Lonzie Cox – 10/3/06

This page was last updated on October 7, 2006.

Make change happen; Lonzie Cox, Jr.; Beaver County Times; October 3, 2006. I am not related to Mr. Cox.

After a brief side trip to bash Rush Limbaugh in May, Mr. Cox is back on his favorite topic, race. This letter is a two-fer because Mr. Cox gets to rant about both race and Republicans (his #2 favorite topic).

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“A recent article outlining the income gap between whites and blacks in Beaver County is interesting.

“It cited U.S. census reports that white median incomes increased by $4,308 since 2000, while in the same period black median incomes dropped by $4,322.

“Historically, blacks in Beaver County have had a tougher struggle to succeed economically. Even the great steel mills often refused to hire black workers, opting instead to employ masses of European immigrants, leaving native-born African-Americans unemployed until 1964 Equal Employment laws took affect.”

[RWC] Mr. Cox needs to check his timeline. Mass immigration ended in 1929 with the beginning of the Great Depression. That leaves a gap of about 35 years. The largest black populations were in Aliquippa, Beaver Falls, and Midland, the largest mill towns of the county. If the blacks living in these municipalities weren’t working in “the great steel mills,” where were they working?

Though Mr. Cox bashes Republicans in this letter, he conveniently fails to note it was Democrats who filibustered the 1964 Civil Rights Act and Republicans that broke the filibuster.

Let’s assume Mr. Cox’s allegation above is correct. Since at least the mid-1930s, labor unions controlled who got hired and fired at “the great steel mills.” And to which party did labor union management belong? Why the Democrat Party, of course. For the record, the Democrat-run unions were still discriminating against blacks long after the 1964 Civil Rights Act. In 1974, the Democrat-run United Steelworkers of America was slapped with a federal consent decree in 1974 to address “discriminatory hiring, promotion, assignment, and wage policies directed against women and minorities.” The discrimination was determined to have affected 40,000 minority and women employees.

Here’s another example of Mr. Cox’s blind eye when it comes to documented racism of Democrats. Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) was a Kleagle (organizer) in the KKKK (Knights of the Ku Klux Klan), said he would not serve in an integrated armed forces, filibustered and voted against the 1964 Civil Rights Act, voted against the nominations of Supreme Court Justices Thurgood Marshall (1967) and Clarence Thomas (1991), and referred to “white niggers” during a 2001 television interview. Have you read any letters from Mr. Cox bashing Sen. Byrd or calling on the Democrat Party to dump him? No.

“In the 1980s, Ronald Reagan and his so-called conservatives marched in, and the steel mills and the jobs marched out. So, traditionally, Beaver County blacks have been the last hired and the first fired in the old economy as well as the new.”

[RWC] What is it with libs and history? Mr. Cox wants us to believe the steel industry was strong and vibrant until the day Ronald Reagan took office and he somehow managed to kill it within a few years. It’s the same as the revisionist history trying to convince us terrorism against the U.S. didn’t exist until President Bush took office.

Earth to Mr. Cox. The U.S. steel industry had been displaying serious problems since at least the mid-1950s.

“Unequal job opportunities result ultimately in lower incomes as employers ignore the fairness laws at will. The only place you’ll find blacks overrepresented is at the county jail - not as employees but as inmates.”

[RWC] Who’s ignoring “fairness laws?” With all of the race-oriented groups out there just looking for some kind of discrimination, are we to believe there’s mass discrimination going on under their noses?

Note Mr. Cox doesn’t get into why blacks are “overrepresented” in the county jail. I assume, however, the blame lies with anyone but the offenders, their families, and their role models.

Encouraged by their so-called “leaders,” it appears far too many blacks accept the BS that they are not in control of their lives. If you have it drilled into your head from birth that you can’t get anywhere because discrimination will stop you, why would you even try to make something of your life?

Look at who comprise the “voice” of blacks. They include Jesse “Hymietown” Jackson, Al “Tawana Brawley” Sharpton, Louis Farrakhan, Danny Glover, Harry Belafonte, Cynthia McKinney (D-GA), et cetera. Each and every one of these people is a race-baiter whose mission is to blame “the man” for anything bad that happens to blacks.

Whom do black “leaders” revile as “house slaves,” “Oreos,” and “Uncle Toms?” The names include former Sec. of State Colin Powell, Sec. of State Condoleezza Rice, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown, Thomas Sowell, Larry Elder, Walter E. Williams, Bill Cosby, Juan Williams, et cetera. Mr. Cox himself referred to Justice Thomas as an “Uncle Tom.” These people are reviled because they are successful blacks who disprove the victimhood mentality of people like Mr. Cox.

Who’s responsible for most of today’s segregation? We have black cable TV channels, black magazines, black newspapers, black beauty pageants, black entertainer awards, et cetera. In Congress we have the Congressional Black Congress. We have black organizations like the NAACP. In colleges, we have black student unions and black studies courses.

Who supports institutional discrimination in the form of so-called “affirmative action” and “diversity?”

Does discrimination exist? Of course it does. Face it, there are bigots of every race, religion, et cetera. That said, the amount of discrimination in today’s world is nowhere near enough to get in the way of a person being successful.

“These are policy decisions that voters can influence by electing Jason Altmire and Robert Casey for U.S. House and U.S. Senate respectively. We all can win. Make it happen - for a change.”

[RWC] “[P]olicy decisions?” Which policies, Mr. Cox? You were so focused on your fractured version of history and blaming Republicans for the problems of blacks, you didn’t mention any policies.

You’ll note Mr. Cox didn’t tell us for whom to vote in the governor’s race. That’s because, despite all his whining about blacks not getting an even break, you can bet Mr. Cox will vote for Ed Rendell instead of Lynn Swann. Neither would Mr. Cox vote for Lt. Gov. Michael Steele (Republican candidate for senator from Maryland) or Ohio Sec. of State Ken Blackwell (Republican candidate for Ohio governor) if he had the opportunity.

How have Mr. Cox’s tolerant Democrats treated Michael Steele? One Democrat blog site doctored a photo to make Mr. Steele look like Little Black Sambo. At a debate during the 2002 governor’s race, Democrats passed out Oreos to the crowd and it was reported that many of them were thrown in the direction of Mr. Steele. Where did this take place? At Morgan State University in Baltimore, a historically black college.