Pat Buchanan on Jamestown

Jamestown as it Never WasAt Jamestown, "Three great civilizations came together for the first time--Western European, native American and African."

Well, that is one way to put it. Except that the Jamestown settlers were not Western Europeans but English Christians. And the first thing they did was build a fort to protect themselves from Powhatan's tribe, whom they thought might massacre them--as they suspected Indians had massacred the Roanoke colony. Their leader, Capt. John Smith, barely escaped execution by Powhatan. Or so Smith tells it.

As for the Africans, they arrived in 1620 in slave ships, and were not freed for 145 years. Then they were segregated for 100 years. There was no coming together of African, Indian and European civilizations. The African slaves were uprooted from their civilization and had to became part of ours.

Jamestown was no coming together of civilizations, but the opening of a war of imperial conquest by self-confident Christians who defeated and destroyed the pagan Indian tribes, drove them westward, repopulated their lands, and imposed their own faith and laws.

When we came, the Indians had the land. We took it.So is Buchanan glad that our society has become more diverse since the Queen's last visit? Not necessarily:[A]re we better societies now than 50 years ago?

The latest reminder of diversity in Virginia was the massacre of 32 students and teachers at Virginia Tech by a berserk Korean. And now that London is Londonistan, Muslim imams openly preach hatred of the West in mosques. Pakistani subway bombers find support in their community. Race riots are common in the northern industrial cities. Crime rates have soared. In areas of London, people fear to walk. Is this better than it was in 1957?Answer to Buchanan's question:  Yes, we're better societies now than 50 years ago. For starters, we've largely banished overt racism and discrimination. We no longer treat women and minorities as second-class citizens. We criticize rather than celebrate white cheerleaders such as Rush Limbaugh, Don Imus, and Buchanan.

For more of Buchanan's racist take on the Virginia Tech massacre, see Oh Pat, You So Craaaazy!