By Laura Ingraham

By now, you've probably heard some of the testimony of Rachel Jeantel the friend of Trayvon Martin who was on the phone with him right before he was shot by George Zimmerman. On a few key points, her story has changed from what she originally told authorities. She described Zimmerman this way, according to what Martin told her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERNIE DE LA RIONDA, PROSECUTOR: She said the man looked creepy.

RACHEL JEANTEL, TRAYVON MARTIN'S FRIEND: Creepy white -- excuse my language -- cracker.

DE LA RIONDA: Ok and what did you say. Ok they are having trouble hearing you. So take your time.

JEANTEL: Creepy ass cracker.

DON WEST, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: You're saying that in the culture that you live in, in your community, people call -- people there call white people "crackers"?

JEANTEL: Yes, sir.

WEST: And do they use the "n" word regularly?

JEANTEL: Yes, sir.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: She went on to say that she didn't think that this was racist. For many non-blacks this was shocking to hear. After all Paula Deen has been excoriated for the past week and lost most of hers business interest after admitting the use of the "n" word in the past.

Yet liberal defenders of Ms. Jeantel took to the Internet and the cable to scold white America for failing to understand her point of view. She may not be sophisticated but she is authentic in the black culture the argument goes.

Folks, this is insane. So it's a cultural badge of honor to demean and degrade based on skin color if you are a person of color? Or are those who are going out of their way to excuse Ms. Jeantel's comments just suffering from an overdose of white guilt? In other words, we have to excuse her poor manners, her disrespectful language and cocky ignorance because she is black? It's all part of the culture William Raspberry called it once the "ghettocracy." Left-wing elites fall over themselves to avoid criticizing behavior among black use that they would never tolerate from most upper crust white kids, like the use of the "n" word or the "f" word or the "c" word. Oh when that happens just chill out.

It's all part of the culture we hear or the kids who wear saggy pants around their thighs, big deal. Well what if they insult the police? Can you blame them? Well, what if they can't read cursive? Well look, most kids today struggle with cursive.

This is an example of what Daniel Patrick Moynihan called the soft bigotry of low expectations. Everyone from Tom Sowell to Bill Cosby have pointed out when we set a low bar for people they never end up rising above it. Now, there are a lot of complicated issues bubbling up during this trial, but every young person, regardless of skin color should have a family who teaches right from wrong and also an education that provides the basic skills necessary to communicate clearly and correctly.

So making excuses for poor performance and lousy manners because of skin color just keeps kids stuck in a cycle of under achievement and resentment. We're all better than that.

And that's "The Memo."

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