Confession of a Black Man
Thursday, March 20, 2008
I am surprised that the Fort Worth Star-Telegram decided to open the discussion on race relations, a subject dealt with in the newspaper, one-sidedly, for so long. Not to mention, the one black editorialist Bob Ray Sanders is constantly roasted in the newspaper as always “playing the race card”.
(See “We Need to Talk”, Thursday, March 20, 2008)
After much discussion in the national media about race, as it relates to the 2008 presidential campaigns, and recent controversies created by surrogates of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, the Star-Telegram announced, “Let the conversation begin” about race and perceived racism.
My first thought was like that of Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men: “You can’t handle the truth!” The theme of most white America is “lie to me” and “make me feel good about myself”. And, if I don’t lie, they call me a “race hater”. I be damned if I do. I be damned if I don’t… speak as an African-American man.
Barack Obama could not have grown up with Eddie Griffin. I would have hounded him as being an Oreo, black on the outside and white on the inside. His thinking, to me, is more white than black. Therefore, he could have had no input in the discussion of black liberation in the 1960s, as black conservatives had no input then. Barack Obama is conservative in the eyes of more militant African-America, just as Bob Ray Sanders is on the right side of Dixie.
No, white America, you can’t handle the truth. You want me to tell you a lie? Here is a lie: I love you white America, unconditionally. My wife doesn’t even get that much commitment from me. And you want me to love you more than myself. Geesh!
Oh, you say I am an old angry black militant from the revolution days of the Civil Rights Movement, and that deep down inside I hate white people. Not so.
There are some things about white people’s practice of brotherly kindness that doesn’t sit well with me. For example: They like to have the last authoritative word on any and every subject, as if my intelligence is inferior. It makes me angry, not hateful. And, the Bible says, “Be angry, but sin not”. I can be angry without punching white people in the noose, a temptation I have suppressed for all of my life, and yet I am not non-violent, in the MLK sense.
Basically, I feel sorry for humanity, because a lot of white people just don’t get it… so sad, the human race. But my saying that I, a black man, feel sorry for them only angers them even more. Why?
Hi,
I am a white woman in my early 60’s, and have been a fervent believer in Civil Rights since I was old enough to believe in anything. I’ve tried my entire life to do whatever I could to further that cause, both personally and professionally. That has included trying my level best to not only be sensitive to where any other person is coming from, but imagine I were walking in their shoes. Can I completely? Of course not — but I can keep trying harder, and better.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not looking for some kind of brownie points, I’m just saying that yeah, there sure are some European Americans who are disgusting crudbuckets my husband and I can’t stand being around either, there are some with the gripes Obama was talking about, there’s a whole range in the middle who have given African-Americans about as much thought as they have the war in Iraq (i.e., practically none), a group that are okay, and then there really are, I think, a group of whites who do care but aren’t quite sure what to do, don’t want to offend and have no real gripes (but do have some real guilt not so much because they’ve done anything directly but because they do understand how this country has favored us and betrayed you) and as a result of all that a lot of these people feel like they are walking on eggshells. It’s pretty easy to tell the real, hate-filled bigots but it’s hard even for whites to sort out where any other person stands on that continuum, and so I’ve generally tended to expect the worst from people, but I have been pleasantly surprised a whole lot of times.
And what I’m thinking is that it would be helpful to any Caucasian-Americans who would like to somehow make things better, personally, professionally, or whatever, if maybe different people could comment on specific steps, between co-workers, friends, acquaintances, etc., that you feel whites should take to start up this too-long-delayed dialogue — and maybe what might be considered good mileposts along the way.
It’s talking about talking — but why not?
I agree with you that Obama is not the perfect “black” candidate but he probably is still the “best” candidate overall for African Americans that still left in the election. He is not militant by any stretch of the imagination but I do like the way when he speaks to the community directly that he doesn’t pander he challenges and we need more of that in my mind. In the end though, it’s like W.E.B. DuBois said… “A little less complaint and whining, and a little more dogged work and manly striving, would do us more credit than a thousand civil rights bills.” Real change takes place on the grassroots level. In the homes, in the minds, words and actions of the community that realistically has a lot of things that we can personally do better. Myself included. If we are waiting for any president to change our conditions, I personally think we will be waiting a long, long time