When you grow up white in middle America you have a much different perspective from a guy or gal who grew up black or brown in the ghetto. Rev. Wright is correct in saying America is a racist country. There is no doubt about it. America is also an ethnically diverse country in which most if not all ethnic groups have been discriminated against. I’ve seen racism in myself and its not pretty, but it’s there. Until we see that we are all racists there can be no hope of change. Until we can see that we are all flawed and embrace those flaws we have no hope of redemption. Until we can move away from us vs. them we will repeat this tragic cycle again and again.
As easy as it is for those of us who are white to look back and say, “That’s a terrible statement,” I grew up in a very segregated South, and I think that you have to cut some slack. And I’m going to be probably the only conservative in America who’s going to say something like this, but I’m just telling you: We’ve got to cut some slack to people who grew up being called names, being told, “You have to sit in the balcony when you go to the movie. You have to go to the back door to go into the restaurant. And you can’t sit out there with everyone else. There’s a separate waiting room in the doctor’s office. Here’s where you sit on the bus.” And you know what? Sometimes people do have a chip on their shoulder and resentment. And you have to just say, I probably would too. I probably would too. In fact, I may have had … more of a chip on my shoulder had it been me.
– Mike Huckabee, offering his perspective on the preaching of Rev. Jeremiah Wright. (Source: MSNBC)
I agree that we need to move away from an “us vs. them” mentality but your uniquivical statement “America is a racist country. No doubt about it” is absurd. Your definition of racism is probably different from mine but I don’t think all people are racist. I don’t think most Americans are racist. And America as a country was founded on ethnic diversity and tolerance–a goal which we may have always fell short of but are closer today than at any point in our past.
I don’t think it is unfair to deplore Rev. Wright as much as any bigot who is of a lighter skin tone.
Nothing absurd at all. You look at our history of the suppression of Native American peoples, African Americans beginning in 1618 when the first slave ships arrived up to and including today and you will see racism. At times it is thinly veiled and there has been considerable progress, but it’s still there. We’re not alone. Racism exists almost everywhere in the world and the only way to overcome is to accept it, talk about it and move forward.
Thank you for stopping by and caring enough to comment. 🙂 Don