The American Race

Not Who's Next...(more)

Did you catch Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton at the big Democratic Convention finale on Thursday??

If so, shoot me a You-Tube link, and pat yourself on the back 'cause you're damn good.

If, in fact, it's even on You-Tube.

(I tried, but I had to settle for this still.)

Actually I did see them, way past the midnight hour on CNN or MSNBC. I'm sorry ( but no longer ashamed) to say I wasn't really listening; I thought it... strategic...to give my wife some full face time, after gorging my eyes and ears on the 6 hour Obama-fest.

Not that I wish them anything but every minute of life God spares them. But I couldn't help thinking about how my recent post, noting the passing of Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, also applied to them. The Revs. Al and Jesse may not have a foot in the grave, but they definitely have one whole leg and a few additional toes in retirement.

It does not make me happy, much as it causes their haters joy. It doesn't make me sad, either. The word for what I feel, as I see them clawing for a little bit of reflected light, long after the confetti has fallen, is wistful:

wist*ful : having or showing a feeling of vague or regretful longing

Yeah, that's what I feel. But this, like so many feelings in this head spinning year, is fleeting. Too many others to process...

Blessed by Greg's Comment

A few posts ago I opined about a recent media current of dueling black versus white victimhood. One of my examples was this story by one  Greg Harden, as told on the new NPR  omniblog (ok, I just made that term up) system.

At the end, I believe I praised the honesty and candor of these white writers, and I wrote:

What it says is that the starting point in today's race dialog ---or rather serial monologues-- is a struggle to claim victim-hood. Or at least to disclaim the 'other's' victim-hood.

It's hard to say where all this will lead, but the honesty, at least, is promising.

Well, I've been especially blessed by a long comment in response from one writer named Greg. Please see it here, at the bottom of the post.

Greg, I'd love to have a real dialog on this. Not to prove any points, but to share. As I meant to suggest at the end of my original post, any place an honest conversation on this most tender and timely subject starts is a great place, as long as it starts.

And at that start, let me say that your comment reminded me of something that I rarely forgot as a newspaper reporter when interviewing real people in real time: it's just a story in a reporters head, but it often comes from other people's guts. I can't imagine the grief and rage I'd feel if my 10 year old were the victim of ANY kind of violence, but especially racial violence. So please start with my sincere sympathy, no matter the politics or sociology.

Shoot me an e-mail at: leonwynter@leonwynter.com and let's figure it out.

Tubbs Jones, Upshaw...It's Not Who's Next, But What

Thinking about the recent spate of prominent African-Americans passing. And it dawns on me: it's death, not Matt Bai, that will be having the last word on the end of black politics. And sooner than we think.

Think about it. Without naming names, think of any long tenured black 'leader' you know meeting their maker as per the inevitable actuarial schedule. Think of who's on or close to the doorstep.

Then think of their replacements.

Done straining your brain yet?

Soon and very soon the only people who might be pointed to as black leaders are gonna look more and more like Barack Obama, and other what have been called Ivy League "no mustache niggers" than Jesse Jackson or Maxine Waters or Al Sharpeton. I 'm not saying it's a good or bad thing, though I'm always hoping for better. But it's just fact.

I don't know what comes after that. But I do know what we've called the post civil-rights period of American history will be over, and without a conclusive, defining battle determining who won the war, or even what we were fighting for.

Hilary or Not, Here It Comes

On the eve of Obama's vice-presidential announcement, here's a quick hit, adapted from a note I just had to dash off to one of my favorite shows.

I'm sick and tired of a few things:

1-You know I was a working journalist for over 20 years, and taught it for about 6. So I know how you feel about charges of media bias, because I generally feel that way too. But I have to say that from the start much of your coverage of the presidential campaign was like the way the local announcer covers the hometown baseball team: you've sounded like 'homers' for Hilary.

I would concede a rationale for that during the primary--she is still our senator. But as coverage makes its way toward the convention in Denver, with all the continuing emphasis on the white Democrats who loved Hilary but, strangely, can't abide Obama,  I have to conclude you're still at it; the reporting feels like all that mattered was that Hilary carried New York.

2- If nothing else,you need to remember that while Hilary got about 60+ percent of the state as a whole, Obama got 90+ percent of black New Yorkers. Every single show you do on the whole Hilary angst, and her die hards, that does not even mention the equally deep passion of black New Yorkers feels like a wedge in the heart.

I once really admired Hilary (and Bill) and voted for her gladly for Senate. Then, though I didn't have anything against her, I preferred Obama for President.

But since the rest of the primary season played out with her as Lady Macbeth, I've come to dislike her strongly. And, as I hear stories of how some of her supporters would still like to bring Obama down, for reasons that always sound tissue thin, when they are articulated at all, I've begun to HATE Hilary Clinton. Funny thing: I realize it's not all her fault; this kind of coverage aggravates a sentiment that violates my personal morality and professional ethics.

3-I'd like to see you go after the root of all this, as journalists. Call the freakin' question: are people who support Hilary, can't articulate a real policy difference between her and Obama yet can't bring themselves to vote for him (despite her so-called urging) motivated by racism?

Because that, I think, is what the black New Yorkers (more and more I've noticed) listening to your show are screaming as they follow this and similar coverage.

4-Finally, though I now almost loathe her, and the racist blackmail that could possibly still press Obama to select her, I'd almost like to see Hilary on the ticket as VP.

Why? Because then all those suspected  Democrat racists out there in the so-called heartland will have to put up or shut up. They'll have to tell Hilary to her face why they're still not voting for Obama.

I hope to heaven they prove me wrong.

New Census 'Race' Numbers: Stop the Madness (pt. 1)

There is so much to shoot at in the big story of how we're on track to become a so called "minority majority" nation by 2042 instead of 2050.

Let's start with this:

Ethnic and racial minorities will comprise a majority of the nation’s population in a little more than a generation, according to new Census Bureau projections, a transformation that is occurring faster than anticipated just a few years ago.

When so called non-Hispanic whites are a mere plurality, will we STILL be according them the (white) privilege of identifying everyone else as part of a "minority group"??

As Wynton Marsalis once said, "I'm an American, and no one is more American than me. So how can I be a minority in my own country?"

See the NY Times story here. See the Census Bureau release (strangely unlinked in the Times) that started the madness here.

Latino Identity and Obama vs. McCain

On July 25th I joined Roberto Lovato of New American Media (see sample of his work on the subject here) at the 2008 Unity Convention of black, Hispanic, Asian and Native American journalists in a panel discussion: Cooperation, Competition or Coopetition? : Black-Latino Politics In the Post-Southern Strategy Era

I'm not sure how much we resolved. My take was based heavily on this Pew Hispanic report about the centrality of whiteness in Latino identity. But moderator Ray Suarez (of PBS NewHour fame) did leave me pondering one thing I hadn't considered before.

Latinos may be climbing a ladder into the American social mainstream that, despite our accomplishments, African-Americans have not really been permitted to ascend. But, as Suarez pointed out, in today's global sweatshop economy, the ladder is constantly sinking as the price of the American Dream rises out of sight.

Here's a link to a story about the panel in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

The Inexorable, Ineffable Heaviness of Race-pt. 3 of 3

For the most part, most white people's experience with race isn't one of racial discrimination. They can only relate to racial discrimination in the abstract. What white people can relate to is the fear of being unjustly accused of racism. ... This is why allegations of racism often provoke more outrage than actual racism, because most of the country can relate to one (the accusation of racism) easier than the other (actual racism). For this reason, in a political conflict over race, the McCain campaign has the advantage, because saying the race card has been played is actually the ultimate race card.
                                             —Adam Serwer, "Obama's Racial Catch-22"

It's the above quote that made me tip my hat to Adam Serwer's recent "Obama's Racial Catch-22" in The American Prospect. I called it "the best analysis of race and the 'race' I've seen yet," because, with the above graf, it brought us one layer closer to the heart of the onion: the white experience with race.

We said with race, not of race, but the two are clearly, intimately related. I think white folks have experiences with race all the time—especially on television. But, unlike black folks, and other non-whites to varying degrees, they do not have a near continuous experience of race as a fact of daily identity.

Except, that is, when black charges of racism are in the news. (Or when the black complaint catches them unprotected) And especially when the first black in American history is making a credible run for the White House. The last thing people who accept no personal relationship, much less responsibility, for the basic nature of American racism want to hear is that John McCain and/or his supporters are trying to appeal to white racism for votes.

But what I want to explore is: What light might Serwer's insight lend to our Vision?

links for 2008-08-09 [delicious.com]

• Jewish Steve Cohen Beats Back Black Race Hater Tinker in Memphis Primary (Bob Herbert Op-Ed, NYTimes.com)
  What better place than Memphis for what Dr. King would want to be done? Let's take this as a sign, by faith.
  (tags: race politics identity African+Americans racial+reconciliation)

links for 2008-08-07 [delicious.com]

• Race Takes Central Role in a Memphis Primary - NYTimes.com

links for 2008-08-06 [delicious.com]

• Magazine Preview - Post-Race - Is Obama the End of Black Politics? - NYTimes.com
  (tags: 2008+presidential+race Barack+Obama African+American identity race)
• Obama's Racial Catch-22 | The American Prospect
  The best analysis of race and the 'race' I've seen yet.
  (tags: race racism politics Obama 2008+presidential+campaign)