pride101's Blog

I wanted to weigh in on the Barrack Obama's speech.  I was very impressed that FOX aired it live, and not one other local station did so.   I found the speech remarkable, and candid in a way that no one has done so in such a postition as he is.  The watched the coverage at most of the morning news shows, and since I don't subscribe to cable, could not see how Fox News or  covered it. 

Just like Barrack mentioned in his speech, show hosts on the news shows stepped carefully around the subject.  They had commentators of all pursuasions disecting what he meant or how they felt it would be viewed by the many perspective voters.  What was also evident is how the blacks who are on the different shows were caucious about praising the speech as much as I invision they did.  It is like every situation when race is discussed, where blacks and whites hear and feel something different.  Barrack mentioned OJ Simpson, and his feelings that he was guiltiy.  If you talk to the vast majority of blacks they would say the same thing, (probably 97%), but if you listen to the news shows they would replay over and over the same scenes when he was found not guilty and some blacks were jumping and happy.  It is always the same group of people, in the same film clips, but they were portrayed as representative of how blacks felt, when it was not true at all.  Barrack said later that evening, when interviewed for Nightline, that when there is a dramatic event of crime or killing that blacks hold there breath until a picture is shown of who it is that commited the offense.  We know that all blacks would be viewed differently if the perpertrator was a black person, unlike when the person is white. 

Example :  Timothy McViegh who destroyed the building in Oklahoma - there was no mass pulling over of white males after or the implication that  white males were naturally violent.

I myself have been told by a camp counseler, (after he burned a book on Martin Luther King Jr), if I was upset that he burned the n*****r book.  This is as a child of about 13 and away from home.  This is just one of hundreds of examples of what my reality is as a black man in the US.  I had white friends that could come over my house, but I could not come to theirs, because some neighbors did not like blacks or their parents did not.  I remember an Eagle football player (I believe Troy Vincent), after visting a location in a perdominately white neighborhood of Philly with his wife, having bottles and rocks thrown at him.  It was not until he approached the people and they recognized him that they requested autographs. He was all of a sudden ok with them. 

This is a never ending story in the life of Americans.  Barrack is the only one with the guts to attack this subject.  It took Gwen Ifill to go on Meet the Press and confront Tim Russert and reporters like him who were complicit with Don Imus by appearing on his show.  Just like after this speech, it seemed whites were grappling with how to address this Don Imus issue.  It took someone with a black perspective to explain it, simular to what Obama was trying to do, explain it.  With all her success as a journalist, Gwen Ifill when reporting at the White House was called by Don Imus a cleaning lady, or specifically, "now they have the cleaning lady reporting at the White House".  Just like in the Gwen Ifll, and Troy Vincent cases in some ways they are  saying that no matter what you do or position you reach you will always be a n****r in white society. 

Being black in Philadelphia I am aware of places that you can drive or not drive without being harrassed.  (Route 309 - Lower Merion - Pennsauken - many places in NJ until it came to light about racial profiling) - I have friends in perdominately white areas and have been stopped numerous times for nothing, when visiting.  I have even been stopped for having a pair of my son's shoes hanging from the rear view mirror.  (new born shoes) I was told by the officer that it was obstructing my view, and was questioned on how I could afford such a nice car.  I always remember being told by my parents how to act when stopped by the police, I have never heard my white friends being instructed by their parents on conduct to prevent them from being hurt by police.  I am an advid golfer, and have done an experiment where my friends and we have gone to a high end Golf Club  and they go in first then sit in the clubhouse, and observe when I come in.  They heard so many racist and ignorant comments by some of the people.  They had more anger than I did because I became so used to it, because these people could not say it openly to me, but would comment in what they really thought in private.  Many of my friends are of different polictical views, Republican, Democrat, and I have always been registered Independent.  I have voted for Republicans, and Democrats in my life, and found it funny that there was such a buzz when Oprah made the statement that she had voted for as many Republicans as Democrats.  Some whites think that blacks are non thinking , and reactive people who would just vote for Barrack because he is black, but would not say the same about whites.  When Gov Rendell said that some whites in Pennsylvania would never vote for a black, he was just speaking the truth.  In the black community we talk about travelling in Pennsylvania for vacation, and speak of areas to watch out for in western PA, and other areas.  Some we label as Klan country, although there is no Klan there, we are just describing the mood there.  This is a reality that whites are not aware of, but if you spoke to  your black friends then you would have an awakening, but like Barrack said it is not spoken amongst friends, it is ignored.  My friends and I talk all the time, and they are honest in their concerns with some in the black communtiy that use the victim stance.  I explain to them that Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton are not the voice of the black community, although the media will go to them to get the "black view" which blacks just hate.  Most blacks I know do not like the approach that both of them take, but the media does not take this approach.  Oprah, Tiger Woods, Jordon, are some of the most prominent blacks and represent more the average black person.  They don't walk around attacking race, but work hard to be the best they can be, and show by example who they are

I hope finally that this opens a dialogue amongst people privately so they could start to understand each other.