Monday, May 25, 2020

Do Ann Coulters Quotes Reveal a Racist Streak

Ann Coulter is no stranger to controversy, given that her comments about a variety of marginalized groups have led to accusations that shes racist, xenophobic, and bigoted. The conservative pundit, author, and commentator has repeatedly sparked scandal because of questionable remarks she’s made about Jews, blacks, Latinos, and immigrants. Here is a highlight of some of the most inflammatory comments shes made about race and ethnicity during her years in the spotlight: Hispanics Are on Welfare Having Illegitimate Babies A month after  Mitt Romney  lost the 2012 presidential race to Barack Obama, Coulter penned a  column  that largely blamed Latinos for his loss. She argued that no amount of Republican outreach to Hispanics would ever be effective because Latinos, which she called Mexicos underclass, are lacking in character. â€Å"Any election analysis that doesn’t deal with the implacable fact of America’s changing demographics is bound to be wrong, Coulter said. Perhaps the reason elections maven Michael Barone was so shockingly off in his election prediction this year was that, in the biggest mistake of his career, Barone has been assuring us for years that most of these Third World immigrants pouring into the country would go the way of Italian immigrants and become Republicans. They’re hardworking! They have family values! Maybe at first, but not after coming here, having illegitimate children and going on welfare.† Latinos not only said that Coulter’s description of Latinos was flat out wrong, they also demanded that she apologize for her incendiary statements. Liberals Destroyed the Black Family It’s no secret that African Americans overwhelmingly vote Democrat. Coulter, however,  argues  in her 2012 book, Mugged: Racial Demagoguery from the Seventies to Obama, that liberals have caused the downfall of the black family after once helping African Americans overcome segregation and fight for civil rights. â€Å"Instead of going through the hard knocks education of the Irish immigrants or Italian immigrants, liberals rush in to help and their help was to destroy the black family,† Coulter writes. â€Å"You had a strong tradition of marriage in the black family and what ruined it? Liberals helping, liberals helping, liberals ministering to black people—not because they care about black people. They care about government workers and solid Democratic voters.† Her analysis overlooks the impact racism, unemployment, poverty, and other social issues have had on the so-called destruction of the black family. Of course, many black families are going strong, but focusing on them would undermine Coulters thesis. Our Blacks Are Better Than Yours During an appearance on â€Å"The Sean Hannity Show† in 2011, Coulter discussed then-Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain. She criticized liberals for overlooking Cain’s strengths because â€Å"all they see is a conservative black man,† she  said. â€Å"That’s why our blacks are so much better than their blacks. To become a black Republican you don’t just roll into it. You’re not going with the flow. You have fought against probably your family members, probably your neighbors, you have thought everything out and that’s why we have very impressive blacks in our party.† Coulter’s repeated use of the possessive â€Å"our† raised eyebrows. Her phrasing seemed to indicate that blacks were property of some sort rather than unique individuals. Neither the Democratic Party nor the GOP owns African Americans, after all. Jews Need to Be Perfected After a 2009 appearance on Donny Deutsch’s show â€Å"The Big Idea,† Coulter suffered a public backlash when she remarked that  Jews would be â€Å"perfected†Ã‚  once they became Christians. Not only did Deutsch, a Jew, tell Coulter that he found her remark offensive, Jewish groups accused her of anti-Semitism. â€Å"Ms. Coulters assertion that Jews are somehow religiously imperfect smacks of the most odious anti-Jewish sentiment,† said American Jewish Committee President Richard Sideman. Immigration Equals the Destruction of America Immigration is a particular sticking point for Coulter. In a 2007 column called  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Bush’s America: Roach Motel,†Ã‚  she likened immigration into the United States to white genocide while criticizing George W. Bush’s amnesty plan for immigrants. In her 2015 book, â€Å"Adios, America: The Left’s Plan to Turn our Country into a Third World Hellhole,† she asserts that immigrants aren’t looking to assimilate and live free, they’re looking for handouts. And to commit crimes. â€Å"America is just bringing in a lot of rapists.† Furthermore, any increase in the number of refugees into the United States can only lead to its destruction. â€Å"In Trump We Trust,† published in 2016, Coulter writes of Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s suggestion that there’s plenty of room in the middle of the United States to take in more refugees: â€Å"Illiterate peasants from autocratic societies, who have absolutely no idea what they’re voting for, can be instructed to learn certain symbols and block vote for the Democrats. Wrecking the country is coming up roses for Albright personally.† What Coulter ignores, however, is that America is not defined by a single race of people. It is a nationality and one that is available to anyone who wants to make a better life for themselves. Furthermore, there is no credible evidence to suggest that immigrants commit more crimes than native-born or naturalized Americans. Wrapping Up Collectively, Ann Coulters quotes reveal a woman who harbors an extreme bias against blacks, Latinos, and Jews. Her views are highly unoriginal and echo longstanding racist rhetoric that suggests that minorities are not as hardworking, moral, or trustworthy as whites. Although her comments are highly offensive, they havent stopped Coulter from enjoying wide success as a conservative pundit, which not only speaks volumes about the state of the nation in general but about the state of the GOP in particular.

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