Race Relations in America Today

Before I get into the nuts and bolts of the subject matter, I have to share my naivete on the subject. I knew race relations wasn't at the point that every American could say, "when it come to race, we as Americans don't trip on things like that." But I have to admit, I didn't know things were as bad as they are. Until Barack Obama ran for President, and got this close to becoming President, I was totally oblivious how rampant racism was in America today. I remember when I worked in a high rise building on the 24th floor in the financial district of San Francisco and held conversations with my White co-workers at the water cooler and at lunch about how our families should get together and just get to know each other. I was the only person of color in the Engineering Division, my naivete led me to believe these White people were sincere. Now after seeing Barack Obama coming close to becoming President, and O.J. Simpson being convicted of robbery because an all White jury played the get even card; I now know some of my White co-workers were bullshitting me with the smiles at the water cooler and at lunch. I refuse to sit here and paint every White person as a racist, if I did that, that would prove I'm ignorant when it comes down to accepting each individual on their merit and eliminate me as possessing a KOOLBRAIN. What I will sit here and say, I believe the majority of Whites if they look forward at a 90 degree straight angle, when they look at a Black person their vision of sight and mentality will go down instead of up. This does not make them a racist, it just means their fear of something or somebody different overwhelms their capability of intelligence.

If Blacks and Whites could sit sit down and have a grown up conversation with each other about race relations in America today, I'm still a believer that common sense will rule. The operative word is common sense, but I've also noticed, the majority of us don't exercise common sense the majority of the time. Even though I cling to the belief that common sense will rule the day, I continue to see ignorance prevailing over everything we cherish.

I know people who read my blogs on a regular basis are sick and tired of me blaming Blacks as major contributors to the plight of Black Americans. I'll say this one thing, and just get on with the subject matter of this article. Until Blacks cease to accept themselves as second class citizens, we shouldn't expect others to view us as equals. There's a group of Black people who identify themselves as the National Black Republican Association (NBRA). I honestly believe it's a good thing for diversity to be a part of both Republicans and Democrats. With that said, for some reason the members of NBRA feel that it's their duty to be attack dogs on Barack Obama for the Republicans. I recently viewed a forum by NBRA on cspan, I was prepared to hear members of the panel talk about what Blacks should do to strengthen the Black community. What I heard from Star Parker, Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, Angela McGowan, Dr. Deborah Honeycutt, Frances Rice, Alphonso Jackson, Rev. LeRoy Thomas, Dr. Thomas Sowell, Michael Steele, and Dr. Shelby Steele was the trashing of Barack Obama and why Whites should fear Blacks. Dr. Shelby Steele went so far as to place certain Blacks into certain categories. Dr. Shelby Steele went into a long dialogue about how Blacks like Oprah Winfrey, Tiger Woods, and Michael Jordan manipulate Whites one way, and how Blacks like Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton manipulate Whites another way. What Shelby Steele conveyed to his predominately White audience was whether it's elite rich Black people like Oprah Winfrey and Tiger Woods, or social Blacks like Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton; Whites are the real victims in America today. I sat there in a daze watching these people go on and on about how dangerous Barack Obama and Black people are to Whites. The more these people talked, the more it was as if I was watching some science fiction movie. I watched in shock when the all Black members of the panel took questions from the predominantly White audience; the majority of the questions were how can we protect ourselves from the Black predators. Instead of the NBRA using their platform sending a message how Black fathers should be more a part of the children they fathered, instead of the NBRA using their platform to talk about the escalation of teen pregnancies and the high school dropout rate in the Black community, instead of the NBRA using their platform to address the continuous insanity of Black on Black crime; the NBRA used their platform to trash Barack Obama and explain to their White audience how they are victims of Blacks. When I watch Sean Hannity of Fox News bring on Black guest like Larry Elder and Deroy Murdock to help deliver his trashing of Barack Obama give some kind of credence to his racist rants; that's enough proof to me that we as Black people have gotten to the point that we have become cannibalistic, we devour our own.