What do You Have to Do to Be Called a Racist?

 So one has to wonder is a racist defined by his choice of words? Sure Justin Barnett did not participate in cross burnings or lynchings, but the use of this term is more than a poor word choice or an angry rant. We have a Boston cop who writes a fiery letter and refers to Harvard professor Henry Gates as a “jungle monkey”, but he is not a racist. You called a black man a jungle monkey that is not a term of endearment. He says he was venting and he has since apologized for his “poor choice of words”. “The police commissioner put 36-year-old Justin Barrett on administrative leave pending a termination hearing after learning of the slur. Barrett is a member of the National Guard has been suspended from his military duties pending an investigation.” Your words define who you are. Generally you say what is on your mind and in your heart. You can’t put it out there and take it back when you see the response. I am not going to call him a racist, I am just going to say anyone who uses this kind of language at least has racist tendencies, and he is an adult and adults have to be held accountable for what they say. President Obama took some heat when he said the Cambridge police acted “stupidly” in the Gates situation, and even he was forced to reel it back a little. So this policemen is going to have to take it like a man and own up to his own words.

Rev. Ike the Godfather of Prosperity Gospel Is Gone to the Mansion in the Sky

 In the 1970s we were finally getting used to seeing blacks on television, but we had never seen anything like Rev. Ike. Ike was teaching prosperity gospel when Creflo Dollar and TD Jakes were trying to get senior prom dates. He was bold and brass and he made traditional black preachers very uncomfortable.” Reverend Ike preached the power of what he called “positive self-image psychology” to his 5,000 parishioners at the United Church Science of Living Institute. The church was housed in a former movie theater in New York’s Washington Heights neighborhood. In the 1970s, Reverend Ike was one of the first evangelists to reach an audience of millions through television. This is the do-it-yourself church,” he proclaimed. “The only savior in this philosophy is God in you.” Most black churches believed ministries should focus on social issues, but Rev. Ike preached a here and now message. Get all you can here and now. Rev. Ike lived an extravagant life and he had no problem flaunting his wealth. Few if any in his congregation achieved the wealth of their leader. Rev. Ike once said “If it’s that difficult for a rich man to get into heaven,” he said, riffing on the famous verse from the book of Matthew, “think how terrible it must be for a poor man to get in. He doesn’t even have a bribe for the gatekeeper.” Rev. Ike made no apologies for his pursuit of wealth and he never really tried to cloak his philosophy in traditional preacher talk. He was about the DOLLAR plain and simple. So the next time you are watching one of the TV preachers and he start’s talking about the “God in you” please know it is not an original concept they got it from a flashy preacher named Rev. Ike.

Boston Cop Calls Henry Louis Gates a “Jungle Monkey” …So why Would We Doubt the Police?

Justin Barrett, a Boston cop sent an anonymous letter to the Boston Globe ranting about the media coverage of the Gates incident. In his letter he refered to the Harvard professor as a “jungle monkey”.  So why would people automatically trust the word of a Boston cop? Barrett has been put on administrative leave with pay pending a disciplinary hearing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylK11FxxLCw

Fox Network’s More to Love is a Big Disappointment

Last night More to Love premiered on Fox Network and it was a hot mess. American women who are overweight are punching bags for society. Case in point President Obama’s pick for Surgeon General has been criticized because of her weight. So last night instead of a celebration of full-figured women we are shown full-figured women that seemed to believe that they were unworthy of love or incapable of ever getting it. So many shared stories that indicated this show was there last chance at love. This is crazy that this could possibly be their last chance at a relationship since this guy is a complete stranger to them. One of the contestants jumped in the pool and asked her fellow contestants “did she look like a beached whale?” of course they said no, but why the whale reference? Why did one of the promos for the show use the term ground-breaking, why are their weights a part of the name graphics? People magazine did an article on the show and they too felt the need to display their weights. We get it they are full-figured women, but tell me what woman anywhere would want her weight thrown up on a television screen every time she uttered a word? This show is exploitive. Now, I know the women made a choice to be on this show, but enough is enough. Let us enjoy their adventure as they find reality show “love” without the continual reminder that they are so big.

Fox News Allows Glenn Beck to Call the President a Racist

Fox News hates President Obama. It is a 24/7 news cycle of anti-Obama news stories. Glenn Beck had the audacity to call President Obama a racist. He went on to say the president has a “deep seated hatred for white people”. Even his cohorts on Fox News seemed taken aback at his assessment. Beck forgets the fact that Obama is half-white and he was also raised by his white grandparents. Beck is an entertainer not a journalist but he has a large platform and this kind of irresponisible chatter is very dangerous.

Colin Powell Comments on the Gates Controversy and Relates His Own Racial Profiling Story on Larry King Live

We are going into the second week of the Gates controversy. Unless you live under a rock you have heard the facts of the case. Or shall I say the disputed facts. In this case the facts vary depending on whose telling them. Some say the President weighed into the controversy, but I contend he was dragged into it. Nevertheless he will be having a beer with Professor Gates and Sgt. Crowley very soon. The story refuses to die and last night on Larry King Live General Colin Powell said that he too had been the victim of racial profiling many times. Powell said Gates could have handled the situation differently. Powell urged young people confronted by the police to “cooperate. Don’t make the situation more difficult.”  When King asked Powell how did it make him feel Powell said “Do you get angry? Yes. Do you manifest that anger? You protest, you try to get things fixed, but it’s kind of a better course of action to take it easy and don’t let your anger make the current situation worse.” It is easy for people to comment on the Gates controversy, and say Gates might have handled the situation better, but it is easy to be a Monday morning quarterback.  We will never really know what happened in that house so we will never know how we would have reacted to the situation. Powell is a disciplined military man who worked his way up and to do that he has had to learn to keep his emotions in check.  So it stands to reason that Powell would have handled the situation differently, and it also stands to reason that no cop in America today would have cuffed Gen. Colin Powell not even Sgt. Crawley.

Does Anyone Really Want to have a National Conversation on Race?

The Henry Louis Gates controversy has rekindled the idea of having a national conversation on race. What does this mean? Will policy makers come together and say racism is wrong? We already know that. Will they say racial profiling is bad? We already know that. Will they say not all policemen are bad? Well we know that too. So what would they discuss and what could they possibly accomplish? Last week I did a number of posts on the Gates situation and one of the readers sent me a comment. This is an excerpt from that comment. “Lately, this blog has become heavily focused on the negative: racism and Dr. Gates, Republicans and racism, racism in the media, racism and children, and general racism. I just can’t take it anymore, and I’m black. Racism exists and racism is bad…I get it. Yet somehow trying to keep my job and basically survive is taking precedence over racism woes these days.” So again I ask is America ready for this conversation or is this a conversation that most do not want to have?

Morning Joe’s Mika Taking the Heat for Conversation on Race

This morning while watching the Morning Joe I was struck by how this Henry Louis Gates story will not go away. By now everyone knows the story. Black man arrested in his own home by white policemen, but the facts of the incident are still in dispute. The President has said the cops acted “stupidly” which elevated the conversation, but the sad part of this is people are being attacked for facilitating the conversation. In the case of Mika Brzenski she said she was receiving hate mail from both sides for merely asking questions, but that is her job to ask questions. Race is an uncomfortable conversation. most of the time we don’t discuss it but that does not mean that race is not an issue. It is times like this that force us to grample with this touchy subject. While watching the show it was interesting to see co-workers who normally affirm each other at odds with each other. Race is a polarizing subject but the conversation on race should not be polarizing, but unfortunately it is.

CNN Black in America 2 Celebrates Marriage

Last night was Part 2 of the CNN special Black in America 2. There were several stories that dealt with healthcare and media related issues. The special also examined black marriage and how marriage has also been permanently minimized in the black community, but they highlighted Nisa Muhammad who heads Wedded Bliss a foundation dedicated to the preservation of marriage. Wedded Bliss sponsors 8 week boot camps that allow couples in trouble the opportunity to work through their issues. I have been critical of some aspects of the Black in America series because it has seemingly concentrated on the negative aspects of the black community. It was refreshing last night to see the focus on black couples committed to their children and committed to their marriages. The black community is full of diversity and sadly this segment is rarely highlighted so I applaud CNN for concentrating on the positive.

The Gates Incident Affirms the Need to Teach Our Black Sons to Comply with the Police

 The Henry Louis Gates controversy has caused America to re-visit the issue of racial profiling. When I initially read the article I thought it was a clear case, but I was surprised at the response of my husband. My husband is an Ivy League graduate and he said when the police give you an order you comply. He said any other response might get you killed. I think the public is appalled because Gates is a noted historian and an esteemed elder in the black community. The question is how could they do this to him, but the bigger issue is how could they do it at all. The sad fact is we have to teach our children how to react to the police. The police are no longer the Officer Friendly we met in elementary school. There are far too many rogue officers who are looking for a reason to use their billy club and we do not want our children to be on the other end of it. So in spite of the fact that Gates is beloved to us he is still a black man and like it or not in 2009 black men still have to behave in a certain way or risk being killed.