Racialism: Why We Can't Move On!

It's time to Break It Down!

“Herein lies buried many things which if read with patience may show the strange meaning of being black here in the dawning of the Twentieth Century. This meaning is not without interest to you, Gentle Reader, for the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color line.” W. E. B. Du Bois wrote that as he fashioned the opening of his now historic “The Souls of Black Folk,” in 1903.

In postulating this great truth, Du Bois, who was known to be brilliant, established that he was also prescient. The first half of the Twentieth Century was steeped in an evolving array of efforts to move past America’s Original Sin, slavery. Jim Crow, the Ku Klux Klan, and The Civil Rights Movement, were headline news throughout the first fifty years of the century. School Desegregation, Civil Rights law, race riots, voting rights, and equal access to public accommodations drove the public agenda for much the following twenty-five years. Efforts to ensure Equal Employment Opportunity, highlighted the final quarter of the century.

In reflecting upon Dr. Du Bois’ prediction, to conclude that he nailed his assessment is to concede the obvious; sort of a sad but true commentary. Perhaps, if it ended there; if as a society, we actually moved on at the advent of the Twenty-First Century, we, as Americans, might be able to credit ourselves with a slow, but steady progression. We could say, though it took all of a hundred years to do so, we solved and eliminated the race issue in America. Alas, I am forced to “say it ain’t so!” The undeniable truth is Dr. Du Bois understated the trenchant nature of this mendacious ill. In fact, if the first decade of this century is any indication, “The problem of the Twenty-First Century is the problem of the color line.” Déjà vu, all over again!

How can that possibly be the case? To be sure, there is certainly a segment of the populace who will declare it is not. They will, in some cases filled with pride, and in other cases, filled with resentment, but in every case, quickly, point to the fact that America elected a black man President in 2008. Case closed, they will add, gleefully, or indignantly, but always forcefully.

Here this and know; “Denial is not just a river in Egypt!” As we approach the three-quarter mark in this the eleventh year of the Twenty-First Century, there is an element in this country that seems committed to foment racial intolerance at every turn, to roil the waters of hateful speech on a daily basis, and to promote interracial fear, loathing and distrust as Articles of Faith and creed.

Yes, America is a “Free” country. And as such, a wide variety of speech is protected, including the sorts I have just referenced, and consider patently vile. Perhaps as you read this, you are thinking to yourself, what is the big deal? Why would you concern yourself with this issue?

Allow me to bring a higher level of clarity to the subject by citing just a few of the myriad examples that are circulated in the public domain on a regular basis.

Rush Limbaugh brought us such brilliant concepts as:

• Barack the Magic Negro (A song which Rush actually called brilliant)

• Little boy/man child president

• Affirmative Action is to blame for Obama’s presidency

• Halfrican American in reference to Barack Obama (& Halle Berry)

• Wants President Obama to fail

Sean Hannity adds:

• Obama isn’t fit to be a Senator much less President

• Obama eats his burgers with mustard… (What?)

• Obama is a racist based on Church website

Glenn Beck’s contributions include:

• Obama is a racist with a deep-seated hatred of white people

• Planning a rally at the Lincoln Memorial on the 47th Anniversary of the Reverend Dr, Martin Luther King’s I Have A Dream speech…to reclaim the Civil Rights movement (from whom?)

• Recants the racist assertion only to replace it with Black Liberation Theology proponent, which nobody accepts

Sarah Palin asserts:

• Obama is a community organizer (pejoratively)

• Obama pals around with terrorists

• Obama supports Death Panels for the Health care program

Congressman Joe Wilson, South Carolina, yelled:

• You lie, at Obama, during a Joint Session of Congress

Senator Jim DeMint, South Carolina, argued:

• If we can defeat Obama on this (speaking of Healthcare Reform), it will be his Waterloo; we can break him

Rusty DePass, South Carolina GOP Activist, says:

• Gorilla escaped from the Columbia, SC Zoo was ancestor of Michelle Obama

Congressman Joe Barton, Texas, apologized:

• To Tony Hayward, BP CEO, because President Obama negotiated a $20 Billion fund to pay for damages on the Gulf Coast caused by the BP oil spill

Ben Quayle (Son of former Vice President Dan Quayle), called:

• Obama “The worst President ever!”

Ann Coulter suggests:

• “The nonsense about President Obama being a Muslim has got to stop. I rise to defend him from this absurd accusation by pointing out that he is obviously an atheist."

During the 2008 Presidential Campaign, I heard more times than I can enumerate how much some people wanted Mr. Obama to win, because it would at long last put the race issue behind us for good. While I never believed it was that simple, I am convinced many folks did…and still do. That is to say, Mr. Obama was elected, and they are done; so moved on.

In all candor, most of those people were white, and they believe, largely, that the main reason the issue is still front and center so often, is because blacks won’t allow it to die, preferring instead to do all within their power to force whites to languish in a state of unquenchable guilt.

The examples above, a small but easily attainable sample, are intended to show the unmitigated hate and ad hominem attacks that President Obama is subjected to on the regular. Newsflash; that is not the cure! No matter who you are, regardless of you ethnicity, independent of your political leanings, subjecting the President of the United States, who happens to be black, to such attacks is not going to result in easing tensions among blacks and whites in America, any more than practicing anti-Semitism or burning Korans will lead to peace in the Middle East, or make the world a safer, more secure place.

So in the event you ever contemplate “Racialism, and wonder, Why We Can’t Move On,” consider the many perpetrators who continue to fan the flames, vigorously. If you really care about the likelihood that the problem of the color line, just as it was during the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, will be the problem of the Twenty-First Century, you should engage those in your own sphere of influence who fan the flames, and impress upon them why you feel they should stop.

In “Stride Toward Freedom,” his 1958 book, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote: “He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.” Indeed, it is easy enough to say I am not my brother’s keeper. But, in point of fact, you are; each of us is. And that’s all I have to say about that. I’m done; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com. A new post is published each Wednesday. For more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post, consult the links below:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/racialism?&qsrc=

http://www.bartleby.com/114/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nile

http://www.english-test.net/forum/ftopic35955.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIZDnpPafaA&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW9zikASCdg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2of_3gh47o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l46t_nrySg4

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_liberation_theology

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Church_of_Christ

http://mediamatters.org/research/200701240010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u5BcAJzAaE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fduTGkNWK3s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lovF-f8bkTU

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Wilson_(U.S._politician)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/14/rusty-depass-south-caroli_n_215439.html

http://www.examiner.com/liberal-in-national/bp-oil-spill-liberal-pundits-attack-gop-rep-joe-barton-s-apology-to-bp

http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2010/08/gop-patriot-ben-quayle-hammers-obama-in-victory-speech/

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20015403-503544.html?tag=pop