Cornel West: The End of Reagan Era Politics

States rights is codeword for racism? Wtf?!?! That is retarded, I hate Ronald Reagan, but states rights is codeword for racism? That is stupid.

he's not referring all states rights as racism, but the "states rights" of that time in the south.

at that time a lot of people in the government at a state level were trying to maintain many of the laws that today would be deemed very racist, and in order to keep those laws they would do would use "states rights" to try and push their agenda

The same could be said about the federal government. It wasn't the government that changed the laws, it was the people. There are still many racist laws today, but the federal government upholds them.

@JonnieDarko69 why is it stupid?

States rights refers to the states having more governing power than the federal government. Tell me how that translates into racism. I know the racist history of the US, but I do not see how transferring more power to the states is gonna bring back jim crowe.

well, it's actually true. If you think about it, what was the first state's rights issue? integration. The South didn't like that the federal government was enforcing civil rights legislation, so they decried the loss of "state's rights." Why else do you think the idea is most popular amongst southern whites?

You can find instances where anyone would want a state to decide an issue, but opposition to integration was how "states rights" got a southern connotation, and thus a racist connotation.

Years ago people like the Rev. Jesse Jackson protested when the blue-eye devils where in power in South Africa. Well, the blue-eye devil is no longer in power in South Africa and things are worse. Where is the protest?

I know that America is not a perfect democracy but show me an African country thats better.

Well you got a point, but not just black people think america is evil. I know white people and people with all nationality that think the same way about america. Should they leave. Matter of fact, there has been alot of white people that have left to either canada or europe for those same reasons. Watch Sicko, everybody on there is white. I dont think jeremiah wright thinks america is evil though. I think he thinks politicians are corrupt. and they are. Watch CNN's "Follow The Money" segment.

numerical25, I think that perhaps you may have misunderstood my original point. Im not suggesting that African Americans should be forced to leave the US. Im not suggesting that African Americans should leave the US. My point is this.. people like the Rev. Jeremiah Wright think America is so evil then why wont he leave?