Larry Elder on the race card.....

It's been very disturbing watch politicians play the race card in the Katrina disaster.

News anchors, once again, demonstrate their willingness, indeed eagerness, to find racism. A few years ago, a Time-CNN poll found that 89 percent of black teens experienced little or no racism in their own lives. White teens, however, believed racism against minorities a bigger problem than black teens did.

The so-called "black leaders," of course, led the race card parade. The Congressional Black Caucus's Rep. Diane Watson, D-Calif., described those suffering as "sons and daughters of slaves." NAACP attorney Damon Hewitt said, "If the majority of the folks left behind were white individuals, and most of the folks who were able to escape on their own were African Americans, then I wouldn't be sitting here right now. This is a racial story." Rapper Kanye West, at an NBC relief concert, screamed, "George Bush doesn't care about black people."

CNN's Cafferty and so-called black leaders refuse to ask basic questions. Since 1978, for example, black mayors controlled the city of New Orleans, with many of the city's top officials also black. What about their responsibility? What about the damage done by the modern welfare state, helping to create poverty by financially rewarding irresponsible behavior? What about the damage to the black psyche by so-called civil rights leaders who demand not just equal rights, but equal results, helping to create a victicrat-entitlement mentality? Maybe someday one of the news anchors will ask one of the so-called civil rights leaders the following question: Doesn't the demand for race-based preferences, set-asides, private sector anti-discrimination laws, social welfare programs, and social "safety net" programs all conspire to say one thing -- "You are not responsible"?