A Contrarian Take on the Reid Affair

I don't like Harry Reid.

Now that we got that out of the way, I can say this: I don't like the Senator from Nevada, but I also don't think he's a racist or what he said is racist. 

I don't know if white Americans would have voted for someone with darker skin.  Maybe, maybe not.  I think that is something best left to white Americans themselves to answer and since I'm not a white American, I won't answer.

But the thing is, what he said wasn't racist. 

That said, I am also left wondering what would have happened if a Republican had said the same thing.  I tend to think that said Republican would be in the midst of an even greater firestorm than the one surrounding Harry Reid.

E.D. Kain notes that the reaction on the right is indicative of the state of American conservatism these days, but I disagree: I think it is indicative of American politics these days.  While Republicans have shamelessly jumped on Reid's comments, Democrats have at times taken any criticism about the President to be a racist assault on Obama.  Meagan McArdle sums it up nicely:

I happen to agree that there's no evidence that either Bill Clinton or Harry Reid harbor deep racial animus.  Clinton's remarks clearly have an alternative, non-racial interpretation, and while Harry Reid may have been flashing back to his political salad days when Democrats regularly congratulated themselves on their openness to Negros, it's more unfortunate than problematic.  I only wish that all the liberals rushing to defend them would apply the same good faith presumption when Republicans are involved.  Even if the president is black, there will be many people who disagree with him vigorously and angrily; this is not, per se, evidence of racism.

A good faith presumption: it's seems to be what we are missing these days.

American conservatism is pretty messed up, but so is the entire political culture. Politicos on both the left and the right tend to automatically see the worst in each other rather than the best. We don't give each other the benefit of the doubt.

What if we were willing to act on faith that the other side isn't always a monster, but just someone we disagree with?

What missing these days is faith...in each other.

Conservatives and the Gates Affair

I work part time as a pastor at a church near downtown Minneapolis. A few months ago, I went to the church one Saturday evening to do some work. The church has an alarm system and I tried to disarm it with my code only to realize that the code did not work. After some time, I was able to use another person's code to shut the alarm off. Unfortunately, I was not able to prevent the police from coming to the church.

I came out of my office to see a white cop looking into the church. I came forward and explained the situation to him. He took my ID and went to his squad car for a few minutes. Everything checked out and he joked about not trying to set the alarm and went on his way.

In the back of my mind, I had feared such a situation because I am a black man. I don't know why I felt that way, but I did. I feared the police would assume that I was breaking into the building. The church has had a history of breakins and I was worried that the policeman would think I was another thief.

Fortunately, that did not happen. Maybe the cop noticed I casually came out of the office, or that I wasn't dressed like I was stealing something from a building. Whatever it was, he "profiled" me and judged that I wasn't a threat.

I share this experience because I think that every black man has had that fear running in the back of their head when they encounter a white policeman. I think it comes from a dark history between the police and the black community. The police have not always been a friend to black males and so I think our antennas go up.

It has been interesting to see how white conservatives have reacted to the whole affair with Henry Louis Gates. For many, he is just one more in a long line of liberal race baitters. Here is what Jules Crittenden had to say on the matter:

It’s getting a little awkward. It turns out Crowley might not be some lunkheaded Irish bigot cop after all. It’s looking like he might be the kind of white cop … if it is actually permissible for white men to be cops in post-racial America … that Gates, Obama, etal, might consider a paragon, an example for all.

I hate to moralize, but this is the kind of thing that happens when you make snap judgments and start busting heads and taking names based on nothing more that racial prejudice. Turns out that when you judge people by the color of their skin, great injustices can result.

Crittenden then goes into a long spiel about the struggles that white men must face because of affirmative action. He talks about the past history of racism, but like a lot of white conservatives, seems to think that it is just something in the past. If a black man complains about how they were treated, well they surely must be lying.

Now, I think what happened between Mr. Gates and Sgt. Crowley is not clear cut as I thought it once was. Crowley isn't some bigoted cop. But I also know that like Professor Gates, I would also be a bit apprehensive around a white cop because I don't know how things will transpire. It's an automatic reflex based on history. Yes, it might be the result of an overactive imagination, but it has it basis in a reality where black men have been mistreated simply because they were black.

I may disagree with President Obama on many things, but I can understand why his first reaction concerning the whole incident was one of saying the policy "acted stupidly." He was responding from a visceral feeling that I think is in the hearts of many of black man: that some policeman is going go overboard on them because of their race.

Maybe it was the wrong thing to say. But I can understand why he said it.

BUt all that has been lost on some conservative and policemen. Here is what retired NYPD cop Bob Weir had to say:

If anyone is a racist in this confrontation, it is this obstreperous professor who evidently feels that his loft academic status and his friendship with Obama not only put him above the law, but give him a platform to inject "color" into every situation. Make no mistake about it, if Crowley were black and followed the same protocol, Gates would have recognized that there was no opportunity for a public spectacle, so he would have behaved properly.

Speaking of behavior, President Obama showed his own lack of class and judgment when he said the Cambridge PD "acted stupidly." To make such a sweeping statement of condemnation after admitting that he didn't "know all the facts," is beneath the dignity of his high office.

What is disturbing here is that not only is Gates tagged as a racist, but the President is accused of not having all the facts when in fact, Mr. Weir as well as Mr. Crittenden and others also don't have the facts. We have two stories about the incident and both sides rush to believe the their side is the true one.

But in reality we don't know the facts at all. That will come in time, but people are rushing to fill in the blanks.

I have long believed that liberals tend to be too sensitive on racial issues, to the point that no one can talk about them or they become excuses for people of color to indulge in victimhood. But I also think that conservatives tend to be to dull to the experience of blacks in America and the scars that we still carry with us concerning the legacy of racism. White conservatives want to believe that this was all done a long time ago and that we African Americans should just move on. But the fact is, those scars take a long time to heal.

In short white conservatives want us to "get over it." Maybe in time we will, but it isn't that easy. You can't just undo 400 years of history in a few decades.

My fellow conservatives might think I'm just whining when I share my fears concerning white cops, but they are real for me just as they might have been for Mr. Gates and millions of other African American men. I wish for a moment that they could understand that.

Professor Gates

On the whole affair concerning Professor Henry Louis Gates: There is a lot of murkiness here, but I tend to lean towards this being a racist act.

I don't immediate jump to seeing every situation as racist- as the saying goes, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. One the one hand, it doesn't make sense to me why Dr. Gates had a hard time getting into his own house. That said, one has to wonder why the neighbors didn't notice that this was Dr. Gates.

But it really all boils down to this to me: the police should have simply asked for his ID to confirm that he lived there and left. I can understand checking out a place in case there is a robbery, but the Cambridge police went overboard.

As a black man, I know that for some odd reason, I can be percieved as a threat by people. I remember being 13 and going with my Mom to a credit union. While she did her business, I just kind of stood around. Unbeknownst to me, I was being watched and Mom found out and was upset. I was just surprised that people would consider me a threat- if they knew me, they knew I wouldn't hurt a fly.

Which is why I tend to side with Dr. Gates here. If he were white, I doubt this would have been an issue. But there is something that makes the larger society feel uneasy around black men. Especially, where you are a stocky and tall black man.

It's a sad tale, but not a shocking one. Race is becoming less of a factor in America, thank goodness, but less doesn't mean none.

On the Heroism of Cassie Wallender

Republicans historically have been known as the Party of Lincoln, the party that freed the slaves. Of course, in recent history that legacy has been tarnished by a long string of politicians and GOP leaders that have said things that can only be seen as bigoted.

The recent story of Young Republican candidate Audra Shay responding to a racist comment on Facebook is but the latest sad story. Audra is running for the leadership of the Young Republicans and hopes to be elected on Saturday. Her recent reaction to an incredibly racist comment is enough for me and I hope for those attending the national convention of Young Republicans in Indianapolis, to NOT elect this woman for leadership.

But instead of focus on the follies and sins of Ms. Shay, I think there needs to be praise given to one woman for standing up to such prejudice. Cassie Wallender, a chairwoman of the Young Republicans in Washington State responded to Ms. Shay on Facebook. She called Shay on her response. The following account comes from writer John Avalon:

Cassie Wallender, a national committeewoman from the Washington Young Republican Federation, then wrote: “Someone please help a naïve Seattle girl out, is Eric’s comment a racist slur?” She answered her own question one minute later: “Okay, why is this okay? I just looked it up. ‘It comes from a term baracoons (a cage) where they used to place Africans who were waiting to be sent to America to be slaves.’ THIS IS NOT OKAY AND IT’S NOT FUNNY.”

Wallender wrote a letter to the national committee of Young Republicans sharing her concerns:

I continue to hold that stating “You go get ‘em” and “LOL” to racist remarks are not acceptable for YRs. Her continued inappropriate responses to the situation and utter lack of an apology are quite disconcerting. I do not want to see infighting as we are all on the same team ultimately, but this is unacceptable especially from any of our elected officers. Even despite the red flags of spin pointed out above, and giving Audra the benefit of the doubt regarding racism, at the very best this was extremely poorly handled by turning it into a political attack on people completely uninvolved and by showing allegiance to those making racist statements while choosing to squarely turn her back on those speaking against racism.

All in all, this is a plea to my fellow National Committee Members to look at how this was handled and decide in your own heart and mind if this was appropriate, and if this is how we want to be represented to our country.

A note of thanks has to go to Cassie for standing up and speaking out. She could have kept her concerns to herself, kept her head down and ignore the issue. Instead, she spoke up.

Some of my friends on the Left assume that all white Republicans are racists. I know that is not the case, but rarely have we seen whites in GOP speak with such courage in the face of hate.

The GOP needs more Cassie Wallenders. They need women and men who stand up for inclusion. They need people to carry the banner of Abraham Lincoln and uphold long held Republican traditions of equality.

Audra Shay had a chance to be brave in the face of hatred and failed miserably. Cassie Wallender is hero for confronting bigotry.

Kudos to you, Cassie.

Can We Stop Having Conversations About Race?

Every so often, I have been part of a "discussion" on race. Every time I hear this, I start to shudder, because I know where this is all leading and how it will end. We all get together and there are a few speakers. A black person will talk about how unfair life has been for them and a white person will talk about their white priviledge. The African Americans (and other persons of color) in attendance, are made to feel bad about their lot in life and the things they have to put up with. The whites in attendance have to feel ashamed of being white and in power. There might be a video about the amount of African Americans in poverty of in prison and how that is a result of racism.

At the end of the "talk" we go our separate ways supposedly feeling good about having this time have a frank discussion on race.

But the thing is, we never had a discussion and nothing ever really changed. The discussion has almost alway been "rigged" in that there is one viewpoint that African Americans are supposed to have and one viewpoint that whites are supposed to have. It feels less like an honest conversation and more like a play where we have been handed the lines to speak.

Of course, the reason I am bringing this all up is because of Attorney General Eric Holder's comments this past week about the United States being a "nation of cowards" by not dealing with race. Holder said that the nation "still had not come to grips with its racial past, nor has it been willing to contemplate, in a truly meaningful way, the diverse future it is fated to have."

In some ways, I find this hard to believe. Since the civil right movement, we as a nation have been talking and facing our racial past. When I watched then President-elect Obama speak in Chicago's Grant Park back in November, I saw a multi-cultural audience that reflected America at this moment.

I'm not saying that life is perfect for African Americans. But speaking as an African American, I can say that life for me is a lot better than it was for my father who grew up in the Jim Crow South. Martin Peretz remind us what has changed:

Holder was eight years old half a century ago. The desegregation of schools had barely begun. The "dream" of Martin Luther King, Jr. was still ringing in the people's ears and he had only recently been murdered. Black men and women did not figure in our national politics. Black teenagers did not then reasonably aspire to do well at school -the odds were against them--or hope to graduate, as Holder did, from Columbia University (as Barack Obama also did) and from the Columbia Law School. There were no black generals or managing partners of law firms or presidents of the best institutions of higher learning or CEOs of Fortune 500 companies and not many black people at all in the solid middle class. And almost none in the upper middle class. How many blacks were actually rich or even super-rich? No, America is not racial paradise. But it is more integrated, much more integrated than Great Britain and France which used to disdain our bigoted traditions and habits. No longer, believe me, no longer.

But Holder seems to ignore all of this progress. In some ways, that has become the way many liberals have viewed race: highlighting the shortfalls and ignoring the major progress we have made as a nation. We have a black man in the White House, a house that was built by people that looked like our President who were viewed as nothing more than property. That is something to be proud of.

Yes, there are still problems that persist and racism does still exists, but it is not as pernicious and devastating as it once was. Yes, be vigilant, but for God's sake, be willing to celebrate once in while. As John McWhorter said:

If white people are cowards for not wanting to be called racists, there is a fear as well in people like Holder. It's not pretty to face that black people will excel, like everyone else, under less-than-perfect conditions. This "conversation" would be social history playing out quite perfectly--but history is never that consummately fair. The Civil Rights revolution was close enough to perfect, and Barack Obama's election was even closer. Now, it's time not for a callisthenic "conversation," but for making our way in reality.

History is not perfect. But we have come a long way. Let's be willing to say that.

"Dear Chip..."

An Open Letter to Mr. Chip Saltsman:

Hello, my name is Dennis Sanders. I'm not anyone special, just some guy in Minnesota who blogs from time to time. I wanted to write to you about your little storm that has been brewing since you sent a holiday CD with a little ditty called "Barack the Magic Negro."

I think the whole idea of sending out this CD was a major bad idea and isn't a good omen to what you might do as Chairman of the Republican National Committee.

Yeah, I know: the idea came from an article by a liberal. But you know what? It doesn't matter. I'm not calling you a racist, I don't know you. But what you did was insensitive to African Americans and isn't going to help you if you want the party to grow and reach minorities...if that's something you really want to do.

You see, I'm African American. A lot of African Americans voted for Barack Obama and they really look up to him. For them, the impossible has happened: someone that looks like them, has been elected to the highest office in the land. After being basically second-class citizens for about three centuries, this is a big achievement even if you don't agree with Obama's politics.

So, calling Obama the "Magic Negro" isn't a good idea. Maybe you haven't noticed, but the GOP has a bit of a PR problem with blacks. Maybe that is not deserved, but when you have people like the late Jesse Helms, former Senator Trent Lott praising outgoing Senator Strom Thurmond in a way that seemed to support his anti-segregationist policies, and the whole Willie Horton thing have not helped your standing with African Americans.

There is nothing wrong with making fun of a president including the President Elect. That's a noble American tradition. But when the Commander in Chief is an African American, one must be sensitive in how make fun of someone. You weren't sensitive at all.

There used to be a time when African Americans largely casted their votes for Republicans. They did this because it was Republicans like Abe Lincoln that freed my ancestors. Overtime, the Democrats have become the party of civil rights, while the GOP has been considered- fairly or unfairly-the party of unreconstructed bigots.

If the GOP is to stay a national party, then it has to be more willing to reach out to people who aren't white. And that means being more sensitive to minorities, which means, stop sending silly CDs using race to make fun of the president.

So, if you really want to make the GOP strong, you should offer an apology. If you want the party to be a joke, then don't. Your choice, but I would hope you have the sense to know better.

Sincerely,

Dennis Sanders