Former game show host and bit-part actor Ben Stein appeared on Newsmax TV Monday afternoon and declared that the biggest problem with race in America is that we have a “very beaten-down, pathetic, self-defeating black underclass” that can’t get out of its own way due to a reliance on drugs. The former staffer for President Nixon was discussing a news report with host Steve Malzberg regarding possible charges that might be filed against Michael Brown’s mother, Lesley McSpadden. Malzberg brought up the subject as apparent proof that the liberal media was trying to hide the thuggish nature of blacks in Ferguson.
Buzzfeed’s Andrew Kaczynski first reported on the segment Monday afternoon and provided a video clip of Stein and Malzberg. After Malzberg had brought up the alleged incident involving McSpadden, Stein pointed out he had not heard anything about it. He then spewed out a hateful little rant where he suggested that America didn’t really have a race problem years back and it is only the “scourge of drugs” and “pathetic” poor blacks that are exacerbating the problem.
“If you read the liberal mainstream media, that the main problem with race in America was poor innocent black people being set upon and mistreated by the police. It’s just nonsense.
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I mean, the real problem with race in America is a very, very beaten-down, pathetic, self-defeating black underclass that is…umm, just can’t seem to get its way going in the way that blacks were able to before the scourge of drugs and the scourge of gangs.
I mean, it’s an amazing thing. Blacks were on their way in this country, even after the horrors of slavery, and then drugs came in, the destruction of families came in, and the crisis in the black community is just absolutely unbelievable. And that, it seems to me, is something that Mr. Obama could have addressed, and he just ignored it completely.”
That is just some pure, unadulterated, racist bullcrap if I’ve ever heard it. Sadly, it is the kind of thing we’ve been hearing more and more from the conservative noise section since the unrest in Ferguson started. Essentially, President Obama has made things worse when it comes to race in this country — mostly from having the audacity of getting elected while black. But, conservatives also claim that the President isn’t addressing the ‘issues’ that they think need to be addressed in the black community. Which, oddly enough, never really center on the true problems of disparity that blacks deal with in this nation but instead are all about marriage and family and rap music.
As for Stein, it appears that he’s carving out a niche for himself as the go-to racist in conservative media. Just last week, he was on Fox News asserting that President Obama’s “the most racist president there has ever been in America.” Of course, that is a ridiculous statement that cannot be even remotely taken seriously. But, it makes old, white people feel better and gives them something to nod approvingly to.
Media Matters’ Oliver Willis sent out a tweet after Stein’s tirade on Newsmax that summed up everything perfectly.
damn ben stein just say it. you know you want to. JUST SAY IT. http://t.co/vdiBDeUZbp
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) November 10, 2014
Give him time, Oliver. Give him time. He’s just warming up to it.
Justin Baragona is the Managing Editor at Politicus Sports as well as Senior Editor at PoliticusUSA. He was a political writer for 411Mania.com before joining PoliticusUSA. Politically, Justin considers himself a liberal but also a realist and pragmatist. Currently, Justin lives in St. Louis, MO and is married. Besides writing, he also runs his own business after spending a number of years in the corporate world. You can follow Justin on Twitter either with his personal handle (@justinbaragona) or the Sports site’s (@PoliticusSports).
