The American Spectator

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(Page 9 of 16)

Boy, was this an interesting piece. A Caucasian from England professing to be able to understand AND judge what the African-American community believes, and benefits from...professing to be able to speak to the ability of light-skinned African-Americans to "get beyond racial issues [sic]."

Wow!!!

As a man of mixed heritage, I was horribly offended by the oversimplified and judgmental view of this article. While I believe fully in everyone's right to their opinion, I also think that we should all believe that with that right comes the responsibility of making sure one knows what one is talking about. This man bases his thesis statement and conclusion on isolated interactions with African-Americans.

Mr. Bethell:

Do you honestly believe that affirmative action is THE cause of racial conflict in this day and age? Do you really think that the African-American community is emboldened by affirmative action? When so many of our young men believe that there is no way out for them? That is the most absurd set of conclusions I have ever heard.

That certainly may be a major cause of resentment among whites. I can tell you that tension coming from the African-American side is coming straight from being oppressed for hundreds of years. Segregation was just lifted 50 years ago after over 3 centuries of legalized slavery and oppression. The fact that "conservative" (actually radical) Caucasians will sit here and say "hey, we desegregated the schools, get over it sooner rather than later", shows an insensitivity to others that has been at the root of British and American imperialism for many, many years. Look up the Tuskegee experiments, look at the many many cases of police brutality against young African-American men. My father had a cop shine a flashlight in his face and ready to draw his gun because he said my father fit the description of someone who robbed a liquor store. My father had university administration tags on his car and was dressed in a suit with 2 kids and his wife in the car. I was a teenager at the time. I am only 34. Do you honestly think that African-Americans are no longer subject to discrimination?

The fact is, no THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY DOES NOT (as a whole) BLAME WHITE PEOPLE THAT ARE ALIVE TODAY. This does not change the FACT that something has to be done to level the playing field. Did you know that the African-American community is the only minority in the United States whose families were sold away from each other, whose very religious practices and cultural traditions were literally beaten out of them, not for decades, but for hundreds of years? Yeah, sure, recovery is possible in a single generation. This previous sentence was sarcasm, in case you need help deciphering that, too.

You're right, we do need to have a dialogue on race -- but we need an honest dialogue, not one that at its core is just an attempt to assign blame (Reverend Wright) or needlessly assuage some deep-seated misplaced guilt (articles like yours). You cannot just dismiss centuries of oppression in an article because the results of it (which include Rev. Wright's attitudes) make you uncomfortable.

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