Mainstream white America rewards any black opinion leader willing to tell us what we desperately want to hear. “Tell us that race isn’t a big deal,” we moan. “Tell us that centuries of slavery have had no lasting impact. Tell us that generations of Jim Crow segregation have left no footprint in the America soil. Tell us we are color blind, innocent and evolving. Tell us . . . please! please! . . . that we don’t have to feel guilty.”
Larry Elder has fashioned a career out of telling white folks what we want to believe.
Just as importantly, Elder tells upwardly mobile black folks what they want to hear–that they have no obligations to their less fortunate brothers and sisters.
Elder is the anti-Sharpton . . . or, at least that’s how he’s trying to brand himself. “This guy says black folks are responsible for their own problems,” white readers exclaim, “and he’s black.”
Bill Cosby, unwittingly, plays much the same role in America’s racial melodrama.
The Beans recently broke down and subscribed to cable. Last week I was introduced to Southpark, the Comedy Central show my sons have been telling me about for years.
The father of one of the program’s rolly-polly anti-heroes is solving the final puzzle on Wheel of Fortune. The category: “people you find annonying”. All the letters but one have been provided: “n-_-g-g-e-r-s”.
“I think I can solve the puzzle,” the sweating contestant blurts out, “but I’m not sure I should.”
“Two seconds,” Pat replies, eyebrows arched in expectation.
“Niggers!” the contestant roars.
The audience falls silent.
The “sorry-not-this-time” buzzer buzzes.
An “a” falls into place.
“The correct answer was “naggers,” Pat says.
On the way home, the father assures his family that he never would have uttered the n-word on national television if $30,000 wasn’t on the line.
The next day, the ‘nigger guy’ has is a national pariah. Stand-up comics crack wise at his expense, store clerks refuse to service him, he is heckled on the street. Finally, in a classic act of white American contrition, he appears with Jesse Jackson.
He assures Jackson that he is no racist. He says he’s mortified to think he may have caused the African American public any pain.
Jesse is satisfied . . . almost.
Jackson pulls down his pants, drops his briefs and says, “Kiss it!” When the humiliated “nigger guy” hesitates, the civil rights legend wiggles his cheeks provocatively and repeats his demand: “Kiss it!”
The white man complies.
White people see race as a mine field. The slightest departure from political correctness and everything blows up in your face. We’re tired of apologizing. We’re tired of feeling guilty. We have decided that we’re not going to feel guilty and that’s that. We’ve moved into a post-racial, color blind society. The past is irrelevant.
Must we choose between an Al Sharpton manipulating white guilt and a Larry Elder blathering on about a color blind America?
No. White America should be feel free to speak its mind. Black America should be free to disagree. We need honest conversation, give-and-take, dialogue.
But our civil life is highly segregated. The walls go higher every day.
Most of us don’t talk about race that much because we don’t have to. The racial no mans land separating white and black America can be crossed, but only by those willing to keep their mouths shut. Race is one of those things (like sex, religion, death and politics) we’re not supposed to talk about in mixed company.
Al Sharpton and Larry Elder trading insults in the media is no substitute for a national conversation. Al cranks up the guilt; Larry cranks it down. Nothing is accomplished.
Blacks like Barack Obama because he is black . . . at least he’s blacker than his opponents. Whites like Obama because his success proves that race doesn’t matter.
The fact that a black candidate has a serious shot at the presidency shows you how far we’ve come; the fact that Mr. Obama is forced to sidestep the race issue demonstrates how far we have to go.
Obama Surge Creates Problems for Jesse and Al
Thu Jan 10, 3:00 AM ET
Black South Carolina state Sen. Robert Ford (a Democrat), back in February 2007, warned against a 2008 Democratic ticket headed by Sen. Barack Obama. Ford said, “It’s a slim possibility for (Obama) to get the nomination, but then everybody else is doomed. Every Democrat running on that ticket next year would lose because he’s black and he’s top of the ticket. We’d lose the House and the Senate and the governors and everything. I’m a gambling man. I love Obama. But I’m not going to kill myself.”
Jesse Jackson, too, criticized Obama, during the so-called Jena Six matter. Authorities in Louisiana charged five of six black youths with attempted murder for beating a white teenager unconscious. Jackson felt Barack Obama insufficiently critical, and said, “(Obama) needs to stop acting like he’s white.”
Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson’s soul mate, also sounded alarms against Obama, saying, “Just because you’re our color doesn’t make you our kind.” Sharpton also asked, “Why shouldn’t the black community ask questions? Are we now being told, ‘You all just shut up’?” after a published report that he was jealous of Obama’s campaign — an accusation which, according to Sharpton, came from the Obama camp. Some thought Sharpton jealous of Obama, but Sharpton called such an assertion a ruse, an effort to get an early endorsement from him. “I’m not going to be cajoled or intimidated by any candidate,” Sharpton said, “not for my support.” A New York Observer editorial said, “The petulant Mr. Sharpton is telling people that Mr. Obama is ‘a candidate driven by white leadership.'” Sharpton threw his support to Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.
For the race-hustling firm of Sharpton & Jackson, Obama creates a dilemma. Why?
In a “60 Minutes” appearance back in February 2007, correspondent Steve Kroft asked Obama whether one could blame race in the event Obama fails to succeed. Obama said, “I think if I don’t win this race, it will be because of other factors. It’s gonna be because I have not shown to the American people a vision for where the country needs to go that they can embrace.” In other words, he’s saying if I fail, don’t blame race — a huge rejection of late defense attorney Johnnie Cochran’s claim that “race plays a part of everything in America.”
Assuming a presidential candidate agrees with you on most issues, a recent Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll asked, which of the following types of candidate would you not vote for? Respondents were given several choices, including: “Woman,” “African-American,” “Mormon” and “72 years old.” The result? Only 4 percent of registered voters ruled out voting for a woman, while 3 percent of voters said they would not vote for an “African-American” candidate. Almost five times as many registered voters — 14 percent — said they could not vote for a Mormon or a 72-year-old.
We live in an age where mega-golfer Tiger Woods stands as the world’s most recognizable athlete. Hollywood’s current box-office leader is black actor Will Smith. Oprah Winfrey, a black woman — and television’s most powerful personality — earns an estimated $260 million a year, with a $2.5 billion net worth as that medium’s most powerful force.
Winfrey, publicly endorsing a presidential candidate for the first time, traveled to Iowa to stump for Obama. There on the stage sat Winfrey, Obama’s Harvard Law-educated wife and Obama, himself, who became the first black to head the Harvard Law Review. Surrounded by a sea of mostly white Iowans, Winfrey and Obama spoke to an affectionate crowd that hung on every word.
Did state Sen. Ford reconsider his position after Obama won the Iowa caucus? Ford remains unmoved. “Of course you’re going to have white liberals in a Democratic primary vote for Obama,” said Ford. “That’s why I’m concerned. You’ve got people in this country who wouldn’t even vote for a black for dogcatcher, and now you want to ask them to vote for one for president of the United States?”
After Obama’s Iowa victory, a smiling Jesse Jackson appeared on television. This is reminiscent of boxing promoter Don King, who enters the ring with his arm around “his guy.” Then “his guy” loses, and Don King exits the ring with his arm around “his guy’s” vanquisher. But Jackson came late to the party. Obama reflects a refreshing departure from the politics of black anger/white guilt that Jackson and Sharpton revel in. It’s not 1954 anymore — and most Americans consider this good news. But the firm of Jackson & Sharpton fights battles long since won, committed to viewing the world through race-tinted glasses.
Time for a new pair of specs.
Larry Elder is a syndicated radio talk show host and best-selling author. To find out more about Larry Elder, visit his Web page at http://www.LarryElder.com. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at http://www.creators.com.
Friends of Justice 
Why is it that counterfet “ministers”, like sharpton and jackson can use the “N” WORD, and be absolved?
While every Homie, on every corner in the getto where everyone is on wellfare, foodstamps, and every other government dole program, uses it like a good friend welcome expression?
Seems to me that the NEGROS in this country are WWAAAYYYY to sensitive to the truth.
Get a life and act like real people.
I think I’ll start … the Nation Assosiation of White people,
The United Caucasion Colege Fund,
and the Miss White American Beauty Pagent !!!
Go ahead…Make my day
I’m just as a Bad Ass as you are.