William Bennett: "Abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down"

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H.H. - 30 Sep 2005 13:55 GMT

Washington Post
September 30, 2005
Bennett Under Fire for Remark on Crime and Black Abortions

Democratic lawmakers and civil rights leaders denounced conservative
commentator William J. Bennett yesterday for suggesting on his
syndicated radio show that aborting black children would reduce the
U.S. crime rate.

The former U.S. education secretary-turned-talk show host said
Wednesday that "if you wanted to reduce crime, you could -- if that
were your sole purpose -- you could abort every black baby in this
country, and your crime rate would go down."

... Bennett, education secretary under then-President Ronald Reagan
and director of drug policy during George H.W. Bush's administration
has written a number of books stressing the importance of traditional
values, including the 1993 bestseller "The Book of Virtues."

In 2003, he admitted he was a heavy gambler after news reports that he
had lost millions of dollars in casinos.

< SNIP

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bizby40 - 30 Sep 2005 20:06 GMT

It's true you know. And if you abort every white baby it would go down even
more. And if you just abort every baby of every race, it would soon go
right down to zero.

Bizby

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Barbara Bomberger - 30 Sep 2005 21:01 GMT

>It's true you know. And if you abort every white baby it would go down even
>more. And if you just abort every baby of every race, it would soon go
>right down to zero.
>
>Bizby

The "rate" would not have to do with the amount of children. The rate
is percentage of existing children. He is implying that the
percentage per capita of crime would go down, not the total amount per
se.

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dragonlady - 30 Sep 2005 21:04 GMT

> >It's true you know. And if you abort every white baby it would go down even
> >more. And if you just abort every baby of every race, it would soon go
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> percentage per capita of crime would go down, not the total amount per
> se.

Which does nothing to invalidate Bizby's statement: if we aborted every
baby of every race, the crime rate would drop right down to zero.

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Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care

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bizby40 - 30 Sep 2005 21:05 GMT

>>It's true you know. And if you abort every white baby it would go down
>>even
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> percentage per capita of crime would go down, not the total amount per
> se.

hmm... Then if we aborted all babies, and eventually ended up with 0
criminals out of a total of 0 people, then that would be....an infinite
crime rate? Or undefined? My theoretical math isn't what it could
be.

Regardless, I read about it this morning. Apparently the caller
was trying to tie high rates of abortion to crime somehow, and he
was trying to show how ludicrous it was. Why the word "black"
popped out of his mouth I don't know. Maybe he does hold
some prejudices. But I'm willing to bet he regretted it instantly.
Only, what are you going to do? You can't unsay it. That's the
risk you take by hosting a live radio show I guess.

Bizby

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Caledonia - 30 Sep 2005 21:35 GMT

> But I'm willing to bet he regretted it instantly.

I'll 'bet' he did, too. [Was that intentional on your part? Too funny.]

Caledonia
(caught between snickering and humming 'Luck Be A Lady')

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Family Forum / Parenting / Parenting / September 2005

William Bennett: "Abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down"