Playing the Race Card in Chicago

From our Chicago correspondent:

Saw your recent entries about the commission on making sure that minorities get sentenced only in relation to the proportion of the population they represent -- oops, I mean the commission on “justice.” Anyway, I was tempted to email and say “you’ll never convince them of anything” but I was sure you already knew that much. But a few items in the paper recently have been on this subject. Chicago recently opened a military high school sponsored by the Air Force, I believe.

Apparently Chicago is now the only school district in the USA with four military high schools, one representing each branch. And of course, on the day it opened someone was in the paper saying that these high schools “targeted minorities.” Now if you have a high school in the city of Chicago, I simply don’t see how it could not have a significant minority representation-plus what would they say if whites were a majority of the students in a Chicago high school?

This was followed by a story about how Chicago cops shouldn’t associate with felons. Of course, the immediate reaction from some was that this “disproportionately affects African-American officers.” So there you go . . . thats a great reason to not follow thru with this. Because blacks are in jail more, black police officers shouldn’t have to follow some arbitrary rule about not being seen with felons.

Finally, something I noticed a few weeks ago when the Cubs were in the playoffs. You can’t get the playoffs on free TV anymore: and you know what this means....its because of discrimination. Obviously, all whites can get the game on free television. I have to find my “whites only” converter box. According to the Tribune:

Lillie Gonzalez, 63, of Chicago said that in the past she would watch cable games at the corner bar. But it closed two years ago, meaning she will have to scramble this week.

“I don’t think it’s fair,” Gonzalez said. “We’re just as big a fan as people who have cable. . . . What’s wrong with minorities watching their favorite team on television?”

The assumption, we suppose, is that no minorities have cable, and none can go to a favorite bar to watch.

But aren’t such assumptions demeaning?