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“RACIST” or REALITY?

When I first heard that Senator Harry Reed had said something about the president’s race Oooh! – I’m thinking Strom Thurmond or the ilk. The report was that, during the campaign, Reed had allowed as to the likelihood that, because Obama was light-skinned and did not speak with a “Negro” accent – except when he wanted to do so – and the fact that he is such a good speaker, probably would be to his advantage in his quest for the presidency.

I was expecting a derogatory insult or so, and cannot comprehend the scandalous aspect of Reed’s remarks. He told the truth. Even with many liberal-minded Americans, I feel sure that if Barack had fitted any of the many stereotypes that had been formed throughout the several centuries of this society’s development, his chances of overcoming natural human reaction would have diminished greatly. That is a fact – one which we Americans, in our ever-prevailing nationalistic delusion, constantly tend to overlook.

Despite Candidate Barack Obama’s speech on race and Attorney General Eric Holder’s admonition that we Americans are pusillanimous when it comes to confronting our racial attitudes, the myth persists that this is a country “…conceived and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal…” What a bunch of tommyrot!

Those are the “ideas” in which we were conceived, and gradually we are developing those ideas as reality. But, we ain’t there yet! As a result, Speaker Reed’s comments on our present reality was ballyhooed through the media as, “racist,” and naturally pounced upon by the opposition.

Despite Reed’s “apology” and the president’s “acceptance,” the furor will insist upon a life of its own. Some have suggested that Reed’s tenuous hold on his office, as one of the senators from Nevada, is even now in more peril because of his “misspeaking.” I disagree. Under the circumstances, it could be to his advantage.

So, here we are again, at another one of our hypocritical crossroads – where Fact Boulevard intersects with Fiction Avenue. As usual, we will, “...walk down the avenue…” as jauntily and carefree as Fred Astaire and Judy Garland in “Easter Parade.” It has not always been thus. Despite the forced duplicity of the Founders, the Europeans who populated these purloined lands, and their descendants, always understood that this society was based upon white supremacy – and they used to say it out loud.

Today, however, even as we attempt to purge ourselves of our acquired evil, we cannot seem to come to grips with the fact of its indelible role in our history. As such, we continue to be left aghast when someone such as Harry Reed, with his Searchlight, Nevada upbringing and grassroots comprehension of the true nature of American society, merely makes an observation engendered by that knowledge and experience.

Of course, a lot of this is just politics, an attempt to drive a wedge between Reed and Obama, hoping that, in some way, it negatively will affect their partnership in bringing about the long-sought-after healthcare legislation.

As usual, this little bump in the road will be absorbed along wit all the others, as we continue this journey that began when we decided to dabble in one of the worst scourges brought about by Columbus’s excellent little adventure. The continued denial of that obvious fact truly is racist.