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Is it okay to be white? What do white and black folks think? Well, if you believe a Rasmussen poll released on Wednesday, you might believe that nearly half of African Americans don’t believe it is okay for white people to be white.
Dilbert creator and political commentator Scott Adams appeared to believe the poll’s findings when he went on a highly-charged rant on his podcast the day the survey was published. Indeed, the clip of him talking about how white people should separate from the black community and that it “makes no sense whatsoever as a white citizen of America to try to help black citizens anymore” went viral on social media and set the internet ablaze.
If you haven’t seen it already, you can watch the clip here:
So #Dilbert Cartoonist Scott Adams felt the random need to go on racist rant because of a random “poll” he saw.
What a disgusting piece of trash.
I’m glad that they’re all outing themselves this year tho! pic.twitter.com/PTGyXR9H5F
— Mike Wayne (@MikeWayne) February 26, 2023
As you might imagine, the conversation about Adams’ comments is still raging online, even after the cartoonist published subsequent episodes clarifying and further explaining the point he was making. Indeed, he also participated in a two-hour conversation with social media influencer Hotep Jesus on the video and the overall issue of race in America. Nevertheless, the outrage continued.
On Monday, I participated in a Twitter Space with conservative commentator Sonnie Johnson, in which we discussed how racial matters are handled within the conservative movement. The discussion did not center on Adams’ comments, but they were part of the discourse. Adams himself joined in and interacted with the rest of us. It was a frank, but productive conversation.
— Sonnie Johnson (@SonnieJohnson) February 27, 2023
As we discussed matters pertaining to race – especially the issue of the anti-white sentiment that has become prevalent in the national conversation — there was one thought that stood out to me. Over the past couple of years, I have noticed more right-leaning influencers complaining about how the left demonizes white Americans. But this particular Rasmussen Poll appeared to prove what some on the right have insinuated: That a significant percentage of black Americans hates whitey with the fire of a thousand burning suns.
Indeed, the poll asked respondents whether they agreed with this statement: “It’s okay to be white.” The survey’s findings indicated that 47 percent either disagreed with the statement or were “not sure.”
Sounds pretty damning, right?
Well, when you take a closer look, not so much. Indeed, when I first saw the poll, I could see it was a massive truckload of bovine excrement. When I dug further into the numbers, I found I was right. I posted a thread on Twitter breaking it down.
🧵Okay, time for me to address the Rasmussen Poll that @ScottAdamsSays cited when he set the internet on fire.
Also, check out the article I wrote about it here. It has the same info along with my commentary on the controversy.https://t.co/d75zd7pDNx
— Jeff Charles, A Respectful Anarchist🏴 (@jeffcharlesjr) February 27, 2023
To give you the shortened version, Rasmussen polled 1,000 people, only 130 of whom were black. If you do the math, 47 percent of 130 adds up to a whopping 61 black Americans. If you think 130 black folks somehow represent the attitudes of the more than 40 million African Americans in the country, I have some prime beachfront property in Montana to sell you on the cheap.
Moreover, what many don’t know is that the phrase “it’s okay to be white,” was originated by bonafide white supremacists about five years ago. Of course, this does not mean any person who says that in 2023 is a white supremacist or even a racist. But many black people know where that phrase came from which could have also skewed the results, even on that paltry sampling of African Americans.
I have been black for 42 years, with the exception of the years after I didn’t vote for Joe Biden. I can tell you most of us don’t have white people on the mind as much as the hard left would have you think.
Not even Taylor Swift.
But this does not mean the issue does not remain. Progressives, in all their wisdom, have villainized “whiteness” and especially white Christian males. It’s an integral component of their ideology and they have been spreading it in universities, the military, and several other major institutions.
While this poll elicited anger among some conservatives against that supposed 47 percent, the conversation got me thinking: Don’t they see who is actually spreading this “White Man Bad” nonsense?
I’ll give you a hint. It’s not us.
That’s right, it’s our good friends, the virtue-signaling white progressives who bend over backward to make sure everyone knows how deeply they despise other less-melanated folks who don’t adhere to the tenets of their Marxist orthodoxy. It is the Robin DiAngelos of the world that are responsible for the bulk of the anti-white rhetoric coming from the far left. Sure, there are some black progressive faces on networks like MSNBC who spout that folderol. But who do they work for?
You guessed it: White progressives.
But black progressive tap dancers aside, it is critical that conservatives realize who their true enemy is. It ain’t black people, folks. It’s the white progressives who enjoy exploiting us to score cheap political points against people like yourself.
If conservatives want to win, the conversation among right-leaning circles should center on going after the white progressives who believe themselves superior to you, not the black population. That will be a different discussion for a different day. But the bottom line is that you cannot win a war when you do not understand who your enemy is and how they work. This poll was nothing more than a distraction that fomented useless outrage on the right. Nevertheless, if conservatives keep their eyes on the real enemy, and employ better tactics when tackling issues of race, they might just have a chance to come out of this victorious.
In case you’re interested, my colleague Brandon Morse and I had a fun conversation on this subject:
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