Talking about race: Um, you first
Obama's speech called for a conversation that not everyone wants.
But others don't want any part of a dialogue that starts from the premise that there is a black America and a white America. They don't want to hear about victims and oppressors. It's past time, they say, to move on.
Blacks "bring up the enslavement card way too much," said JoAnna Cullinane-Halda, 64, who just opened a home decor boutique in rural Colorado. "I'm Irish. My people were enslaved as well. But it's far enough in our dark past. We've gone beyond that. Let it go."
"I kept hearing: 'Minority this, minority that. Blacks aren't getting this, blacks aren't getting that.' I'm disgusted with it," he said. "OK, fine, they've gotten stepped on for 400 years. Let's give them something [to make up for it] and be done with it, the way we did with the Indians."
He's had enough, he said, of identity politics: "If you're born here, you're an American. Period. Act like an American." A fellow mechanic began listing racial and ethnic groups: African American, Hispanic American, Chinese American.
But the deeper truth is this: She never dreamed that anyone would want to talk about race. Until she saw video clips of Obama's pastor sermonizing about black oppression, Britton said she had no clue that anyone other than a few hard-core white supremacists thought much about skin color.
"I thought we were past that," she said. "I didn't realize this was going on in the United States. In this day and age? I was shocked."
These are the tip of the iceberg. They prove racism and stereotyping are still problems.
Tell you what, Americans. You start upholding every broken treaty and every international law regarding indigenous rights. You stop infringing on Indians' sovereign rights, resource rights, and religious rights. And you go a year or two without a single Native stereotype in the major media. Then we can safely conclude that race is no longer an issue.
Until then, we'll keep discussing racial issues. You can get with the program, remain in denial, or go back where you came from. I'd recommend the first option.
For more on the subject, see Highlights of the US Report to the UN on Racism.
Below: Millions of Americans cheer for these racist notions, but there's no racism in America? R-i-i-ight.
Writerfella here --
ReplyDeleteHold the bus! None of you get off THAT easy! Barack HUSSEIN Obama's speech was NOT about race per se, but rather was damage control because the politically liable issue of 'Black Liberation Theology' had been raised by the good Reverend and as such would not go away very soon at all. In fact, it isn't going away and quickly is becoming as obvious as a club foot.
'Black Liberation Theology' or 'seeking social justice through the pulpit' instead is a mixed expression of outrage and implicit calls for violence that more are based on socialistic economic policies, doctrines, and pursuits that mostly have nothing to do with religion.
If any man should be judged by the company he keeps, that man should be Barack HUSSEIN Obama!
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
No need to shill for the white candidates: McCain and Clinton. Obama's speech was both "damage control" about a specific issue and a conversation starter about a general issue: race.
ReplyDeleteRecent polls have shown the controversy hasn't hurt Obama much. It won't hurt him in the general election more than Clinton's many mistakes and scandals would hurt her.
As you may have heard, for instance, Clinton lied repeatedly about landing in Bosnia under fire. Oops. See http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/davidcorn/2008/03/clinton-tops-obama-in-whoppers.html for details.
As for the company she keeps, she cozied up to Richard Mellon Scaife, the extremist who launched the vast right-wing conspiracy by funding think tanks and op-ed pieces. Oops. See http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/davidcorn/2008/03/clinton-sleeping-with-the-enem.html for details.
As for black liberation theology, it doesn't call for violence either implicitly or explicitly. It's no more violent than Jesus's message of peace and love, since it's based on that message. Here, learn more about it:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wfu.edu/~matthetl/perspectives/twentyseven.html
Liberation theology as it has expressed itself in the African-American community seeks to find a way to make the gospel relevant to black people who must struggle daily under the burden of white oppression. The question that confronts these black theologians is not one that is easily answered. "What if anything does the Christian gospel have to say to powerless black men," to use James Cone's words, whose existence is "threatened on a daily basis by the insidious tentacles of white power?" If the gospel has nothing to say to people as they confront the daily realities of life, it is a lifeless message. If Christianity is not real for blacks, then they will reject it.
There are many reasons why Christianity has not been real for blacks. To begin with, white Christianity emphasizes individualism, and divides the world into separate realms of the sacred and secular, public and private. Such a view of the world is alien to African-American spirituality. The Christianity that was communicated to blacks had as its primary focus life in world to come. This was at odds with traditional African spirituality which was focused on life in the present world. And if that were not enough, Christianity is hopelessly associated with slavery and segregation in the minds of many African-Americans.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_theology
Black theology deals primarily with the African-American community, and attempts to find a way to make Christianity real for blacks, otherwise they will reject it. Black Theology tries to explain Christianity in a matter of the here and now, versus the afterlife model.
The goal of black theology is not for special treatment. Instead, "All Black theologians are asking for is for freedom and justice. No more, and no less. In asking for this, the Black theologians, turn to scripture as the sanction for their demand. The Psalmist writes for instance, 'If God is going to see righteousness established in the land, he himself must be particularly active as 'the helper of the fatherless' to 'deliver the needy when he crieth; and the poor that hath no helper.'"