There has been talk about should we convene a conversation on race. I haven't seen that be particularly productive when politicians try to organize conversations. They end up being stilted and politicized, and folks are locked into the positions they already have.I think this is one of the things that pisses off the President's African American critics on the left. He didn't seek this job to be a civil rights movement leader. He sought it to be POTUS - and to be the best damn POTUS he could possibly be.
If you want to know what is absolutely driving the white male patriarchy nuts about our first African American president - its that he's succeeding in doing that. Their freak-out is all about the fact that their game of dismissing this black man as a "boy" who is out of his league is up.
That's the role Barack Obama chose to play in this struggle. It doesn't mean that its the only one that is needed in this country for us to continue on the path to a more perfect union - that requires an "all hands on deck" approach. But the integrity and competence he's bought to the office is an important piece of the puzzle.
And beyond that, there's this...
I can think of no better role model for a young black man than President Obama. In addition to everything that is on his plate, he also has to address race issues unlike any President before him. He has overcome many obstacles to get where he is today and instead of talking about that we have racists and emoprogs complaining. He is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't.
ReplyDeleteThe President is right when he says that the current young generation is more tolerant than the ones before. I just finished six weeks of science summer camp with high school sophomores, and they absolutely did not care who was what color. Equally encouraging, there was a flamingly gay boy in the group, and everybody accepted him. He was one of the girls, and everyone was okay with that. One day he joked that the mirror in the dorm said his name if asked who the fairest of them all was. The grownups were doubled over laughing while the youngsters didn't even bat an eyelash. It does indeed get better.
ReplyDeleteWhy should the first Black president be the one to talk about race issues? Why shouldn't White presidents discuss racism, considering that it's a White person's problem, because they're the ones perpetrating and perpetuating it. The problem comes from those who create it, not those who suffer from it - at least that's how I feel. Why do we always expect the victims to fix the problems, and not those who caused it? Men need to fix the rape problem, because for the vast majority of rapes, it's men causing the problem. Racism is White people being racist, so White people need to FIX IT. I picture an elephant sitting on a Black man and crushing him, saying "Fix this" - and how ridiculous is that?
ReplyDelete"Here, I'm screwing this up over and over and over again - but you can do all the work. I have always had all the power, but I expect you to fix this."
When are Whites going to take responsibility for what they do? When are men going to stand up and correct their issues? Why is it always up to the battered, the beaten and the broken to fix what's being done TO them?
*Sigh*
@ReasonVsFear on Twitter, here.