Well, that's exactly what I mean. It shouldn't matter what the reasons are, some of the white people are angry, too. My point was simply that racism goes both ways, we all know it. Obama stated this clearly. But there is still some justification implied for black racism and I just think that this is a hump in the road that still must be smoothed a bit.
Sort of what I was getting at. I'm glad you understand what I mean.
It was a good speech. One thing he said that I thought was very true and deserves more attention is that racism is generational and we have come a very long way since Jim Crow. Older men like his preacher and our remaining supremicists just cannot move any further forward.
Progress has been made and is still being made by the youngest generations. I see it in my own family. My paternal great grandfather was a Confederate soldier in the 28th Alabama infantry, my maternal great-grandfather was in the Klan in the '30's. That generation was an enemy of the black man. My grandfathers were small country farmers with deep animosity of blacks and never associated with them, but didn't cause them problems either. My father was a George Wallace democrat who harbored a private distrust towards blacks, but never actually discriminated against one or insulted one. He even had a few black aquaintances with whom he shared a mutual respect.
My generation saw segregation disappear remarkably fast, went to school with blacks, played ball with blacks, and had blacks that were true friends. Racism in my generation has declined to the point of our use of the "N-word" (with which were were raised and still slips out when we are angered) and to our conscious and unconscious biases. I have no children, but observing my young cousins and working at a major university for 30 years, I see that the new generation has even lost the slurs and much of the conscious bias. The time of "no big deal" is just a generation or two away, perhaps.
This progress should be recognized and embraced for what it portends, as Obama seems to be doing. Whether Obama wins or not, he has replaced the race-baiting voices of the past--Jackson, Sharpton, and Farrakhan--as the voice of Black America. This is a fellow that has credibility with White America that will pay dividends in the future.
Indeed I do and I consider this concept to be a major key to the solution. As I've told you before, I'm willing to accept responsibility for the racism of my generation and race. Certainly I recognize it and have been a part of it. I can help push my demographic group in the right direction. I'm just unwilling to be burdened by the guilt of earlier generations nor to take responsibility for problems that can only be solved by the black community itself.
I think if you ask the average black fellow what the biggest problems facing black Americans are he would put racism at #1. I think if you ask the average white guy what the biggest problems facing the black community are, racism would come in around #4 after crime, school dropout, and teenage pregnancy--issues within the black community and family.
I beg you to consider that not every problem that faces you is due to your race. White folks don't have a path paved with silver, you know. We have to deal with many of the same problems black folks do. When something bad befalls me, it certainly ain't because I'm black, but because I neglected something, performed poorly, made the wrong call, or simply had bad luck. I think these things cause some of black folks' problems, too. And if they can deal with those issues, then we are only left with fixing a racial bias problem that is in our control, thus doable.
Click to expand...
