All around the media world today I’ve seen both the left and the right side of the political ideological groups attacking Cliven Bundy based on a New York Times article and Media Matters video.
It took me a while to find the extended version of the video comments without the progressive, albeit convenient, editing.   The entire video is actually more than an hour long and you can view it – CLICK HERE
Well, for the sake of the discussion, here’s an edit of the longer version, including a transcript I did from the video itself.
Were there some non-politically correct statements ? Yes.
Were there some uncomfortable choices of terms and phrases spoken from an 67 year old Grandpa who still uses the words “negro” and “colored’s” ? Yes.

{Actually you can hear his granddaughter off camera saying in a rather concerned voice [trying to get his attention]  “Grandpa… Grandpa” (@1:58) when he talks about the invisible difference between long gone “slavery” and  current “dependency”. Obviously his granddaughter is concerned – and knows full well her Grandpa is not articulate enough in modern PC’isms to attempt to nuance his way through the minefield of race in modern America.}

But the broader question “Is Cliven Bundy A Racist”? …..can be answered by actually listening to his words, ALL OF HIS WORDS. Not the New York Times or Media Matters excerpts of his words, but rather ALL OF THEM.
Then you decide for yourself:


Transcript below

…” and so what I’ve testified to ya’, I was in the WATTS riot, I seen the beginning fire and I seen the last fire. What I seen is civil disturbance. People are not happy, people is thinking they did not have their freedom; they didn’t have these things, and they didn’t have them.

We’ve progressed quite a bit from that day until now, and sure don’t want to go back; we sure don’t want the colored people to go back to that point; we sure don’t want the Mexican people to go back to that point; and we can make a difference right now by taking care of some of these bureaucracies, and do it in a peaceful way.

Let me tell.. talk to you about the Mexicans, and these are just things I know about the negroes. I want to tell you one more thing I know about the negro.

When I go, went, go to Las Vegas, North Las Vegas; and I would see these little government houses, and in front of that government house the door was usually open and the older people and the kids…. and there was always at least a half a dozen people sitting on the porch. They didn’t have nothing to do.  They didn’t have nothing for the kids to do. They didn’t have nothing for the young girls to do.

And because they were basically on government subsidy – so now what do they do? They abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never, they never learned how to pick cotton.   And I’ve often wondered are they were better off as slaves, picking cotton and having a family life and doing things? Or are they better off under government subsidy?

You know they didn’t get more freedom, uh they got less freedom – they got less family life, and their happiness -you could see it in their faces- they were not happy sitting on that concrete sidewalk.   Down there they was probably growing their turnips – so that’s all government, that’s not freedom.

Now, let me talk about the Spanish people. You know I understand that they come over here against our constitution and cross our borders. But they’re here and they’re people – and I’ve worked side-by-side a lot of them.

Don’t tell me they don’t work, and don’t tell me they don’t pay taxes. And don’t tell me they don’t have better family structure than most of us white people. When you see those Mexican families, they’re together, they picnic together, they’re spending their time together, and I’ll tell you in my way of thinking they’re awful nice people.

And we need to have those people join us and be with us…. not, not come to our party.

Are the remarks controversial ?   Yes, however – No more so than the remarks made by Shirley Sherrod.
The left rose quickly in their defense of Shirley Sherrod.    In this case the left rose quickly in the attack against Cliven Bundy.
Intellectually honest people are able to see the broad questions and positions raised by both examples of Sherrod and Bundy.    However, what’s more sad than the refusal to openly discuss the issues – is how quickly the conservative right is willing to throw Bundy to the wolves based solely on the New York Times and Media Matters opinion.
A progressive opinion intended purposefully to avoid that painful conversation the professional left constantly claim no-one is willing to have.

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