A Competition of Suffering?
So I'm back (thanks to Cheryl Corley for sitting in these past two shows from Chicago) and I am watching the TODAY show while I am getting ready to go on the air and Geraldine Ferraro is there telling us about sexism in the campaign. She reiterates her view, previously stated, that Hillary Clinton has been a victim of sexism in a manner that would not be acceptable were it racism directed at Barack Obama. Her evidence among other things is that some young men at a campaign rally (back in New Hampshire - what year was that again?) held up a shirt and yelled at her to iron it. She didn't like Obama brushing off his shoulders either after he was subjected to attacks many of his supporters considered unfair.
Ah, competitive suffering. Let me introduce into the conversation an email I received last week forwarded by my friend and colleague Ruben Navarette, a Barbershop regular. The message was sent to him by a reader of his column, where he talked about the racism directed at Obama. It's a bit long but I think you have to read it all to get the point. Here goes.
It's not racist to NOT want a black president just yet. The black community first has to clean up its own act to be accepted as "responsible" citizens. Yes, there are many who have done that. But most, unfortunately, still cling to an attitude of "entitlement" (come on, it's been a long time since the days of slavery -- get over it!)! Know what I see on the news about the black community? Hate-mongering preachers, black women on welfare spawning baby after baby, black gangs killing each other, black hoodlums stealing purses from elderly women, black superstars horribly abusing animals, drug dealing, murder, jails filled with black individuals.You'll probably say they haven't had the same "opportunities" as whites. OH, really! My parents immigrated from Europe in the 50s. They arrived with NOTHING except the will to work hard, to abide by the law, and to improve the lives of themselves and their children. They worked two jobs, went to night school to learn English, proudly saluted the American flag, paid their taxes, LOVED assimilating into the American mainstream, and would have been ashamed to accept welfare.
So you really wonder why some whites find it a little "problematic" to vote for a black president?
So there you have it. And don't get confused that these are isolated exchanges. Ruben and I get them every day. But, for now, let's set aside all the ignorance of historical reality - like slavery, Jim Crow, and restrictive covenants that kept black people out of the neighborhoods some immigrants were welcomed into - in other words American Apartheid which was only legally dismantled in the 1960's. Let's set aside all the factual errors and the fantasies about the noble white immigrants which are too numerous to rebut in the short time you'll be likely to spend on this post (but just a few include: the idea that somehow previous generations of white immigrants refused welfare - what does that mean exactly? Welfare as we know it is a very recent phenomenon but there were plenty of mutual aid societies and the church and benevolent associations and believe you me, people did take advantage when they had to because they weren't going to let their kids starve or die if they could help it, though many immigrant kids DID starve and die, the mortality rates in some of these immigrant neighborhoods at the turn of the century was horrendous). No, let's move on to the fact that this letter writer presumes to know the facts of the ENTIRE black community, as well as the core assumption that ALL black people have to be accountable for the acts of a few, and that NO black person can be worthy of consideration for leadership in society until all black people straighten up and fly right.
So, no racism here, right?
I am not going to tell you that this one email writer represents a majority opinion in this country. In fact, an equally compelling argument can be made that the 80,000 people who came out to see Barack Obama in Oregon last week represents a far more compelling portrait of the state of our country than this one (or two or seven emails) does.
That leads me to our lead conversation with Benajmin Todd Jealous, the new president of the NAACP. His selection was announced over the weekend. He is 35 years old, a career human rights activist, Rhodes Scholar, a father, a husband, and now the head of one of this country's most venerable civil rights organizations.
So now what?
Some people, even some on our own staff, wondered whether we needed to devote two days to coverage of this leadership change, even at an organization as venerable as the NAACP (My colleague Cheryl Corley talked to the immediate past president Bruce Gordon yesterday as well as political science professor Melissa Harris Lacewell).
My argument is that this is not a conversation about the NAACP but what it means to make racial progress in this country.
Who are we? What do we want? What do we need to do to get there?
The conversation continues ...
2:07 PM ET | 05-20-2008 | permalink
