The New And Old Racism

Will Racism Ever Die?

Probably not, especially if we don’t want it to. Racism is a term commonly used as good affectation to keep any dialogue, any issue, and legitimate discourse…off-course.

We as a nation have been fighting amongst ourselves and using racism as the weapon of choice for more than two centuries. Consider Thomas Jefferson, not exactly America’s most shining example of leadership in the fight for racial equality. His observation on racism:

“Deep rooted prejudices entertained by the whites; ten thousand recollections, by the blacks, of the injuries they have sustained; new provocations; the real distinctions which nature has made; and many other circumstances, will divide us into parties, and produce convulsions which will probably never end but in the extermination of the one or the other race.” Did he say the extermination of one or the other race? He decided to make his thoughts known in Excerpted from Notes on the State of Virginia Published Privately in 1781.

Throughout all history, people have always made borders and strong defenses to keep out people that appeared different. And, from time to time, that has been confused as racism, which it is not. That behavior may touch on protectionism, it may impinge on self-righteous isolationism, but it is intolerance not racism.

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Have You Ever Actually Seen A Race Card?

The race card, as it has been coined, is the favorite tool of choice to stop all sides in their tracks and realign the rules of the game. It’s almost like in a football huddle - in the middle of the fray a racial insult is muttered in the heat of the moment. Stunned, both quarterbacks get their teams together and say, ”ok guys the race card has been played and you know what that means…now we have to really be careful of what we say…and let’s go back and look at all the transcripts and view the replay and find out who said it and promptly disown them” 

A moment in history…lest anyone give Robert Shapiro credit with blaming Johnnie Cochran for using the race card the first time, it was probably a British fellow named Peter Griffiths that actually used it in 1960 while trying to win a parliamentary seat. And it was wickedly nasty too, replete with the “n” word.

The race card is like those perennial favorite playthings, the yo-yo and the skateboard.  It always seems to come back into style every year or two.  Unlike those two fun favorites, the race card is ill intentioned, spiteful, and it is, to a great extent, most always used to mis-focus the matter at hand. When it comes to needing the K.O. punch when you are losing a civil argument, using the race card is like the royal flush in poker.

Lately it was Ben Jealous, a man whom you would think would stand to gain the most from keeping the thought of racism via the race card at a low profile. Jealous, the President of The N.A.A.C.P. fired another warning shot over-the-bow of our social conscience by uttering this senseless remark referring to the Tea Party. His quote, while ludicrous on its face said this:

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I Have No Idea Who I Am Looking For…But I Will Know Him When I Meet Him

I am very sure who I do not want to be President ever again and there is probably no need in calling names. So with that thought embedded in my brain I started asking myself whom exactly did I want?

None of the folks that are jockeying for position, early on, rang my bell and there seemed to be a nice array of contenders. In some order I like parts of Mitt Romney and John Boehner but not all parts of them quite yet.   Actually, until recently I might have even gone for any one of several Governors like Mike Huckabee, Haley Barbour, or Tim Pawlenty.  But things have gotten a lot rougher and the next person is going to need to draw on a vast tool chest of experience.  That being said, in the words of Larry the Liberal, the three above mentioned Governor's skills should be tapped by the next President and used in any number of positions of importance such as domestic Cabinet Secretaries. 

Let me give you a rough draft of my ideal Presidential candidate and I’ll bet, a dollar to a donut, you might like the idea of them too.

In my favorite way I will bullet the person for brevity and succinctness. I know well that this method will obviously leave a few potential candidates in the ditch (and I am not throwing anyone under the bus) but I call it like I see it.

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