We're still clueless about race
Published September 30, 2016
by Tim White, Fayetteville Observer, September 24, 2016.
He really said that. It's on the record for eternity, or as long as digital files will last.
Robert Pittenger, the Charlotte Republican whose 9th Congressional District will include Fayetteville after the upcoming election, told a BBC Newsnight interviewer on Thursday that the protesters in Charlotte "hate white people because white people are successful and they're not."
He's spent most of his waking hours since then trying to walk back the comment, which could easily be construed as racist - and was taken as such, from the looks of all the Facebook and Twitter comments I've seen since he said it.
It reminded me of the comments made the same day by Kathy Miller, the Mahoning County, Ohio, chairwoman of Donald Trump's campaign. She told an interviewer that there was "no racism" before Obama became president, adding, "If you're black and you haven't been successful in the last 50 years, it's your own fault. You've had every opportunity; it was given to you." She resigned from her campaign post after a firestorm erupted.
There are elements of truth in what each of them said, but both stopped a few miles short of full understanding of this country's centuries-long inability to deal with race.
There are plenty of black people who are frustrated and angry that success is more available to white people than to blacks - that blacks are jumping 10-foot-high hurdles while we white folk step over little speed bumps on the road to a good living and a good life. White privilege is real. I know what it looks like because I've had it in my corner all my life. And if you're white and take honest stock of the breaks you've gotten in life, you'll see that you enjoyed white privilege too, at least in some degree.
Maybe that's what Rep. Pittenger meant to say. I hope so. But I fear my fellow Caucasian is more likely suffering from racial cluelessness, that what he said initially is what he really believes. That first, unfiltered blurt is often closest to the truth - at least, that's what I've seen in interviews over 45 years as a journalist.
And I kind of get what Kathy Miller meant, too. She may be oblivious to our country's racial history, because a lot of it played out a fair distance away from Mahoning County. But over a couple of decades before the Obama election, racism was pretty quiet in America. Oh, it was there, but people mostly kept their racist thoughts to themselves.
But something about the election of our first black president emboldened the the people who believe blacks are inferior to whites (the classical definition of racism) and let them vent their anger that one of those, one of the others, had somehow managed to reach the Oval Office - and then, to make things worse, won re-election to it.
Meanwhile, a long chain of police shootings of black people across the country - including here in Fayetteville - gave visceral evidence to African-Americans that they do indeed have a target on their backs.
We still don't hear each other - we hardly know how to talk to each other.
I thought, once, that maybe our kids will get it right. Some of them have. But now I'm thinking that the "post-racial" thing won't happen in my generation, nor in my son's. Maybe the grandkids will get it right. Let's hope so. Because this race thing is killing us.
September 30, 2016 at 10:34 am
Norm Kelly says:
More to respond with than I have time or patience for. Let's start small, but just this one section has so much response built into it.
'And so we discover, once again, that we haven't solved our race problem, because laws don't change attitudes and gut-level beliefs. They don't banish prejudice or bigotry. They don't free us from the burden of hatred. We still don't hear each other - we hardly know how to talk to each other.'
Laws DON'T change attitudes. Yet, what is it every lib and lib pol and it seems 'journalist' proposes? MORE LAWS! Forrest Gump said it best, but I'll probably get edited if I repeat it here. But you recognize what it's doing when it does it. If laws don't change attitude, do libs, any libs, pols, media allies, blacks activist racists, have ANY ideas? No. Just listen to libs & you will find they have no solutions for anything except MORE LAWS and BIGGER GOVERNMENT and MORE DAY TO DAY CONTROL OF INDIVIDUAL LIVES! So, stop depending on government to solve your problems!
Then there are the laws already passed. Forcing business to meet quotas. Forcing business to hire & promote blacks even and especially when they don't qualify. Reduce standards in order to 'level the playing field'. Penalize those with the skills necessary in order to promote those without what it takes. Wouldn't it be better to teach & train those who don't have what it takes so they can advance THEMSELVES?! If you don't believe there are quotas in hiring & promoting, you are a lib. Remember the firefighters in New England that sued because blacks were promoted even when they failed the written test, while whites who scored better were left in the dust? The whites won the case, cuz it was obvious how the results were skewed to meet quotas forced upon them by government!
Everyone has some sort of prejudice. For instance, I am HATED by libs because I'm a white male. No other reason to hate me, except that. But, libs are multi-talented folks. They also hate me because I'm a Christian. And I believe the Bible is God's word. Do libs need any other reason to hate me? No. But I give them another reason to hate. And hate is the only word to describe libs! I'm heterosexual. I'm not gay! Therefore I'm a bigot because and only because libs tell everyone that if you are hetero, you automatically are a bigot. Then there's the idea that I am opposed to socialism. For being against, opposing, the schemes of libs, what is actually socialism, I'm called 'deplorable'. And libs get away with saying things like this! Media allies tell us that Hildaliar simply made a 'gaff'! What's idiocy! I am told I can't disagree with the lies and schemes and socialism of the current White House occupier because he's a socialist who hates America. I am told by libs that I HATE the occupier because and only because he's kinda sorta partially BLACK! Again, total idiocy. But libs & media allies run with this lie!
Which brings us to the 'hardly know how to talk to each other' crap! We can't talk to each other because the lib, media, black group WON'T allow any other opinion to be expressed. Black 'leaders' and libs will NOT allow conservative, Christian, white people to be involved in ANY discussion of race. Black 'leaders' and libs find it difficult to allow WHITE LIBS to participate in any discussion of race. Whenever any white conservative even starts to talk about race relations, no matter the setting, libs shut it down, shout it down, and start violent protests.
So, libs, exactly what is YOUR solution? More laws? That you've already admitted don't work. No one hears your ideas or solutions, because like every other issue, libs have NO IDEAS or SOLUTIONS or even anything remotely logical or thoughtful to present. But libs will express their desire to raise taxes, make 'them pay their fair share'. Whatever that means. Cuz there's not a single lib who can explain it, can define it. But it 'sounds good'. How about the socialist scheme to increase competition and reduce costs on health insurance. How's that working? Higher costs. Higher deductibles. Fewer choices. Bankrupting costs. Higher government deficits at every level, central planner as well as state level. So, how exactly do socialist schemes and lies work? Not at all! But we are not allowed to talk about anything except lib schemes and lies without being called DEPLORABLE! Or RACIST! Or HOMOPHOBE! No solutions, no answers from libs, just name calling.
What's to admire about libs and their media allies? Not a darn thing! The word 'deplorable' can be used in a political sense, but it is wrong to direct it toward conservatives! Usually when you point the finger at someone else, there are 3 more pointing back at you. So, just like every negative description of those of us who oppose socialism, socialist schemes, lib lies, what you say about Constitutionalists is actually a reference to yourselves. Lib liars and their media supporters who make excuses and carry water for lying libs, you are a deplorable group of people! But I'll probably get edited for pointing it out. At least get a bunch of hate response. Truth sometimes hurts. And with libs having such thin skin, this must really be painful. But, then again, if it's truth, can it possibly be recognized by libs? Just ask Hildaliar!
