This past week the political world burped out another revelation that one of it’s own said something that was “offensive” to Blacks.
“…in 2008 he said he thought that Barack Obama could win the presidency because he was ‘light-skinned’ and did not use a ‘Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.’ (source)
{The irony is that Harry had more faith that Obama could win than many of his Johnny-come-lately supporters who said that Obama could never win because he was Black}
As expected, the political lines are drawn. Generally-speaking, Blacks and Whites on the Left who are masters of the game “pin the apology on the dummy” shrugged their shoulders and continued on with business as usual: micro-analyzing every word of Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh while continuing to help boost the ratings of the very people they claim to hate. Characters on the Right came out of the gate with the shine of Theo Huxtable’s Gordon Gartrelle shirt as they try to beat the Left at their game of demanding apologies from Senator Reid.
The Black race in America has been through the throws of slavery, the clutches of Jim Crow and gut punches of inequality. And like a seasoned heavyweight fighter whose body can take blow after blow, with God’s grace we continue to make it to the next round against the odds of naysayers.
Yet despite all of those victories over the most insurmountable odds, our greatest enemy today isn’t the Jim Crow or slavery. No. Our greatest enemy has become offense.
A commercial in Australia (out of all places) where a White man hands out fried chicken to a bunch of dancing Black folks, Glenn Beck’s recent comments, a census form that uses the word “Negro”, a picture on a very obscure website of our first lady as a monkey, magazine covers (meanwhile the publish industry had no such outrage here), poorly-named frozen chicken dinners have become this generation’s Bull Connor, George Wallace, Klan members, White Citizens’ Council where we are stupid enough to hunt down and highlight their every move while talking incessantly about them. Previous generations climbed mountains as we just create them out of talking points from our iPhone.
I get tired of online discussions where the real problems Blacks face cannot be discussed unless they are accurately measured against what Whites are not doing. Meanwhile, our successes are celebrated as singular accomplishments that have originated from our own industry. Has it really become that hard for the descendents of kings and queens to honestly deal with what we see in the mirror?
Recently I was in a discussion with someone online who was offended that the NAACP chose to nominate the “Real Housewives of Atlanta” for the upcoming Image Awards. I responded back by telling this individual that if he wanted to get mad at somebody, get mad at the folks who made the show popular in the first place. A well-known highly trafficked Black gossip website that regularly reports on the ugly side on Black entertainers (and get paid for doing it) recently called out the NAACP over this nomination calling it “foolishness, gold-digging and pure ignorance.” Meanwhile, this same site that is known for updating readers on the behind the scenes action of the show as well as telling readers who is getting “chopped down” within the Black entertainment community is…what?
While many pretend to want to have an honest talk about race, few can actually handle it. While shows like Real Housewives of Atlanta are blasted as an embarrassment to the Black race, no one wants to talk about the fact that the show is closely followed and watched by Blacks. This is exactly why the NAACP chose to nominate it and frankly the truth can be embarrassing. Which is why the NAACP is also taking flack over this nomination. They are a more safer target that allows you to criticize to you heart’s content without being flagged as one who beats up on Black folks.
In order to break the cycle of endless debates, town hall meetings, round table discussions, this decade is going to require us to be brutally honest about ourselves without all the PC and demand for apologies. We have been through too much and have come too far to become soft. The discussion does not start with CNN and whether or not “Black in America” was done right or not. It starts with us.
No More Sensitivity Training
by Duane on January 11th, 2010 at 1:53 amThis past week the political world burped out another revelation that one of it’s own said something that was “offensive” to Blacks.
{The irony is that Harry had more faith that Obama could win than many of his Johnny-come-lately supporters who said that Obama could never win because he was Black}
As expected, the political lines are drawn. Generally-speaking, Blacks and Whites on the Left who are masters of the game “pin the apology on the dummy” shrugged their shoulders and continued on with business as usual: micro-analyzing every word of Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh while continuing to help boost the ratings of the very people they claim to hate. Characters on the Right came out of the gate with the shine of Theo Huxtable’s Gordon Gartrelle shirt as they try to beat the Left at their game of demanding apologies from Senator Reid.
The Black race in America has been through the throws of slavery, the clutches of Jim Crow and gut punches of inequality. And like a seasoned heavyweight fighter whose body can take blow after blow, with God’s grace we continue to make it to the next round against the odds of naysayers.
Yet despite all of those victories over the most insurmountable odds, our greatest enemy today isn’t the Jim Crow or slavery. No. Our greatest enemy has become offense.
A commercial in Australia (out of all places) where a White man hands out fried chicken to a bunch of dancing Black folks, Glenn Beck’s recent comments, a census form that uses the word “Negro”, a picture on a very obscure website of our first lady as a monkey, magazine covers (meanwhile the publish industry had no such outrage here), poorly-named frozen chicken dinners have become this generation’s Bull Connor, George Wallace, Klan members, White Citizens’ Council where we are stupid enough to hunt down and highlight their every move while talking incessantly about them. Previous generations climbed mountains as we just create them out of talking points from our iPhone.
I get tired of online discussions where the real problems Blacks face cannot be discussed unless they are accurately measured against what Whites are not doing. Meanwhile, our successes are celebrated as singular accomplishments that have originated from our own industry. Has it really become that hard for the descendents of kings and queens to honestly deal with what we see in the mirror?
Recently I was in a discussion with someone online who was offended that the NAACP chose to nominate the “Real Housewives of Atlanta” for the upcoming Image Awards. I responded back by telling this individual that if he wanted to get mad at somebody, get mad at the folks who made the show popular in the first place. A well-known highly trafficked Black gossip website that regularly reports on the ugly side on Black entertainers (and get paid for doing it) recently called out the NAACP over this nomination calling it “foolishness, gold-digging and pure ignorance.” Meanwhile, this same site that is known for updating readers on the behind the scenes action of the show as well as telling readers who is getting “chopped down” within the Black entertainment community is…what?
While many pretend to want to have an honest talk about race, few can actually handle it. While shows like Real Housewives of Atlanta are blasted as an embarrassment to the Black race, no one wants to talk about the fact that the show is closely followed and watched by Blacks. This is exactly why the NAACP chose to nominate it and frankly the truth can be embarrassing. Which is why the NAACP is also taking flack over this nomination. They are a more safer target that allows you to criticize to you heart’s content without being flagged as one who beats up on Black folks.
In order to break the cycle of endless debates, town hall meetings, round table discussions, this decade is going to require us to be brutally honest about ourselves without all the PC and demand for apologies. We have been through too much and have come too far to become soft. The discussion does not start with CNN and whether or not “Black in America” was done right or not. It starts with us.