Whenever national calamity strikes, the same group of disloyal Americans starts to sow seeds of disunion in this country. Rather than searching for who is really responsible for the ills afflicting our nation, they blame their fellow Americans. They refuse to show compassion for the suffering of innocent men, women, and children. They point fingers and accuse the very victims of the perpetrated crimes.

Who are these shameless, unpatriotic Americans? I call them the “Blame Black People First” crowd.

New Orleans, ground zero for the government’s belated and botched hurricane relief effort, is predominantly African American. It also has a poverty rate almost twice as high as the national average.

As usual, the subversive element in this country has not stooped from singling out these suffering Americans as the perpetrators of their own misfortune. Somehow, they always blame black people first.

Some examples:

1. Media commentators self-righteously decry the outbreaks of looting in the devastated city — forgetting that some people might like food and clean clothes after being left to fend for themselves in a flood zone for several days. Says Julianne Malveaux of BET.com:

When hungry folks take food from flooded grocery stores, that’s called survival, not looting.  When people, who are strapping cardboard to their feet because all of their possessions have been swept away, go into a store and take shoes, that, too, is called survival.  The calls for zero tolerance for looting were absurd, and the images of Black people “looting” (along with the more benign images of White people “finding” food) fanned the flames of every racial stereotype there is.  Then rabidly conservative talk show hosts — Bill O’Reilly and Tucker Carlson among them — piled it on by foaming at the mouth about looters while ignoring the conditions even George Bush called “unacceptable.”

2. Fox News pundit Bill O’Reilly berates the city’s poor for not applying themselves during the disaster. (I agree. Whenever I see people drowning, I tell them to just buck up — there’s no use whining about it, save your breath!) Says Nikki Finke of LA Weekly:

FNC’s Bill O’Reilly, who spent last month verbally abusing the grieving mother of a dead Iraqi war soldier, then whiled away the early days of Katrina’s aftermath giving lip to New Orleans’ looters and shooters and then basically blamed the hurricane’s poorest victims for expecting any government help at all. “First, the huge, bureaucratic government will never be able to protect you. If you rely on government for anything, anything, you’re going to be disappointed, no matter who the president is,” he scolded. And, “If you don’t get educated, if you don’t develop a skill, and force yourself to work hard, you’ll most likely be poor. And sooner or later, you’ll be standing on a symbolic rooftop waiting for help…. Chances are that help will not be quick in coming.”

3. Sen. Rick Santorum suggests that the government fine hurricane victims. In an interview over the weekend about Hurricane Katrina, the Republican from Pennsylvania said: “You have people who don’t heed those warnings and then put people at risk as a result of not heeding those warnings. There may be a need to look at tougher penalties on those who decide to ride it out and understand that there are consequences to not leaving.” (After he was criticized for his remarks, Santorum said that he actually didn’t mean to include people who lacked cars among those who should be fined. They, instead, would get a tax credit on the purchase of a new hybrid car.)

A long time ago, Harry Truman said, “The United States has become great because we, as a people, have been able to work together for great objectives even while differing about details.” How much our country has changed. In this time of national tragedy, how is it possible that these people are resorting to such divisive, un-American rhetoric?

But then, they always blame black people first.

The American people know better. They know that black people built this country with their sweat and blood. They know that African Americans have contributed heroically to America’s art, literature, science, and way of life. They know that it’s dangerous to blame a group of victims for terrible problems that they did not cause.

You would think that the Blame Black People Firsters would be ashamed of what they say. Don’t they know how much these people have suffered? Didn’t they watch “A Concert for Hurricane Relief”?

But then, they always blame black people first.

Black people will never seek a permission slip to defend their security. If they need to invade a neighboring store to advance black people’s interests (i.e., not starving), then this is their right as God-fearing, freedom-loving Americans. If they feel the need to criticize out-of-touch leaders in that far-off land of Washington, then other Americans will stand by them in their struggles to spread democracy.

Let us put an end to the blame games, the blame gaming, and the blaming games. This unpatriotic, treacherous element should not be allowed to spread its false accusations. It must be rooted out of our government, our way of life, and our 24-hour cable news channels.

The “Blame Black People First” crowd is a threat to this country. Americans will not be safe until we rid ourselves of this Red menace.

(With apologies for my blatant plagiarism from Jeane Kirkpatrick’s 1984 speech at the Republican National Convention.)

Victor Tan Chen Victor Tan Chen is In The Fray's editor in chief and the author of Cut Loose: Jobless and Hopeless in an Unfair Economy. Site: victortanchen.com | Facebook | Twitter: @victortanchen