Race, Reid, and the American Public

Are Americans capable of having honest dialogue on the issue of race? President Obama discussed the issue during his campaign. He went to great lengths, even writing his own speech for delivery at the Constitution Center in Philadelphia, and attempted to hit the race issue head on with honesty and candor. We appreciate and admire his courage to step up to the table and deal with this topic.

The average American citizen is perfectly capable of dealing with the topic of race, but grows tired of politicians treating us as if we cannot think for ourselves. The politicians seem to be the only ones who are unable to have an honest discussion regarding race in our country. My guess is that living in Washington and not on Main Street keeps them in a bubble, out of touch, and unable to see reality.

The latest absurdity is the treatment of Senator Harry Reid’s comments, made in 2008, about Mr. Obama. His comments about Obama being a “light skinned African American” with no “Negro dialect” remind me of something we used to hear thirty years ago. It shows, sadly, how backward-thinking Mr. Reid really is and demonstrates that he is still living in the race-colored world of the 1950s and 1960s. What is more insulting is how his political party members (and others who share his political views) are rushing to his defense. I won’t comment on the disparity between how Reid is being handled versus how Senator Trent Lott was handled. The hypocrisy here is obvious.

Let us instead have an honest discussion. I have friends and family members who cheerfully supported and voted for Mr. Obama. The majority of people who voted for Obama were white. One of the reasons people voted for him is that they believed he would do a lot for the cause of healing race relations in America. They liked his demeanor and skill and attitude towards uniting Americans. The shade of his skin, whether light brown or dark brown, or the dialect he used or didn’t use, had nothing to do with it.

The fact that he is a black man, however, was a big factor. In fact, had he been darker in skin shade, it may have been even a stronger draw for them. People felt that electing a black president was important and might allow us to finally shatter the ultimate glass ceiling. They believed that it was important to show that white Americans would vote for a black man. They also hoped that a black president would inspire other black Americans to aim high, shoot for the stars, and believe that in this country, anything is possible. Honestly, I don’t believe anyone who supported Mr. Obama would have withheld support if his skin tone was a darker shade. To even suggest this is ridiculous.

Now let’s be even more candid. Mr. Reid mentioned that Obama speaks with more of a “Negro dialect” “when he wants to”. So what? My experience has been that most African Americans speak with a distinct dialect. So what? Many blacks may also speak a certain way at work and more informally in casual situations at home or with family. So what? No one cares about dialect, as long as people speak in a way that can be understood. Northeasterners, Midwesterners, Asians, Hispanics, etc., all have unique dialects. Many of these people speak one way at work and a different way—even a different language—at home. In the real world this makes no difference; it is not a negative. I myself can speak with a strong, country, Southern dialect when I want to. Many white southerners “clean up” their strong southern accent and slang in professional settings, but become more loose and “country” talking when they go back to their family reunions.

Many blacks have been made to feel like they need to speak more like a white person and hide their dialect, and this is unfortunate. People should be able to be themselves and not be ashamed of their dialects. Again, it is a matter of being able to converse in a way in which people can understand you. When people try to make this out to be an issue, it shows they are out of touch with regular Americans. The rank and file American works every day with people of different ethnicity and has come to appreciate the differences in dialects and customs.

Justice Clarence Thomas has a darker shade of black skin and speaks with a stronger African American dialect than President Obama, and yet conservatives were enthusiastically supporting him almost twenty years ago. The shade of his skin color was never mentioned, nor was his dialect. What was important were his conservative values and beliefs. When he was being put through what he referred to as a “high-tech lynching,” it was the liberal elite and liberal politicians putting him through it, not “racist conservatives.” Judge Thomas was racially attacked in an embarrassing fashion. Fortunately, he survived and became a Supreme Court Justice.

Why can’t we treat all people the same? I despise the whole debate about the shade of President Obama’s skin, and so do most Americans. In fact, the vast majority of Americans moved past this issue long ago. Apparently Senator Reid has not moved past it, and for that, he owes the American people an apology. When he said the people wouldn’t vote for a darker-skinned man with a Negro dialect, he wasn’t really insulting Obama; he was insulting the voters and making a judgment about them. Let’s hope that one day our out-of-touch public politicians, including Reid, will follow lead of the American people and move on. At the very least, let’s hope they can start to be honest.

Brad Bradley is the former CEO of Senderra Funding in Charlotte, North Carolina. He now runs a private investment company and is a member of the CJS Board of Directors.

The CJS Forum seeks to promote an open exchange of ideas about the relationship between faith, culture, law and public policy. While all the articles are original and written especially for the CJS Forum, they do not necessarily reflect the views of the Center for a Just Society.

Picture above from Flickr user Brian Finifter licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 License.