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TechnoratiRacial Disparity: A Real Reason to Cry
Are you crying? Are you crying? ARE YOU CRYING? There's no crying! THERE'S NO CRYING IN BASEBALL!"
Once heard, those immortal words spoken by Tom Hanks playing the part of Coach Dugan in that epic film "A League of Their Own" can never be forgotten. So I'm betting that Rep. Henry Waxman and the rest of the Congressional Committee on Oversight and Government Reform never saw the movie. At the hearings a few weeks ago, every one of them looked like they were going to start blubbering like little girls.
What's the matter? Not enough government to oversee? How about figuring out why the administration is sticking it to the injured veterans when they return home? Why not oversee the millions upon millions - in cash - mislaid in Iraq?
Don't get me wrong, I love baseball as much as the next guy. Maybe more so because I'm a Red Sox fan. That means that up until recent memory I had to love a team that could tank, and I mean toilet tank, within minutes of the All-Star break.
Yeah, I learned to love baseball in spite of its flaws, not because of its greatness.
So Roger Clemens and a bunch of other millionaires might have cheated to get their money. Oh yeah, that's a new trend in making money, cheating.
And the batters who bat now might eclipse the Bambino's record because they took steroids - that's some sort of a crime? Big deal! I'll tell you what's a crime: Babe Ruth never tested his talents against a black man. That's crooked ball!
Ever hear of Lucy Poolaw? You might know her by her stage name Princess Watawaso. I saw a picture of her this week. The picture captured her casting the first vote by an American Indian in Maine. Even though Congress granted citizenship to Indian peoples in 1924, they couldn't vote in federal elections until 1954. The state of Maine didn't let them vote in state elections until 1967. That's crooked politics.
How could lawmakers deny people the right to vote, in my lifetime, based on race? The same way they burdened us with unspeakable debt: They're lousy at their jobs. They've got an agenda and it ain't democracy.
OK, so 60 years ago we had a blatantly racist national sport. And 40 years ago we had blatantly racist voter access. We aren't racist anymore? We could ask some New Jersey traffic cops. According to "Driving While Black," a book by Kenneth Meeks, "Almost 73 percent of motorists stopped and searched on a major New Jersey highway in 1999 were African-Americans, even though African-Americans made up less than 18 percent of traffic violators."
Too specific a statistic for you? Well, how about the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin that states, "Disparities in sentencing and incarceration have grown to such an extent that African-American men comprise 50 percent of the U.S. prison population despite representing just 6 percent of the U.S. population as a whole."
Now we have a presidential race with a black guy in it. He's doing pretty well, too. And while the Lucy Poolaws and the Jackie Robinsons have all been enfranchised there aren't enough people of color in the country to win the race for him. So that means that white folks would have to elect a black man president of the United States.
Will they?
The country has elected blacks to high office in the past. In the 19th century, there were two black U.S. senators. In the 20th century there were - umm - well, there were two more and at the start of the 21st century, there is one. OK, so no progress there.
In a recent article in New Black Magazine, Keith Boykin cautions the optimists: "White voters can clearly see that Barack Obama is black. And although they may tell the pollsters that they would consider voting for a black president, history suggests that many of them will be lying."
If we're going to shed our racist ways, we've got to admit our racism and then it's still not going to be easy. But good things are seldom easy.
As Hanks' Coach Dugan said to a player complaining that baseball was too hard, "It's supposed to be hard. ... The hard ... is what makes it great."
Pat LaMarche of Yarmouth, Maine is the author of "Left Out In America: The State of Homelessness in the United States."
© 2008 The Bangor Daily News
14 Comments so far
Show All"White privilege" does not refer to life being handed to you on a silver platter. "White privilege" is that you don't understand racism and how it works on a person because you yourself have never been the victim of centuries of both institutional and social racism.
90% of White people have the privilege of intellectualizing and sympathizing against racism without ever experiencing it first hand.
The two black guys who mugged you does not constitute racism, it constitutes you being an easy victim because you are a woman walking alone at night. A white man with criminal intent would have mugged you just as quickly.
What's even more unusual is that alot of black people are more racist than the whites they claim are keeping them down. They're not only suspicious of white people, but they're suspicious of black people as well. Centuries of racism has taught the average American, black or white, that they should be scared of black men. Even though I can see that it's obviously not the truth, that doesn't mean I'm not nervous when a thugged-out looking black kid walks behind me at an ATM. I'm sure the police in your county in GA have the same mentality, so it really doesn't matter if alot of blacks are in a position of power. The mentality is in power right along with the person.
I think Jesse Jackson said it best: "It breaks my heart that I watch over my shoulder for young black men when walking the streets at night."
Some of the racism blacks experience IS a direct result of how we represent ourselves, how we treat our families, communities, and responsibilities. Let's not forget that this IS also a reinforced and encouraged by institutional and social racism, and that we can't accept all the blame for our situation.
What white priviledge? I have worked very hard for everything I have ever gotten. No husband, sugar daddy, trust fund or father around to haul my booty anywhere. If I hadn't been able to work my way through college and become a licensed healthcare professional, I would be considered "white trash". In fact, living in Dekalb County, GA basically puts me and every other white person here in the minority.
I just want to make it clear I do not dismiss the reality of racism, I just feel that this is the kind of climate where a black man or even a woman could win despite racism and sexism. If people did not feel so in crisis a black man or a woman would not even win the nomination.
Granted the Black "experience" is unique in America, and yes many, many issues and hardships, but poverty can not be the only reason nor excuse for the current plight of so many, it's choices that we make as individuals that determine our outcomes. I for one, born out of wed lock and don't know my father, however, I would not continue the cycle and did not. I'm as lefty as the rest, but facts are facts and children born out of wedlock don't help matters; misoginistic songs/videos don't help, homophobia doesn't help; use of the N-word with such casualness doesn't help, current drug laws don't help but don't make matters worse; low graduation rates and low voter participation don't help, blah blah. There are programs and there are people and agencies that want to help, but it takes active and constant particpation from the community, friends and family, visit and support Libraries, write letters to the editors and mainstream blog/web sites. Several years ago Bill Cosby spoke about his concerns and he was villified, yet I see rallies for Michael Vick and R Kelly that I don't get. Rev. Yearwood is on the mark, Morris Dees on the mark (not to be confused with Morris Day and the Time for you 80's buffs, ha ha). Get active, get informed, get responsible, join peace groups, get tested, etc, etc etc. MLK, and Malcom X and so many others didn't sacrifice their lives just so we can equal representation on VH1 a la Flavor of Love or Judge Brown/Hatchett/Mathis.
...And Ms. Rockerbabe will continue the cycle of racism based on two incidents in which she was mugged by "two" individual black men. Living oblivious to the fact that she benefits from her white privilege...The story continues.
In times of crisis KKK members have joined with black people to form unions, even before World War 2. I think most Americans understand the corruption of the Bush Administration, and will vote for Obama (assuming he's the nominee) to get away from Bush's Path, assuming he doesn't get caught in a scandal or something. By November they will be more concerned about the economy than war, assuming there is not another terrorist attack in America, or assuming Bush doesn't catch Bin Laden. I've known very racist people who often hung out with black people, maybe more than many people I knew who were active in antiracist movements. Anyone who would let the color of Obama's skin stop them from voting for him probably wouldn't even think of voting for him. There may be people who are uncomfortable voting for him, but it's hard to see them not voting for him in this climate of emergency. Everyone feels it who is not in that 30-40% who vote Republican no matter what.
Blah, blah, blah. I live in Dekalb Co. Georgia, one of the most racially diverse counties in the country. Our county CEO is black, the majority of the country commissioners are not white, the police commissioner and most of the police managers are black, the school board is very diverse, we have lots of black elected and appointed officials at all levels of government AND we still have issues with the police charging lawbreakers with crimes. It is always something!! "They" pull over too many blacks - well, what can I say? I, as a white person have had a few tickets issues for parking violations and speeding. What I can say, is that my windows aren't tinted black, so the police do know who they have targeted. Black tinted windows are big business in Georgia. I don't hang out on street corners soliciting drug business and expect to NOT get caught! I don't drink and drive and expect to NOT get caught! I have been mugged twice in my life and both times by black men; they didn't get caught - I just got hurt and scared. I guess I asked for it being a midddle aged white women living in a racially diverse community! Please, take your self-righteous indignations elsewhere.
thanks, pat lamarche, for writing about race, and to the posters here (we'll exclude rockerbabe, for she still does not know what she says) for being aware. now, where were you all in the discussion of john nichols 02.22.08 article. seems like most posters on that one think racism and sexism are non-existent in our society today. of course, as previously posted, truth is a big, and often painful, pill for some to swallow.
arise257: "racism, plain and simple..." period. end of discussion.
Yes, black people get pulled over at a much higher percentage than white people EVEN though statistics bear out that white people more often are caught with contraband during these stops. My husband is black, and I've witnessed the "driving while black" phenomenon first hand, it exists...The cop gave it up when he saw white little me sitting next to him and couldn't come up with a reason as to why he stopped us. He claimed we were going a little too fast, when I asked to see the radar he of course couldn't produce any. I asked if I should contact my attorney, he told us to have a good night...go figure. We were pulled over in my late model Mercedes, the REAL reason was, the cop didn't figure a black guy should be driving that car...period.
All rockerbabe1 has to do experience the other side is put on some really dark makeup and a knit cap and cruise slowly through an upscale neighborhood.
Last week's episode of 'Eli Stone' on ABC has a good side story reflecting visual profiling:
http://ll.static.abc.go.com/streaming/move/00070013/static.html?aff=kitv+&affTo=kitv+&useexternal=0&ch...
Guess Rockerbabe never heard about the War on Drugs and how it targets blacks, latinos and others that whites want to lock up. Guess rockerbabe also never heard about the disparity of sentences for whites found with powder cocaine as opposed to blacks caught with crack cocaine. Rockerbabe asks "are those in prison guilty of a crime?". Guess rockerbabe has never heard of the many black individuals who have done long sentences for crimes they didn't commit, or the many that have been convicted on trumped up charges. Excuse us Rockerbabe for living, sorry!
Rockerbabe:
Getting pulled over more because you're black has little to do with whether or not you're breaking traffic laws. Would it make sense to say that black people commit 78% more traffic crimes than others? Of course not. It's that we are specifically targeted, and thus make up that number. Remember, we're only 13 percent of the TOTAL population. If all things were equal, you'd expect us to make up that same percentage of prisoners/traffic stops. Fact of the matter is, if you're not white in this country, you get shat on in general.
Black men don't commit 50% of the crimes in this country, why are we 50% of the prison population? Racism, plain and simple, confirmed by the statistics of the criminal justice system that targets us.
Are those in prison guilty of a crime? Are those individual who were stopped guilty of a traffic infraction? Please, if I get stopped, it is usually because I have been doing something against the traffic laws. Take your punishment and stop whining. If Obama wins the nomination, this democratic will write in an alternate candidate; Al Gore or Hillary Clinton. I have had enough of the sexism, nastiness and the double standard for qualifications; and words don't get it for me anymore. I don't think I can hold my nose tight enough to avoid the smell. McCain is dangerous and Huckabee is a zealot when it comes to offensive rhetoric regarding women's rights. You "progressives" aren't all the advanced; you are not team players (which means putting differences aside to work on the goal) and the best candidate, Senator Clinton, may just be a footnote in history. Stop whinning and the gnashing of teeth; your rhetoric may have already condemned you. The boy's club always sticks together and if he's white, he may just pull this off again.
I'm not sure Keith Boykin is right. Many white voters may view Obama as a native-born child of an immigrant rather than as "black". Some pre-election polls seem to understated rather than overstate Obama's support among white Democrats. White Republicans are another story, but most of them wouldn't vote for a Democrat of any skin color. Independents whites are the ones I wonder about.