Senator Barack Obama wants us to have a conversation about race. Brian Williams is hosting “A Conversation About Race” on MSNBC tonight. Here’s my input.
In one of Obama’s books he writes about the time he spent living with his white grandparents. At one point his grandfather was unemployed and his grandmother was working at a bank. She normally rode the bus to work but one morning asked her husband to drive her to work because a man had accosted her at the bus stop the previous morning. He refused and later told Obama that the reason his grandmother is afraid of the man is because he is black. Obama seemed to favor his lazy, unemployed grandfather in this incident over his grandmother who just wanted to get to work safely. The possibility that his grandmother would have been just as frightened by a white man behaving in the same way seems to have escaped Obama.
If this country is as racist as Obama and his pastor think it is how did he get to where he is from such humble beginnings?
Obama’s wife was an Ivy League educated, successful attorney before they met. How did she achieve that if this country is so racist?
Brian Williams’ program tonight follows a documentary called “Meeting David Wilson.” It is about a black man, David Wilson, who looked up the descendants of his ancestors’ slave masters and found one named David Wilson. I don’t know the complete message of his documentary yet but I can still ask: If this country is so racist how can the black David Wilson get his film on a nationwide cable television program?
If this country is so racist how did General Colin Powell become the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretary of State? If this country is so racist how did Condoleezza Rice rise from the Birmingham of the 1960s to become Secretary of State? If this country is so racist how did Thomas Sowell, Walter Williams, Larry Elder and Star Parker become very successful syndicated columnists? If this country is so racist how did hundreds of other blacks become superstars in entertainment, athletics, politics, communications, etc?
Perhaps a better question is: Are Obama and some other blacks showing a little racism themselves? Do they see themselves as so special that they can’t grasp the possibility that other blacks are capable of succeeding without special government assistance?
I am reminded of Zora Neal Hurston, the brilliant black writer from Eatonville, FL when matters of race come up. She refused to be a victim and had true self esteem owing to her amazing talent. When schools were integrated at gunpoint basically, Zora was incensed. She said she and other children in Eatonville had a fine education and was insulted that people thought blacks could do well only if sitting next to a white student in class. Her views were rejected by most blacks then, and some even now.
I am glad that this conversation about race is being discussed. It’s about time. I recently read The Plexus Agenda by Andre Lewis and it shows how African-Americans view whites. I am white and growing up had little interaction with African-Americans. As a result, I didn’t know they felt this way toward whites. I found it interesting to begin to understand what are there fears and if they are baseless. For too long there has been a deep divide between the races and it’s about time that we begin to heal that wound by having a conversation on race. I highly recommend that all Americans, black & white, read The Plexus Agenda to get a better understanding or race relations.
@Jennifer: I disagree that there is a deep divide between the races. There is a deep divide between behavior patterns. People choose friends and associates that meet their standards of behavior and generally reject those who don’t. I feel just as much disdain for a white man walking around with his pants hanging below his buttocks as for a black man. I will buy music by black artists that I like (Otis Redding) and reject those I don’t like (Snoop Dogg).
“It can be both.” One of my favorite expressions. In this case, there are plenty of successful blacks AND racism still exists in this country.
For 25 years, I didn’t understand what was going on. This is despite having a black grandfather (and by extension, a dad plus his siblings that are half-black/half-white.) Although part of this is because they are immigrants, with whom there is a divide with American-born blacks.
I dated a black girl for 4 years. Care to hear stories where she was treated worse than me? Or mysteriously ignored? Or people who treated us with disdain because we were an interracial couple?
I’ve been called a demon because I’m white and been treated as a SCC in certain restaurants. A significant number of blacks believe AIDS was created in a laboratory to eliminate them.
Race is still a big deal. And the venom of racial hatred and conflict runs deeper than what most Americans see.
@LEP: I’m starting to think I must live a sheltered life. I live in a small town in the deep South but I just don’t see what you’re seeing. Perhaps most of the racism has migrated from rural small towns to the big cities.
I admit though that if I were black I might see it differently. In my post I was speaking from my perspective. Thanks for telling me how it looks from yours.
I hope the tone in my original response didn’t seem too acerbic; I didn’t intend to “chew you out” or anything.
The stuff I mentioned happened in Miami, lending a bit of evidence to your hypothesis of big city racism.
Up until a few years ago, I’d have agreed wholeheartedly with your premise. One of the biggest things I’ve learned about life is that people have all sorts of experiences, and it’s really difficult to see things through another’s eyes. But it’s usually worth it to try.
@LEP: No problem. I didn’t take it that way. I like getting different points of view.
Could someone please explain to me what the “Black Church” is really all about?
Seriously. What does that label really indicate? What is it really representative of?
Black Church.
I mean, I understand what church is. But is the Black Church, as an institution, really about religion and worshipping God or is it about race? If it’s about religion, then why is it so important to incorporate race into its title, into its image, into its definition? Why can’t it just be “church”?
Maybe it’s kinda like the United Negro College Fund, or Black Entertainment Television (BET), or Ebony Magazine, or Miss Black America.
Black Church.
Seems kind of, I don’t know… discriminatory?
How about this? What if a white guy started a church, and then that white guy began referring to its congregation, its worship style, its ideology, etc., as “White Church”? And what if he expressed pride in the White Church with such fervor as if to dare anyone to be even slightly critical of his newly founded denomination. My guess is that it would go over like a turd in the punch bowl.
Can you imagine the outcry? Sharpton and Jackson would be kicking the doors in and setting fire to the place.
Reverend Wright claims to have church members of all different races and ethnic backgrounds. I’ve heard him proclaim that the Black Church is not discriminatory, it’s just different. He says that the Black Church is all about celebrating God’s compassion for the oppressed. If all this is true, again, why is it necessary to incorporate race (in any capacity) into its characterization. Are there no other races of people in the world being oppressed? Are black people the only race capable of feeling compassion for the oppressed? What am I missing?
Last I heard, there were some oppressed people over in Tibet. What are the odds that going forward Reverend Wright will start referring to his brand of worship as the “Asian Church”?
Some very good points, Joshua. I asked some of the same questions about the Congressional Black Caucus. I think there is about as much racism coming from blacks as from whites.