Posted by
flagwaver on Wednesday, September 26, 2007 8:49:32 AM
The past weeks have been dominated by a couple of stories in sports and the news that have brought race into the forefront. In the news category we have seen the situation with the "Jena Six" and the march in Jena, Louisiana and in sports it was Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb's comments about the increased scrutiny that he feels that Black quarterback receive. Both situations opened up a firestorm racial commentary and conversation, and for me it put into perspective what I see as a racial divide among White people.
There seems to be several schools of thought that come to the forefront among White people when the issue of race is brought up, and they sort of go this way: one group acts as though race is the only consideration, there is a group that acts as though race is never a consideration, and the group that has decided that Blacks are the true racists. And when race enters the conversation, it is never a question if these attitudes get expressed, but how quickly.
Take the reaction to Donovan McNabb's answer to a question posed on HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. When McNabb told interviewer James Brown that he feels that Black quarterbacks have to "do a little bit more" than White quarterbacks, and that he felt that some of the criticism that he has faced has had some racial elements to it, the sports world exploded! Why, McNabb is only saying this because the team is struggling, he should just shut up and play, race has no place in the conversation, and he is "playing the race card". No one actually stopped to think that what McNabb actually said came from his personal experiences, that he has dealt with in your face racism as a child, and that he was not trying to indict society or every fan that has ever criticized him. No, the reaction was just what I expected, people coming out of the woodwork to say that race was either the only factor or a total non factor.
Then with the article that Mike Gallagher wrote at Townhall.com about the situation in Jena, the reaction was again what I expected. The responses to Mike's column ran the gamut from people, mostly liberals acting as though the hanging of the nooses was a symbolic baring of the American soul, to many conservatives minimizing the hanging of the nooses, to the fringe members who decided that Blacks were somehow the culprits in the entire matter. These people decided that once Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton showed up, there was nothing to the matter except a chance for them to seek the limelight. That may have been true to a certain extent, but that is not the entire story. It is, however, a good example of how easy it is for some White people to use their presence on the scene to support their idea that race is not really an issue in this case, or any other.
The thing is that all 3 perspectives have some elements of right in them, but are also infected with some ideas that I feel are simply wrong. I understand, and have said and written, that race is not the major factor in the struggles that Blacks have in this country. But I also realize that there are situations where race is a factor in the way that people and situations are viewed; maybe not the only factor, but a factor nonetheless. I also can understand those that feel that Blacks have been given a pass at times due to race and have been allowed to use race as a crutch. But that does not mean that all Blacks do that, nor does it mean that all Blacks agree with those that do.
White people need to realize that race does matter, and that our views on race are going to be different due to our life experiences. Take the McNabb comments for example; I can understand where many would think that he was just trying to use race as an excuse for his poor play, but I can understand exactly where he is coming from. He is coming from a position where Blacks that play the position have different expectations placed on them than White players. Listen to the way that many commentators speak of Blacks that play the position, and how they describe them; too many times the talk about Black quarterbacks focus on their speed and athleticism and less on their ability to be "field generals". Those are the accolades that get handed out to the Tom Brady's and Peyton Manning's of the world; and that is not just conjecture, it is right out there for all to see.
We will never make any real progress in race relations so long as there are such divisions between races on racial matters, and within races about racial matters. Race is not the only factor in many matters, but we have to stop pretending that race is never a factor in anything that happens. So long as we continue to do that, and we continue to allow people to turn every racial incident into an example of Black racism we aren't going to move forward. We will be doomed to spin our wheels on this issue until we are no longer here.