How to Talk About Race

Many white people would like to believe that race is not an issue in 2009. After Gatesgate, its pretty obvious that it still is even though we have a black President. President Barack Obama was even reminded that he was still an n-word even though he is President (Gatesgate backlash). A white congressman, Joe Wilson was rude to him in an act unheard of in U.S. history! And more..... Couldn't help but post this article as it speaks the truth.

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Analysis: Wrestling with how to talk about race

By LIZ SIDOTI

WASHINGTON (AP) - For a while, it almost seemed as if President Barack Obama had soothed the angst over race in this country simply by taking office. The focus was on big issues facing a new president - one who just happened to be black.

If only it were so simple. This summer, Obama stepped into the dustup between a black college professor and a white police officer, and the race debate erupted anew. Then vitriolic attacks on Obama over his health care proposals spawned rippling allegations that his critics were motivated by racism.

And now passions over skin color are flaring red-hot again.
Obama's election nearly a year ago - a monumental stride toward bridging the racial divide - turned the politics of race on its head.
But it didn't end the matter by any means.

It turns out that Obama was right when he said in his much-watched race speech in March 2008 that there are "complexities of race in this country that we've never really worked through - a part of our union that we have yet to perfect."

Americans still are figuring out how to hold that conversation as the country navigates uncharted territory under its first nonwhite president.

One conundrum is how to hold Obama accountable for his words and actions - or even talk about his policies - without risk of being called racist.

Hillary Rodham Clinton and John McCain both wrestled with that question during the presidential campaign. Both found it tricky to maneuver. Both were frustrated by it. Each handled it differently.

In the Democratic primary, Clinton acted so cautiously that some insiders questioned whether she was afraid to throw a punch.
Come the general election, McCain early on accused Obama of playing the race card, hoping to send a message that he would not brook being called a racist.

Obama had triggered the reaction with a warning that Republicans would try to scare voters by saying he "doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills."

A year later and now as president, Obama is the one working to tamp down race in the political dialogue.

"Are there people out there who don't like me because of race? I'm sure there are," Obama says matter-of-factly. But he rejects the notion that racism is even partly behind his critics' attacks, as a growing chorus of Democrats have claimed.

Trying to turn down the heat, Obama adds: "We can have a strong disagreement, passionate disagreements about issues without resorting to name-calling."

But the "racist" label is as old as the country itself. And, in a nation founded by slaveholders, people aren't about to stop using it just because a black president is pleading for civility.
Certainly, Obama's election healed some racial wounds. But change takes time, and understanding the ramifications of change takes even longer.

"What we're dealing with is the foundational racial problems that we have had and still have. We're making progress, but we haven't come as far as people would like to believe we have," says Bishop Harry R. Jackson Jr., the senior pastor of Hope Christian Church in Beltsville, Md., and an outspoken conservative who is black. He says society is going through "a learning curve" on how to criticize Obama - and how to criticize the president's critics.

It's an issue that goes to the very heart of democracy. Free speech, including holding leaders accountable, is at this country's core.
Could the risk of being called a racist end up muzzling healthy debate if people don't dare voice their concerns?

Perhaps for some. But on the whole, criticism hasn't stopped.
Animosity toward the president and his policies has boiled over in recent weeks, most notably with South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson's "You lie!" retort to the president.
Democrats from Jimmy Carter on down have blamed the increasingly harsh criticism of Obama on racism.
House Republican leader John Boehner countered that "the outrage that we see in America has nothing to do with race."

Reality likely falls somewhere in the middle.

"I hear it as anger, but anger masking fear," says Robin Lakoff, a linguistics professor at the University of California at Berkeley whose books include "The Language War." She says people are afraid of just about everything these days - the economy, the government, private business included. And she says: "There's this racial element. It isn't exactly racism but otherness."
Obama, for his part, has tried to shift the subject from the powder keg of race. It's been a distraction from his agenda, from his efforts to overhaul the health care system.

"It's important to realize that I was actually black before the election," the president said this week.

It was a gentle joke from the leader of a country still wrestling with the new dynamics that came when the son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas took charge of the White House.
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EDITOR'S NOTE - Liz Sidoti has covered national politics for The Associated Press since 2003.

Reflections - Prof. Henry Louis Gates Jr. Arrest

With Gatesgate behind us (hopefully) it's time to reflect on what happened. A world renowned scholar of African American history who is also African American, Prof. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is arrested at his own home in prestigious Cambridge, Massachusetts by a white police officer, Sergeant James Crowley) because the Prof. yelled at him. The Prof. is charged under a strange law which his said offence doesn't even fall under. Charges are dropped, but that doesn't stop the commotion and chaos that is about to unfold.

Suddenly, the ugly in people comes out. The racist/biased views in both whites and blacks suddenly start to come out. Some white folks throughout the nation start yelling and screaming, "America has a black president, Massachusetts has a black Governor, Cambridge has a black Mayor...what more do those people (blacks) want?!"

Suddenly, the n-word in its deragatory sense is being used freely towards blacks, people who thought they were once true friends now question that as they realize they see the issue differently.

You need to have experienced being discriminated against first hand to know how some black people felt. Ask someone who lived through Jim Crow, the Civil Rights movement, seeing 'Colored Only' signs, how they feel about a black man being arrested in his own home.

Once again, I have to say that I am sorry for calling Lucia Whalen a bigot for her role in this matter but it was based totally on Sgt. Crowley's police report which we now know is innacurate. (Now we know why officials delayed releasing it to the media). And many of the white folks who spewed the n-word based their views on the same report. Her 911 call to the police was made with good intentions and I'm sure that when she made that call, she had no clue that she would go down in the history books for sparking what followed. I also think Ms. Whalen should have been invited for a beer. I also still think the FBI should investigate the discrepancies in the police report.

Now, Prof. Gates says that he is receiving death threats, even after the Beer Summit and Harvard University has even suggested that he move. Well, if he leaves Cambridge, MA it will be another notch in the belt for the whites in Cambridge who want to eradicate the city of its black population. .They have made strides indeed! Please stay put Prof. Gates.

Cambridge Police Need to Apologize to Lucia Whalen

(Lucia Whalen at Press Conference Today)

Well, it's evident that Sgt. James Crowley added salt to his police report and tried to throw the blame on Lucia Whalen who made the initial 911 that started Gatesgate.

Cambridge police need to apologize to Ms. Whalen, she has been defamed. It's that police report that caused her to be villified. I wish she had spoken up sooner, then again we really don't know what kind of intimidation she was facing.

I live in Cambridge, MA. I know a lot of Cambridge cops and most are stellar, polite and caring. I have also made a 911 call regarding a B & E. In that case I was asked to describe the culprit and yes, it was a black man with a crowbar who was nabbed redhanded. I like Cambridge police because in most cases they respond promptly. But, I'm disappointed at the handling of this issue and especially now, that police Gatesgate report. I guess we now will haveto wonder about the accuracy of future reports written by the said officer.

Meanwhile, I think the FBI needs to get to the bottom of this. A race riot almost started because of this incident. I'm wondering if tomorrow's Beerplomacy at the White House should even go on now that we know the report is innacurate.

Watch the whole Press Conference here:

http://www.necn.com/Boston/NECN-Extra/2009/07/29/911-caller-in-Henry-Gates-case/1248885044.html

Question - Who is the mystery elderly woman who stopped Ms. Whalen?