The Irredeemables
National Review|October 10, 2016

Hillary Clinton and the politics of leftist condescension.

Kevin D.Williamson
The Irredeemables

IN the 1980's, every punk band had a song about racism, the classic of the genre being “Racism Sucks,” by 7 Seconds, whose teenaged members had no doubt learned a great deal about the hard facts of black life on the almost exclusively white streets of Reno, Nev., in 1981. There was also the Dead Kennedys’ “Nazi Punks F*** Off,” also from 1981, Black Flag’s “White Minority,” Operation Ivy’s “Unity,” Minor Threat’s “Guilty of Being White”—it is a pretty big catalogue.

Preachy stuff, in the main, but preaching to whom? By the 1980's, it had become difficult to find an honest-to-God open racist in the wild, at least one under about 50 or so. Punk posed as a counterculture, but here at least it was merely setting the rules of polite society to music. Indeed, it was much, much more outré to be an open racist than to have a purple mohawk—a fact that was helped along enormously by Geraldo Rivera and his infamous 1988 show with white supremacist John Metzger, which ended in a televised skinhead brawl.

People tuned in to watch that episode not because it was familiar, but because it was so unusual.

This story is from the October 10, 2016 edition of National Review.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the October 10, 2016 edition of National Review.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.