Race still a touchy issue for most folks

Race still a touchy issue for most folks

Reginald T. Dogan : November 8, 2008



I knew when I wrote my previous column somebody would call me a racist.

It happens without fail every time I write about race, the dreadful four-letter word.

If writing about race makes me a racist, does it mean I'm a meteorologist when I write about hurricanes? I can only wish it made me rich whenever I write about money.

I know that talking about race makes some people uncomfortable because it pushes buttons they would rather not be pushed.

But my intent is to challenge them to think, to grow beyond where they are and to examine what they have long held to be true.

Race is the gigantic elephant in America's living room that no one wants to confront. We can deny racial tension and misunderstanding have a grip on this country, but race and the problems associated with it are as real as the air we breathe.

In Thursday's column I made it clear that while I was ecstatic with Barack Obama's election as commander in chief, his presidency won't mean the end of racism in America.

The responses were as typical as they were tragically sad.

One reader wrote: "You know it's the same old diet of whining and complaining about your station in life! Get over it!! I am getting sick and tired of hearing how blacks ... are treated as the underprivileged, the downtrodden! Stop playing the 'poor little me' race card!!! For goodness sake, grow up!! It's 2008!!! How much longer do we have to continue this theme?!"

Longer than my lifetime, and yours, my friend. (And, by the way, you can make your points without the exclamation points!)

Another reader blamed the plight of black America on what he called "LBJ Great Society Act of '64."

He seems to think that America gave civil rights to blacks. In fact, black people fought and died for rights enjoyed by whites since America was founded.

A serious discussion of race in America must not begin with the problems of black people. Rather, it must begin with the flaws of American society — flaws rooted in historic inequalities and longstanding cultural stereotypes.

No question that Obama's candidacy symbolizes the shattering of many of the racial barriers that have long been entrenched in America.

But as is evident in the hearts and minds of many, racism remains as entrenched in the fabric of this country as the Declaration of Independence.

Four years in the White House won't erase 400 years in the outhouse.