African-American History and Issues

Zarian Phipps

What Happened To the Hope of Getting Over Racism?

The year 2008 started out so promising regarding healing racism in the United States. White voters in Iowa voted for Barack Obama and everything seemed as if it would be okay. White people thought that African-Americans would finally see that not all White people are racist and Black people felt as if White people were finally willing to look at African-Americans on an equal level where it mattered most. Black people finally felt included, we finally felt like real citizens of the United States, all of the opportunities that we had heard this country offers seemed finally open to us. All of this because of the rise of Barack Obama. A nation's hopes for getting over the biggest blemish on the history of the United States were seemingly going to be realized finally after centuries of oppression and hiding from the truth. The media seemed to be willing to help advance the issue of race positively in the beginning of this year as many political pundits openly acknowledged how important Barack Obama's candidacy was.

Then there was the Martin Luther King holiday which this year seemed more prominent on television. There were specials on race relations and even John Mc Cain went to Memphis, Tennesee to honor Martin Luther King's death in early April. We as a country finally seemed on track to get over the angst and pain of racism that we all know exists but too many of us want to hide. As I look at the media coverage of the Presidential race now the most appropriate question to ask is what happened? What happened to the promise of a new day that we all seemed to ready to embrace?

Things are definitely different on the public stage in the United States from earlier this year. Most of the changes have happened in the last month, since John Mc Cain pandered to Black people in Memphis. Now we have 24 hour news coverage of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright(Who the media knew about long before his "greatest hits" started playing on You Tube so if it was truly that important, why did they not expose him long ago?). The media now seems to be sitting in wait for some new thing Rev. Wright says so they can immediately insinuate that it means Barack Obama is some sort of racist.

Now we have Democratic Primary debates where basically the first hour is dedicated to badgering the African-American candidate on his ties and supposed ties with controversial figures such as the Rev. Wright, Louis Farrakhan and William Ayers, the latter of whom most Americans had never heard of. Nevermind the fact that it is seemingly inappropriate for White people to be questioning a Black man who personally lived through the horrors of the Civil Rights movement probably being physically abused and verbally assaulted in the name of racism. White people can never understand what it is like to be Black in a racist society and where they might have legitimate questions, if they truly wanted to heal the racial divide in this country they would step lightly over what they say. This is definitely not happening with the so called Rev. Wright controversy. They don't seem to care that this whole thing is leaving a very bad taste in the mouths of millions of African-Americans. If they don't care then why should we? Black people will not forget this just as White Americans don't want to forget about Rev. Wright!

Earlier in the year when the Clintons' played the race card against Barack Obama the media pounced on them for doing so and told it like it was even when some African-American pundits wouldn't forcefully condemn the Clintons for fear of a backlash from the White community against Obama. Some journalists even noted their dilemna and openly admitted the reason for Black people having to hold their tongues one journalist even said this about Barack Obama. It's not like that anymore. Now, some of those same journalists are backpeddling and insinuating that the Clintons' did not play the race card and they are simply employing hard political tactics(the media seems to be glorifying them for their gutter politics). Some of them are even entertaining Bill Clinton's ridiculous notion that the Obama campaign played the race card against him. It's both astonishing and perplexing, the way things have changed. So what happened?

The media and many American citizens seem to have reverted back to their desire for looking the other way when it comes to issues of race in this country. White America seems to be playing into irrational stereotypes about African-Americans. When the media sees that in some places Barack Obama is not winning poor White votes by huge margins, they don't say that these White people are wrong for displaying what seems like racist behavior, they instead blame Obama for "not being able to close the deal" which any fool should be able to see will make the divide with the voters worse. They don't give Hillary Clinton grief for not having the support of African-Americans anymore after having the Black electorate virtually in her pocket at the start of this election season. The media no longer points out that it is almost impossible for a Democrat to win the Presidency without the support of the Demcratic party's most loyal voting block, African-Americans. We are no longer embracing the politics of inclusion and hope, we are looking down on it. What happened?

Barack Obama gave a riveting and honest speech on race to combat the biased media firestorm over the Rev. Wright comments. At first, he was heralded as the orator of a new generation and he was praised for his honesty about race while running for President. All of those accolades went away when Rev. Wright decided to go on his media tour. The media now only talks about how hurt Barack Obama is by the comments that the media themselves made the number one news story. They are blaming him for their manipulations. They don't seem to care that African-Americans are becoming more and more disillusioned about not only this election, but also our place in American society. If the media is this biased against Barack Obama who is the posterchild for unity, then none of us have a chance. If they don't like him because of what his Black minister said, then it is over for all of us before we even start because surely most if not all African-Americans know people that do have angry beliefs and feelings about this country, and it's not just Black people. I would be surprised if Hillary Clinton doesn't have relationships with people who by some would be considered radical. But then again, she is white, so she is not going to be held to the same standard as an African-American. She can be judged on her own merits along with John Mc Cain who actively sought out the Rev. Hagee's endorsement after Rev. Hagee made deplorable comments condemning the Catholic Church and New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. What happened?

It is not too late for things to get back on track. The media can start to be more objective in their coverage of the presidential race. They can stop openly giving tips to Hillary Clinton on how to beat Barack Obama. That only leads to the electorate believing that she still has a chance to become the nominee without ripping the Democratic party in half and most experts say that is all but impossible. The American people can start rejecting the political game that is being played on them. Most importantly in relation to the Presidential race, they can vote for Barack Obama and end the destruction of the Democratic party in an election year where they are more than heavily favored to win. It is time to be realistic about our society. Together we can change this country to reflect the positive image that we think we have. It all begins with the individual!

Read about the African-American experience at the African-American Political Hotspot!

The Clinton letdown to Black America!

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James P Krehbiel ^(1,145)