So Rick Perry occasionally leases a plot of land that was once known as "Niggerhead" and had the word written on a rock. Apparently to some this is proof that he's "racist" or, if you ask black racists like Samuel L. Jackson, proof that the entire Tea Party is racist.
I was going to write a long post* about all of the recent race issues and claims of "racism" running rampant in the media and political dialogue these days, but I'm honestly just sick and tired of hearing about it. I'm sick and tired of everything being racially charged. I'm sick and tired of "racism" being used as a political bludgeon by the Left. More than anything I'm disappointed that in this new age of our first black President this country can't have anything even resembling an honest, open discussion on race or any race-based issue.
Is this what Martin Luther King would have wanted? A hyperpolarization of racial issues and outright dismissal of the novel idea that we should look at our fellow Americans based upon their character and not their skin color.
Looking at the political dialogue it seems to me that this country is more racially divided and racially sensitive than we were before Obama's post-racial age. I see wild accusations of racism and uncle-tomism being thrown around. I see people immediately being offended, crying "racism" and failing to intelligently evaluate statements on their merits. I see race and racism consistently being used as a political tool. What I don't see are any attempts to have calm, rational discussions on race in this country. More than anything that just makes me sad and not particularly hopeful for better race relations in America moving forward.
Race doesn't matter, or at least it shouldn't matter. We insist on making it matter, on unnecessarily inflating it into something it is not, and we place too much emphasis on racial identity. As long as we continue to do that we will never get past race and realize Dr. King's vision for this country.
And for the record, I wouldn't vote for Obama or any politician like him, whether they were white, black, purple or rainbow colored.
*and would ya look at that, this post turned out fairly long in its own right.
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6 comments:
Hey -- Is Barack Obama Racist because he lives in the WHITE HOUSE?
Or would it have to be called Honky House for it to be racist?
This is PRECISELY why, Herman Cain will never receive my vote.
He may be the smartest candidate in the entire field (R or D), but to blow something this trite and trivial out of proportion and make it a "race" issue, nope, sorry.
Which means the entire GOP field right now, sucks pretty bad.
FBH - I agree that Cain's comments are blowing something simple out of proportion. That said, is what he said untrue?
Blacks do vote in lockstep with with the left and what has it gotten them in the past decade or more?
Crime and violence at epidemic levels, massive unemployment comparative to the rest of the population, and Democratic politicians who aren't responsive to their plights or needs because they know they need not bother to court the black vote.
I got the crux of your post and even endorse it wholeheartedly.
You are 1000% correct that race doesn't (or shouldn't) matter, and I guess that is what I am contending. The second that candidate Cain raised it as a legitimate issue, he made himself an illegitimate candidate.
I also do understand how people are afflicted by the social ills that have been perpetuated by the "war on drugs, war on terror, war on poverty, war on illiteracy, ect, ect." Yes, you are fully correct that Dr. King would have NEVER invoked the race card in explaining or blaming the general failure of his heritage, or rather, the heritage of his fellow Americans (not that he would even stop to being called a black-American or African-American).
Stop, in the last line of my above post, should have been stoop.
Oh I agree that he shouldn't have made it an issue FBH, but at the same time the reaction to what he said is sad but instructive.
Everyone threw up their hands, went nuts and screamed "OMG! RACIST! BIGOT!" and no one stopped to think about the content of what he actually said.
It's as if everyone said "oh my god, he said something critical of blacks, let's turn off our brains."
How can we have intelligent, rational discussions when that's the default reaction?
That's what really irks me, in all of the virulent reaction to what was said I haven't heard anyone step back and intelligently think about and address what he said. That, I think, is a sad commentary on race relations in this country.
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