Rick Raw: Sen. Reid’s Faux Pas not Racist –Just a Statement of Fact

By Rick Grant Commentary rickgrant01@comcast.net

"In the near future, everyone will be fucking everyone until the entire population of America will be shades of brown." From the movie script of "Bulworth" uttered by Sen. Jay Billington Bulworth (Warren Beatty).

Sen. Harry Reid’s off-hand statement, back in 2008, in which he suggested that since Obama was a "light skinned black without a dialect," which was the reason he won the election. This statement of fact was recently flagged as a racist comment. Clearly, the ridiculous criticism of Reid’s comment was politically motivated by GOP interests since Sen. Reid, now 70, is up for reelection in his home state of Nevada.

Clearly, Reid’s comment raises other issues regarding our perception of racial issues. In no way was Reid’s statement racist. Obama is multiracial with a white mother. He was raised by white grandparents and given an ivy league education. Obama’s race was never an issue in the campaign since he did well in traditional WASP strongholds.

Reid’s statement speaks to a division between the more prosperous, well educated blacks and the poorer blacks from the ghettos of every city in America. Not that a coal black candidate who rose up from the ghetto and worked his way through college would not have had a chance, but it’s the WASP perception of the two classes of black America.

Even within the two black communities, this division is a prominent factor in their thinking. It’s street cred versus Anglo influended blacks–or, Uncle Toms. It’s the hood’s hip-hop fashions with baggy, below the butt pants and long tee-shirts versus the button down black lawyer.

We all see the struggle going on within the poorer black communities. It’s their poverty that holds them down, not their will to be successful. Teen pregnancy and high school drop out rates are soaring in the ghettos and projects. All social ills come from the poor neighborhoods.

Eliminating African-American poverty is at the root of solving their problems. It’s everyone’s responsibility to help make this happen. We’re all in this Earth trip together, and we have the means and ability to right this wrong. Of course, the economic apocalypse sent many former middle class people into poorer neighborhoods, creating a new class of poor.

Reid’s comment alluded to the media factor in presidential campaigns where the image is greater than the reality. Obama is a charismatic speaker and looks presidential. Yes, his multiracial background helped him overcome racist stereotypes..

But the minute he walked out to the podium, any racial prejudice disappeared by his mesmerizing media image and brilliant speaking ability combined with his message of change and hope.

Could Gary Coleman or Mike Tyson run for president. Of course not. Even if Mike Tyson wasn’t an idiot and a thug, his facial tattoo would cause problems. The first time someone heckled him, he’d jump off the podium and bite the guy’s ear off. There is no way a little person could be elected president. Gary Coleman couldn’t even see over the podium and would have to have a kiddie podium to speak. The point is: Both these fading black celebrities doesn’t have the right media image to run for president.

Indeed, media image was a problem for Ron Paul. The guy looks like he’s been beaten up by Mike Tyson. It hurts me to look at him. But he has some new and interesting ideas. It doesn’t matter. Media image is 90% of getting elected to any office.

So, we are still stuck with overwhelming over-sensitivity when talking about black people in public. Sen Reid wasn’t making a racial statement but a declaration of fact. The GOP dug up that remark to sabotage Reid’s chances of reelection in Nevada. Ironically, blacks still use the N word as slang when referring to each other, which irks whites, who have struck the word from their lexicon.

We’ve come a long way from Martin Luther King, Jr’s Civil Right Movement. We have the first president of color. But, we still have a long way to go in changing racial attitudes and overcoming white guilt over slavery. It’s time to end poverty and give all people the same opportunities.