Wednesday, September 16, 2009

There's a black man in the White House


With that pronouncement many feel really proud about how far we've come in our fight against racism and discrimination. Yet the statement itself shows how much farther we have to go.

President Barack Obama's genetic racial background is more white than black yet he still is described as a "black man". I guess it's better than being called black for one drop of African American blood but it's a far cry from where we need to be.

We have a long way yet to go.

Maybe It's Just Me.

3 comments:

Rich said...

A good fallback position when one can’t defend proposed public policy on the merits is to scream racism even without evidence of it. If we had a conservative black president and there was strong opposition to his policies, would the same people be calling them racists? Did they call the opposition to Clarence Thomas, with all the sexual overtones in those hearings, racists? The president should go on TV (again) and tell his supporters to stop using the race card. To prove you are not a racists you must agree with a minority president’s policies? Let’s agree there are some racists in all races and move on.

Rich

Harvey said...

"Let’s agree there are some racists in all races and move on."

That was my only point. We have a ways to go before we can claim that racism is no longer an issue. Nothing in my piece defends or even mentions politics or policy but simply tries to point out that we are far from a post racial society, as some claim.

Why interpret my remarks as a defense of a political strategy? Read the piece again. It's about racism, not politics.

I have always felt that race continues to be a problem in America at least equal to the political polarization in government. I did not "scream racism" to defend policy.

Rich said...

You are right; I went too far a field. In recent days the president’s supporters have been the ones reminding us of his race and I thought you were referring to those folks in your Sept. 14th post. I need to focus.