Bridging The Gaps Of Racial Divides

Barack Obama (with the blessings of black civil rights leaders and many black politicians) has called for a national dialogue on race. What exactly does this mean, you may be asking? It means the senator, along with a significant number in the black community, want to air more of their grievances to whites - who they perceive to be the major cause of their lack of prosperity. In other words, they want to lecture.

I personally find this challenging, because much of their grievances are the same tired litany of complaints (only the names and towns have been changed). As a white man, what more can I learn that I haven't already? Some of it is tweaked a little, but in essence, it's not much different. The white man invented AIDS to infect blacks is now taking the place of, white politicians do not want to invest in inner city schools because they want to keep the black man down. And there's no way I can respond, because if I do, one or two things (or both) will likely happen.

First, whenever whites are prepared to engage in a discussion, they must listen. And listen. And listen. Because if they try to add to the discussion by communicating their perceptions, they run the risk of being branded as racists.

If self-proclaimed civil rights leaders like Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton say something that is asinine and a white person criticizes it, they are branded as racist. If a sitting US Senator that happens to be white describes Obama as an intelligent, "articulate" guy, he is branded a racist. (Remember, when you call a black articulate, that is a racist code word implying that most blacks aren't.) If a former Democratic Congresswoman (one that has a long stellar record on civil rights) says that if everything was equal with Obama except for his race he would not be where he is at in this presidential race, she is demonized in such a hostile manner and branded a racist.

Well, if what I have said so far has you seething and you are ready to write me off as another racist, you may want to read what Robert Johnson has said.

Wading back into the Democratic presidential race, billionaire businessman Bob Johnson said Monday that Sen. Barack Obama would not be his party's leading candidate if he were white.

Johnson's comments to the Observer echoed those of former vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro. She stepped down as an adviser to Sen. Hillary Clinton last month after saying Obama wouldn't be where he is if he were white.

Bob Johnson is not some elitist billionaire white man, he is black. He is not some "Uncle Tom sell-out" that lives exclusively in a white man's world, he founded BET. So, just try and tell Bob he cannot make it in America because he is black. Just make an attempt to tell him the white man is keeping him down. See how hard he laughs you right out of his office suite. Better yet, let's hear the Obama hacks villify him and brand him as a racist.

The second thing that happens when a white person tries to engage in a discussion on race is not as hostile, but it is portrayed as some deep intrinsic concept. Whenever whites try to put themselves in the place of blacks and genuinely understand, they are told they can't possibly fully comprehend the suffering. Why? Because it's a black thing and there is no way a white person can truly feel the pain of a black person.

Never mind there are whites that have attended predominantly black schools and endured racist remarks and discrimination, along the way. Never mind that in the second grade LA Sunsett spent a year in Honolulu, going to school that had an overwhelming majority of Hawaiian students, and had to endure the term "haole" (Hawaiian version of honky) on a daily basis. None of us can possibly understand what blacks have been made to endure at the hands of the white man of European origin. We just can't.

Folks, here's my point. A dialogue on race can/would only be productive if the people that call for this kind of thing would be willing to listen in return. A conversation has two components, listening and talking. We learn more by listening than talking, and it's probably why we have two ears and one mouth. We cannot advance anything if one side is not willing to listen. We cannot make any real progress if once we hear something we don't like, it gets branded as racist. To resolve a difference we all must be willing to take some criticism with an open mind.

Until we see the day these things can be implemented in an honest and meaningful way, we will continue down the same old tired path.