The High Priests of Hyperbole!

Clearly, Moses' lament conveys the frustration felt by many black progressives over a position that appears unacceptable to reverse race-hustlers and their supporters: the idea that both whites as well as blacks need to accept their fair share of responsibility for some of the conditions found within the black community -- a position accepted by the two African-Americans who vividly come to mind when one thinks of race-hustling: Sharpton and Jackson.

However, unlike Jesse and Al, reverse race-hustlers summarily reject any argument that considers racism as playing any role whatsoever in the status of black Americans.  Instead, Elder and other reverse race-hustlers embrace -- either on face value or through anecdotal "evidence" -- any premise that supports the view that blacks are simply inherently lazy, criminal minded, or any other of a host of ugly, shopworn stereotypes.

Such avoidance of fact may account for the level of raw contempt that conservative "personal responsibility" advocates exhibit toward another black leader who sharply criticizes excesses within the African-American community; who espouses black self-reliance; yet, like Jackson and Sharpton, is also considered one America's quintessential "race-hustlers" -- Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan. 

Perhaps Farrakhan's critics quibble over the fact that though the outspoken Muslim minister exhorts blacks to adopt a positive self-image and to "do for self," his often-scathing criticism of the negative aspects of black culture is delivered in-house -- completely closed off to whites.  His exclusion of whites from such events, combined with a litany of ill-made statements over the years and his steady condemnation of white racism, have created a compelling ipso facto argument that Farrakhan is a racist. 

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But with sole regard to Farrakhan's in-house criticism of black culture, it's an easy extrapolation: rather than being racist, a more reasonable view would be to compare that approach to that of a family which declines to publicly air its dirty linen.

Nevertheless, clearly in the case of Farrakhan aversion, specifically among conservatives, the point of contention obviously lies in process and approach. Unlike Farrakhan's which stresses that any racial barriers encountered can be overcome with the proper tools -- most notably, clean living, a good education and hard work -- in addition to self-pride, and confronting and addressing existing racial roadblocks, the principal activity of reverse race-hustlers is to constantly assure their white supporters that racism plays absolutely no part in the condition of blacks in this country.

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They must constantly reaffirm the belief that blacks' social position is due to a contemptuous, loathsome character, crippling laziness, rampant immorality and a virulent criminal-mindedness that just might be genetic.  Consider this statement found in another book by Elder, Ten Things You Can't Say In America:

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"Twenty-five percent of young black men are in jail, on parole, or on probation. A black man is ten times more likely to rape a white woman than a white man is to rape a black woman. Blacks account for 50 percent of the nation's prisoners. Gang-bangers are almost inevitably black or Latino. Don't think the young white woman in that elevator is oblivious. Don't think that a white woman living in the city hasn't seen, experienced, or had friends who experienced crime at the hands of black thugs. If Jesse Jackson himself says he's relieved when the late-night footsteps on the street behind him belong to white rather than black feet, all bets are off."

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Or this one, by Alan Keyes:

"Christ would not vote for Barack Obama, because Barack Obama has voted to behave in a way that it is inconceivable for Christ to have behaved."

Or this one, by Hamblin from his book "Plain Talk and Common Sense":

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