Hard Choices in the Offing

[Ed Toner]

The following article appeared in Instauration
magazine in 1995 and described the hard choices that
decent, good White American men must face in the
brutal, violent racial conflicts ahead. Robert E Lee -
perhaps Americans must honorable, decent man is
presented as our guide - Robert E Lee understood
racial realities. So must we. One final point before I
present the article: Robert E Lee did not entertain
any pie in the sky libertarian programs to get 19th
century America out of her racial problems. Neither
should we.

JR

Hard Choices in the Offing
Instauration Magazine December 1995

It is abhorrent to a reflecting mind to be supporting
and cherishing those who are plotting and working for
your injury and all of those sympathies and
aspirations are antagonistic to yours.

General Robert E. Lee


A number of writers for lnstauration have commented on
the difficulty and discomfort many Majority Americans
face when forced to confront the unpleasant realities
of racial conflict. This writer has addressed the
issue and has abundant personal experience on the
subject.

I am referring of course, to the embarrassment,
"guilt" and conflicting emotions we all encounter when
we must reconcile what we know is right, necessary and
just for our people with the unavoidable hurt and
perceived insult which we risk inflicting on
minorities when we speak or take action in our
defense. To be sure, there are many cases which would
not cause us to hesitate one moment in asserting our
position. For example, if I ever had the misfortune to
meet a creature such as Norman Lear or Edgar Bronfman
I would not shrink from hurling at them any insults
that came to mind. If the situation was appropriate, I
would give each of them a good, solid whipping which
neither would ever forget.

But what of the decent, ordinary minority members and
Jews that you run into in all walks of life? I can
already hear some of our readers saying, "Bah! Humbug!
There he goes again, going soft like an ice cream cone
in July! Minorityites are all the same and should be
treated the same."

I have thought long and hard on this question and have
come to the conclusion that in general terms the Bah!
Humbug! crowd is probably right. Although I still
believe that we must conduct ourselves in an honorable
and civilized manner, pick our avowed enemies
carefully, avoid unnecessary open conflict and try to
keep as many minorities neutral by limiting as much as
possible the harsh and wounding ethnic clashes, in the
final analysis this is a racial war, not a personal
duel between individuals.

As in war we must strive to avoid unnecessary
suffering and gratuitous violence, verbal or otherwise
(while keeping the wilder and more savage spirits in
check). But only a fool risks the outcome of a war
vital to his own interests out of undue consideration
for the feelings or suffering of the enemy. After all,
in the words of Lt. General Nathan Bedford Forrest,
C.S.A, "War means fighting and fighting means
killing."

Fortunately we have not reached the stage of fullblown
conflict in the literal sense (though there is no
question that the first casualties of our second civil
war are already in their graves). But it is clear to
all but the terminally stupid that we long ago passed
the point where reconciliation was possible or where
reasonable compromise could be reached.

Our enemies, minorities, Jews (in a class by
themselves, of course), white renegades and liberals,
know very well what is coming. I am sure it did not
escape the notice of our readers that the Director of
the FBI, Louis Freeh, just happened to have a new
draft "terrorism" law handy at the instant of the
Oklahoma bombing. The law, as proposed, would have
virtually scrapped what is left of the Bill of Rights,
obviously the intention of the people who proposed it.
The Republicans, justly suspicious of anything coming
out of the White House, hosed down the new law with
cold water. You may rest assured that it will be back.
I might add that the new law was clearly intended to
give federal law enforcement agencies the legal right
to snoop on organizations such as the one which
publishes this magazine, with particular attention to
the people who ,subscribe" to its views.

We have already reached the point in the developing
civil and racial strife that makes social interaction
among people of the two sides uneasy and, at times,
unpleasant. Most of us will no longer sit and listen
to some Caspar Milquetoast liberal spout bilge about
multicultural ism or plaster on a goofy smile at a
party while some black primitive gropes his white slut
date. Most of us prefer to leave or not go at all if
we know we will hear such talk. Slowly, but at an
increasing rate, the country is drawing apart at all
levels. Our retreat from sociability is just one more
withdrawal in the long and inevitable chain of events
that will culminate in disaster for all involved and,
hopefully, final victory for our side.

It is often forgotten (or denied) by pro-Northern
observers of the Civil War that the South was goaded
into taking up arms not so much by what the North did,
but by what crazed or recklessly irresponsible
Abolitionists said. Rash and heedless Southerners
answered these remarks with comments fully as
offensive to most Northerners. When the gasbags on
both sides had done their worst, the rest were so
bitter and resentful about the foul slurs cast upon
them that they were more than ready to take up arms.
Wars start in the heart. In this country the level of
anger and hatefulness on both sides has increased to a
pitch not seen since the 1850s. Responsible public
figures are already expressing alarm at a situation
careening out of control.

In the midst of such an ugly tableau, how do we handle
the hundreds of ordinary domestic relations and
contacts which we have with people who are destined to
be
on the other side of the looming fight? Can we afford
to divide them into "good Jews" and "bad Jews" or
"good blacks" and "bad blacks"? The simple answer is
yes. There are blacks, Jews and others who belong to
"enemy" groups who sincerely mean to do us no harm,
either as individuals or as a race. They mind their
own business and go their own way. They have done
nothing individually to incur any sense of suspicion
or distrust. What to do?

The quote that appears at the top of this article had
a phrase that was not included: "You will never
prosper with the blacks. . . ." General Lee gave this
advice to his youngest son, Robert E. Lee, Jr., who
was attempting to run a farm in Virginia with free
black labor. This was in 1868, as the South was
sinking into the miasma of radical Reconstruction.
Lee's son was having a hard time of it, as almost all
whites were, and his father suggested that he
substitute white for black labor.

General Lee was the soul of honor and a profoundly
Christian gentleman. Never in his life did he do
anything to injure any black. On the contrary, he had
only feelings of kindness and sympathy for them. Never
a slave owner, he scrupulously carried out the terms
of his wife's father's will that called for the
freeing of almost 200 slaves. The General was not a
wealthy man and this amounted to giving away an
enormous fortune.

Although Lee wished the black man well, he was a
realist. He understood only too well that, whatever
the Negroes' status under slavery, emancipation had
worked a fundamental change in the relationship
between the two races. He knew that the interests,
desires and hopes of the blacks were completely
opposed to those of the whites. The fulfillment of the
dreams of one race would mean, had to mean, the
destruction of the dreams of the other. No personal
considerations of courtesy or genuine affection could
alter that harsh truth.

Lee also knew that the noble sentiments and good
conduct of a minority of the blacks would never guide
the Negro majority. The good would be inevitably
corrupted by the bad, as it began to dawn on blacks
that their interests lay with their own people and
canceled out any residual sense of loyalty or devotion
to whites.

The man who had led the Southern armies in war and was
trying to help lead his people in peace knew only too
well an eternal truth: Blood will tell. The black man
will, in the end, chose his own kind over whites every
time. The same holds true for any other human group.

in this country, blacks are fast becoming merely one
of many deadly enemies, though for several reasons
their actions have the most shock effect. I for one
think that Negroes will be handled rather easily when
the time comes. But what of the Asians? This is the
minority that neocons~-conservatives love to love. So
polite, so smart, so hardworking. All, to some extent,
true. But that only tells me that when we are in a
position to do so, they must be the first to be sent
on their way.

We can maintain reasonably civil relations with the
minorities for now. When the crisis comes, as it must,
we will have to steel ourselves and put aside our
personal feelings. We cannot let our feelings for a
handful of decent individuals on the other side sway
us from our duty.

George MacDonald Fraser, the author of the popular
"Flashman" series of books, put it best in his
autobiography of his wartime service in Burma. He was
asked by a smug liberal if he supported dropping the
atom bomb on Japan. MacDonald thought for a bit and
said, yes, he supposed he did. He pointed out to the
horrified liberal that if he had to choose between
burning Japan to the ground and losing the life of a
single one of his comrades, the japs would have to go.
He regretted the bombing for the terrible loss of
life, but when forced to choose between his own kind
and their kind, it was no contest.

We must adopt the same position. When and where we
can, we must exercise mercy, but this is a mortal
fight and we cannot let concern for our foes stand
between us and our destiny. The unassimilable
minorities have certainly paid scant attention to our
interests, swarming into our country and in some
places actually taking over rather large chunks of it.
We need make no apologies for defending what is ours,
no matter whom it hurts or how unpleasant we find it.