In case you forgot to shed tears of joy, the new U.S. Attorney General is a Black man. What’s that? Oh, perhaps you’re all out of tears. Fair enough, considering that we are in Black History Month, a month after the inauguration of the first Black president. Perhaps you’ve run out of tears since the position of Secretary of State was held by its first two Black Americans ever for the last eight years (of course, they were conservative, A.K.A. “house slaves”, according to most of their Black critics.).
Come to think of it, by now, we have had Black senators, congressmen, governors, cabinet members, Supreme Court justices, university professors, and on and on. While anyone can recognize the significance of our first Black president, when can we say “enough with the glass ceiling rhetoric.”
The same was the case when Speaker Pelosi became Speaker of the House. As if we didn’t have dozens of women in every area of government. Still, with every new “hurdle,” we hear the obligatory catch phrase “We’ve come along way, but have a long way to go.”
No, we don’t. We’re there right now.
No doubt, this country has spent centuries fighting racial demons. Slavery ranks among mankind’s most morally depraved hours, and the Civil War that ensued as a result in this country was America’s bloodiest. For a hundred years thereafter this country continued to fend off these demons. Today, America’s legal system has been so reshaped, often for the better, by the march of equality as to render institutional racism against Black Americans virtually extinct.
Moreover, such racism is vastly considered socially unacceptable as well. The Klan member sporting a white cape is less a serious boogeyman than he is a clown to be mocked in popular culture.
And while we may never get to declare the death of racism completely, its more than fair to say that if a minority was refused a job or position in this country, it probably was not attributable to a racist employer – and if it was, that employer is going to have 16,000 lawyers and government agencies on top of him in no time.
Yet, last week, Attorney General Eric Holder, contemplating America’s aversion to discussing race, said “In things racial we have always been and continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards.” Indeed, making such a statement in the middle of Black History Month made it all the more poignant. It’s hard to tell that I’m being completely facetious right now, given that most people would think, indeed, Black History Month is a poignant time to talk about race. No, it’s an absurd time for a Black Attorney General who was appointed by a Black president who was elected by 53% of the voting public, to be scolding an entire nation for racial “cowardice.”
To be honest, I’m absolutely sick of “talking about race” if Mr. Holder means talking about race the way we’ve been talking about it for the last couple of decades. Because, “talking about race” almost invariably consists of talking about how minorities need to be allowed to move ahead and upward on the social ladder, and how we must break down racial barriers. Yet, again, many of these so-called “barriers” no longer exist.
This is not to say that minority groups, Black Americans in particular, don’t suffer from tragic social dilemmas with regard to crime and poverty. However, the point of contention that arises in our many “talks about race” seems to be the source of these dilemmas. While Mr. Holder never specified his opinion, those of his Liberal ilk never fail to cite institutional racism.
Thus, our little talks tend to break down. Moreover, incase Mr. Holder has forgotten, non-minorities (White males) generally aren’t allowed to talk about race, if they refuse to agree with the [Liberal] consensus view that racism is an everlastingly pervasive attitude that shall always, always, always remain entrenched, embedded and lingering the depths of every White mind. Those who disagree are deemed racist, or politically incorrect, at best.
It’s no wonder that some White Americans have become cowards. In this, I fully agree. In fact, I would further add there are at least four general types White Americans, when it comes to “talking about race”:
First, there are the spineless White Liberals who have accepted the regime of Political Correctness. They talk about race freely, yet always concede that Black America’s problems are the direct result of ever-lingering American racism. This group consists of cowards with regards to any number of issues, not the least of which is their cowardice on race.
Second, there are the Non-political, non-confrontational White Americans who may or may not believe the [Liberal] consensus view that all Whites are racist by nature, but still refuse to talk about race for fear of being called racist. This is probably the largest group of White Americans, and indeed, this group consists of cowards on the issue of race.
Third, there are the actual racists.
Fourth, there are the “racists” who have no problem honestly “talking about race,” but refuse to attribute staggering Black crime and poverty rates to anything but 50 or more years of Socialism, welfarism, racial demagoguery, political correctness, and the moral decline of popular culture. This group does not agree that racism remains institutional.
This group does not shed tears every time a Black person, or a woman for that matter, achieves a high office, because they do not consider America an institutionally racist country. Certainly, this group expects nothing less than greatness to come from every community and every corner of America, regardless of their skin color.
This group sees America’s Black communities in crisis, and hopes to God that a bright, well-educated, and respectable Black president, or a Black Attorney General will ask Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton to move aside in order to serve these communities as shinning examples of what America has to offer every citizen if he’s willing to pursue his dreams.
This group is tired of “talking” the issue of race to death, and tired of ending up the politically incorrect racist in these racial discussions.
Happy Black History Month.