Daily Wire host: “I was afraid for my safety” near Memphis jazz clubs, because of “lurking, you know, sullen, baleful, thuggish people, all of whom were Black”
Klavan: “I was talking about Memphis, those people, all of whom were black and who were threatening looking, if one of them moved in next to me I would sell my house and move away. Why? Because of the color of skin? Obviously not.”
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Daily Wire host: "I was afraid for my safety" near Memphis jazz clubs, because of "lurking, you know, sullen, baleful, thuggish people, all of whom were black"
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From the February 3, 2023, edition of The Daily Wire's The Andrew Klavan Show
ANDREW KLAVAN (HOST): I also want to say something about Memphis. And if you live in Memphis and you love it there, forgive me. I was there for one day. I'm sure there were many lovely parts of it. All I know is it was one of the ugliest American cities I have ever seen - not in terms of structure, but in terms of the people on the ground.
I wanted to see the jazz clubs and I was told in my hotel, you can't go there at night. And I said, well, who's going to a jazz club during the day? I took a walk to see the area where the jazz clubs were, and I was afraid. I was afraid for my safety. A lot of, like, lurking, you know, sullen, baleful, thuggish people, all of whom were Black. And I think all of us know that there are many, many neighborhoods in urban cities, in urban areas with -- that are Black neighborhoods that are bad. They are bad neighborhoods, and many of these neighborhoods are dangerous. And there -- there's a whole subculture, you know, because a lot of Black people, thank heavens, have moved out of that subculture. But there's a subculture of places that where you don't want to be, because they're Black.
And why is that happening? We don't know why. There are different theories. Different people have different theories. So the left says it's history. It's a history of slavery. It's the history of racism. There are other people, Charles Murray says there's a genetic element involved. I myself don't really buy into either of those theories. I believe that it's policy, because Blacks were rising until the Great Society, the Lyndon Johnson Great Society programs, which I believe unintentionally destroyed the Black family, which made everybody more prone to crime and also taught people to be dependent on government largesse unless they were smart and disciplined and driven, then they got out and they left behind the people who are hurt by those programs.
...
You know, when I was talking about Memphis, those people, all of whom were Black and that who were threatening looking, if one of them moved in next to me I would sell my house and move away. Why? Because of the color of skin? Obviously not. I live in a neighborhood where there are plenty of people of color, that that's not the thing. It's because of the behavior, right? It's because of the way that people -- that guy acts and probably the things he does. I mean, I could tell these were not good people.
So, you know, and then they call it white flight. But is it -- are you fleeing because you're white and they're Black, or are you fleeing because of actions and principles? These are things that should be discussed in this country, but they are not being discussed because too many people have a stake in making sure this is purely a racial issue with one explanation, which doesn't make sense.