Something strange is happening in America. For the first time, a white man is standing up to a black man’s charge of racism. And he is being supported by his employer. In another first, the media coverage of this event is not employing the time worn premise that only whites can be racist.
For those of you who may have missed the unrelenting 24/7 media coverage of the latest racial tempest in a teapot, the basic facts: A white policeman in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on the alert for 2 reported black burglars, detained a prominent black professor. The black professor then proceeded to play the race card, accusing the officer of being a racist. After challenging the authority and the mother of the policeman, professor Henry Gates was arrested for disorderly conduct.
This incident may have gone the way of millions of others but for the fact that this professor was a friend of President Obama. Luckily for Henry Gates, the most powerful man in the world took time out from pressing affairs to take his call.
The President then announced publicly that the Cambridge Police Department ‘acted stupidly’, even while acknowledging that he wasn’t familiar with all the details. That our president chose to get involved in the first place is a discussion for another time.
What makes this incident unique is the fact that the automatic assumption of racism on the part of the white policeman is actually being questioned. In a very public way – signaling the possibility that the ‘white guilt’ America has embraced for the last 45 years may finally be consigned to history.
White guilt is best described by author Shelby Steele, who says “White guilt is literally the same thing as black power.” Steele hypothesized that America lost its moral authority when it acknowledged and apologized for the sin of slavery in the early 60’s. This ‘moral authority’ transferred to the victims of historical racism and became their great power. The power to stigmatize one as a racist became a powerful tool. A tool that has been wielded for decades with virtually no opposition, until now.
The power to evoke white guilt and the stigma of racism has been used time and again to bring corporations, politicians and public figures to their knees. White guilt has also played a significant part in the shaping of public policy and political correctness. It has also shielded generations of blacks from accountability, with predictable and damaging results.
Because white guilt is a vacuum of moral authority, it makes the moral authority of whites dependent on proving a negative. As in, ‘Have you stopped beating your wife yet?’ For over 45 years, discussions of race in America have been constrained by the threat of being deemed racist. For over 45 years, most white Americans have been put in the impossible position of having to prove a negative. It now appears this might be changing.
As usual, the Rev. Al Sharpton weighed in with his predictable and automatic assignment of blame to whitey, calling the case an “abuse of power” by the officer. But, in yet another first, the media declined to anoint this blowhard his usual status as commentor in chief on all things racial. Poor Al failed to get his usual ‘face time’. His comments were, gasp, not news. Perhaps the media sees the writing on the wall.
The writing that seems to indicate that charges of racial oppression and racism ring false now that a black man has been elected to the Presidency. The writing that indicates that most white Americans are ever so tired of having to prove day and night that they ‘are not racist’. The writing that indicates that America has paid its debt to the black man and they are now welcome to compete, on an equal footing, with the rest of America. The writing that indicates that frivolous charges of racism will now be challenged.
Finally, Martin Luther King’s dream may become a reality – Americans may now be free to judge a man based on the content of his character instead of the color of his skin. High time.
Crossposted from Right Bias
I strongly feel that Affirmative Action should have ended a decade ago. Sure, at one time there might have been a reason for it but now it is only a crutch or excuse for some people. Affirmative Action promotes racisim and false guilt. There are those of us who wouldn’t dream of using it because we rely on their own merits. However, there are those who use Affirmative Action to further their own agenda. Our current Commander in Chief is one of the latter.
This political cartoon seems to be reflective of what is happening in more than just my suburban neighborhood…I saw my neighbor doing the same thing on Sunday…as a result of iWon’s haste/ego to be hailed as the ONE…
http://townhall.com/cartoons/cartoonist/ChipBok
“There is a class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs-partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs.”
Booker T. Washington, 1911.
A small correction. The officer was not “on the alert for 2 reported black burglars.” He was investigating the possibility of a burglary by 2 individuals; their race was not reported.
This detail does not detract from your point.
This is a stupid post.
“Steele hypothesized that America lost its moral authority when it acknowledged and apologized for the sin of slavery in the early 60’s.”
Exactly how did America apologize for slavery in the 60’s? By passing the Civil Rights Act? By attempting to put an end to Jim Crow and segregation? Just think how much white guilt was produced when they gave black people the right to vote…
The fact of the matter is that racism will never end. It’s as natural to human nature as all matters of hate. People will always hate. Whether its religion, nationality, race or ethnicity, people some people will choose to hate someone else.
The key is at what level we allow hatred to hinder the lives of others. America in 2009 is not the same as it was in 1909. But that didn’t happen without people fighting for change. People (white, black, men, women and sadly children) lost their lives in the fight.
So here we are with some ignore the progress and other claiming the age of utopia. Sorry folks, its messier than that and that’s not a bad thing. But the election of Barak Obama does not mean the end of racism just as the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation did not end the discrimination of black people.
Will things continue to get better. I suspect they will. Most of my life the thought of a black president usually came in the form of a comedic skit. There are a lot of young children who will grow up with a different reality. My nieces and nephews have totally different concept of race than I had at their age.
While this whole thing may be getting the attention BECAUSE of race, the reality is, it’s far more about CLASS than about race? Once again, let’s take Obama at his word (s), “Cops acting stupidly!”
This is “Harvard Professor vs. the low life cop” confirmed by Gates’ words “Do you know who I am?”
How isn’t it obvious that a Harvard professor, or Obama, weren’t more motivated by ‘class’ than race? Considering a White House full of Harvard arrogant elites, it’s an enigma to me as to how this turned into a race issue.
But since it has, let’s not ‘waste a good crisis’. I think Crowley is crazy for going to the WH, even with a national apology which he isn’t going to get. Right now Crowley, IMO, is the most powerful man in politics. Being that he’s got the nation’s attention, what a waste not to use his voice and 15 minutes for a necessary platform seldom given much attention, the “little guy.”
I’ve written until I am blue in the face about the “pseudo” education from the college elites, with Harvard vastly over estimated . The real story here is the “false hope” many in this country put into these Ivy educated cesspool elites (with few exceptions, John Roberts and Sam Alito (Yale) being two of the last before the Ivies were totally taken over by the liberal agenda ), who have now become the power elites of the country.
Look no further than the train wreck currently in the White House. For starters they sold us out to Wall Street (i.e., more Ivy elites), and in the process of selling out the poor, the elderly, and capitalism. Everything they do and purpose is about power, never “the people”, and God forbid, the “little people.”
And when they don’t get their way, they bully, which is exactly what they will do with Crowley if he is seduced enough to make the WH ‘beer fest’. Look what they just did with the Congressional Office who went from “bad numbers for health care” to après WH visit, a miraculous “Obamacare no longer a financial threat!” Gee, I wonder how THAT happened?
I keep asking, “How stupid, exactly, do they think we are?” As long as the majority of this country thinks that “the brightest and the best” come from the Ivy elite schools, I guess we get what we deserve: ‘agenda educated’ arrogant elitists, who don’t have a clue as to the value of a good cop.
Back to race, it was more than obvious by actions, even before the election, that both Michelle and Barrack are racists. That’s another story, not this one. As for Gates, it’s time this country wakes up to the fact of who people like you REALLY are; the cesspool of America corrupting our youth.
Nancy, you might have missed the memo, but the 911 call did not specify black burglars… you need to correct that.
james manning, I have no guilt now and never had. I never owned, bought or sold slaves. In “post racial” America Affirmative Action needs to be repealed and go away. The Army I served 28 years in De-Segregated in 1948. The Civil Rights and Voting rights Acts are approaching becoming half a Century Old. Women were granted the Right to Vote in 1919.
The “Hatred” exists now from the followers of Rev. Wright, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and Louis Farrakhan. The Black Congressional Caucus, various Black Community Organizers and Bigots like Gates fan the flames of hatred now because it perpetuates a legend that entitles them to be Special, Preferenced and Favored.
I have kinfolk that live on BIA run Reservations that receive a much poorer standard of living, far poorer health care and quality of life. My Grandfather left the reservation several decades ago under no “Programs” worked as a hired hand and bought land and raised beef cattle. He was educated at Carlysle, not an Ivy League School and forged his own path.
There was no hatred instilled in Me but a Work Ethic, Conservative Values and no herd mentality. Individual values were stressed as well as Individual Responsibilities. We were not Special, We just worked harder and I feel that the End of All Affirmative Action Programs would foster the same self reliance in America today.
That will rid America of Sexism and Racism. A honest level playing field for ALL. You are Entitled 100% to what You earn.
Lets put these Race Baiters out of business now. Make them earn an Honest living from the fruits of their own labor. The Hate will go away when reverse discrimination goes away.
Re: james manning
Why does being racist automatically resolve to hate being part of the human condition?
I would submit that the most basci form of racism is if you value your childrem above all others. If you do does that mean that you hate your neighbors children?
If you are part of a strong proud family and love and support your kith and kin, are you there for obliged to hate all others?
If you have built and love a community that will foster yourself and your posterity, must you go out and destry all others? Or must you destroy your own by bring in all of the values and traditions of others that have not been successful for your community in the name of diversity?
Just asking.
Excellent points, James