states, but then she’d use God and scripture to support her points. Hello?! Have you ever heard of the separation of church and state?! She talked about wanting black people to have freedom and that education should be an open forum, but she wouldn’t allow anyone who protested her presentation (I was a participant) to ask her any questions. If you want me to be free, does that not include freedom to protest? She must have missed the section in the bill of rights that gives us freedom of speech and the right to assemble. If education is an open forum, why won’t you hear my side of the argument? She insulted the protesters saying that we were just mad because some people make more money than us. -___-

Anyone who did ask her a question that disagreed with her, she didn’t truly answer. She danced around questions like a politician.

And I honestly don’t know how a BLACK woman can truly deny that racism and slavery has any impact on society today.

This entire evening angered me. I woke up this morning still heated from that event. And the woman had a couple of good points, but they were buried so deeply within the crap that I couldn’t take her seriously.

I wonder if there will ever be a time in my lifetime when people don’t just see my people as a lazy, pathetic race, but unfortunately, I highly doubt it.