Isn’t it finally time for the behind-closed-door racial slurs to die? If our legislators truly do represent the people, then, how is it possible that in this nation, with so many people, of so many different ethnicities and races, an individual could be castigated for accented speech or the texture of their hair or the color of their skin?
I was born in 1958, at the cusp of one of the biggest change in our country’s ideology– the civil rights movement. But, six years later, desegregation had still not infiltrated all aspects of our national society and in Louisiana, it had had almost no effect at all.
As a six year old, desegregation had little impact, until the day that Bobby Kennedy came to our house and, sitting at our kitchen table, convinced my dad to “try once more” and apply to have me attend an all-white, private school in New Orleans. That day changed my life.
Despite the hardships, the racial slurs, the ethnic isolation, I have never regretted my dad’s decision, for it gave me a superior education, a toughness, a confidence, despite name-calling, in my own worth as an individual, and a few good friends.
My presence elicited mixed reactions. There was confusion —“she’s a really “light-skinned” Negro. There was relief — “she sure doesn’t sound like a Negro.” There was even surprise — “she sure is smart, who would have known?”
My dad assured me that these were the kinds of comments made by people who had pre-existing prejudices handed down through generations of ignorance and isolation; that these opinions would change over time. My dad had had quite a bit of experience in this area. And my dad was right.
Or so I thought.
Imagine my surprise, over forty years later, when serving in public office, to be attacked, to hear these same kinds of racial slurs–web pages discussing my hair and its texture, bloggers debating whether I was actually Black, or “Black enough”, given my accent, and comments such as ” Lurita Doan can’t be African American… She’s obviously Caucasian!” appeared fequently.
Of course, at the time of Rep. Henry Waxman’s attacks on me, there was a very contentious, presidential race, and certainly, many on the Left had a heavy investment in the “Black” candidate, Barack Obama. So personal attacks against a Black conservative by Waxman and other Democratic leaders were, perhaps, the inevitable, partisan attempts to discredit anyone viewed as a threat.
But are Harry Reid’s racial slurs so very different from Congressman Waxman’s efforts and show-trials where he especially singled out Black women in leadership position in the Bush Administration. going well past honest policy debates, into personal attacks and character assassinations?
Democrats have always wanted to be seen as the political party for Blacks–and any participation by a Black woman in the opposing, Republican party, was viewed as a threat.
Reading about Senator’s Harry Reid’s derogatory comments about our President, commenting on President Obama’s voice, accent and skin color, I realized that race issues had entered a new era in America.
Black Americans that deviated, in any way, from the strict conformity of an out-of-date stereotype are singled out for derision. If you’re “light skinned” (like me and many other African-Americans), spoke in educated tones, or, heavens-to-Betsy, were a conservative Republican, the racist attacks came swift and sure.
Rigid orthodoxy has been coupled with blinding hypocrisy. When Senator Trent Lot made some inappropriate remarks on race, he was hounded from office. And yet, when Senator Harry Reid voiced narrow-minded, inappropriate racial stereotypes, the response from the very same posse, that pursued Trent Lott with pitchforks and glee, is now far more conciliatory.
The unmistakable message here is that there are two very different standards. Democrats are free to pursue, demean and slander Black Americans (especially those that are not willing to toe the ideological line that has been dictated by party elites). At the same time, racist notions and indiscretions from Democrat Senators like Reid are to be forgotten.
Almost fifty years after Reverend Martin Luther King Jr’s triumph, celebrating the “content of our character“, rather than the “color of our skin”, it is clear that there is still room for improvement. Let’s all encourage Senator Harry Reid to do better, refrain from making inappropriate, racial remarks and applaud his recent efforts to apologize to the President.
However, if Reid is to truly come clean, he needs to put some effort into dismantling the hypocrisy of race-based attacks from the Democratic Party that Reid himself helped to construct. An apology to President Obama is good first step.
But, if Reid really wants to get race issues behind him, he will now quickly follow up with a similar apology to folks like Clarence Thomas whom he was quick to demean and portray as a mental midget. Reid’s rhetoric, five years ago, seemed to suggest that Black Americans, such as Judge Thomas, that were unwilling to wear the Democratic straight jacket of conformity, were stupid, “embarrassing”, and unworthy of holding high positions in government.
But, Harry Reid is no Robert Kennedy. I am afraid that anyone hoping to see some honest contrition from him and an admission of racial stereotyping is going to be disappointed. More likely, Reid will reinforce the existing, de facto standard, that racial comments from any Democrat are lamentable, while, at the same time, Reid and other Democrats will continue to be hyper-partisan.
Democrat leaders like Reid, Waxman, Pelosi are essentially stating that only Republicans (and especially conservatives) are guilty of racism or ever make inappropriate and demeaning remarks. Meanwhile, Black Americans like Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court, Condi Rice at the State Department , or even me while at GSA , are attacked as Uncle Toms and racial sell outs, who, because we hold contrarian ideas are not really Black at all. This deep-seated hypocrisy is not just a double standard, it is an outrage.
More likely, as another election year approaches, Reid and his cohorts will reinforce the double-standard, and attack any Republican that even hints at race, while simultaneously condoning Democratic attempts to demean, to attack, and to disparage any Black American that escapes the Democratic straight jacket of fealty and orthodoxy.
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