LEADERSHIP CULTIVATION

Limbaugh Says He Is Not a Racist

Rush Limbaugh on his radio show today said that he is not a racist.  He was trying to make the point that white people who criticize blacks or in particularly President Obama are wrongly classified as racists.  He gave an example how his dear old mammy, I mean his family's domestic servant, Bertie helped raise him and his brother. And he continued to say that one day when his family took Bertie home they were appalled by her living conditions.  They were so concerned in fact that his father helped Bertie move to a better home.  Rush seemed to imply that since he had empathy for his dear old mammy, I mean house servant Bertie, he can't be racist. 

Rush would be even more shock to know that old Bertie probably only worked as his family's servant because better jobs were denied to her because of her race. So cleaning up behind his nasty posterior was probably more of a necessity than a choice. But I don't know whether Rush is racist or not because I don't know what is inside his heart.  However, his actions and rhetoric are consistent with those of someone who is a race-baiter.  I think that playing upon the prejudices of other white people is a game for him and a means to an end. A very lucrative end I might add.

Lee Atwater whose Willie Horton ad helped elect George H. W. Bush president, was a master political strategist and expert race-baiter. On his death bed while dying of cancer, Atwater repented for his sins and asked forgiveness from the people he had harmed through his political campaigns.  His contrite act prompted Atwater's Republican colleagues to turn on him more viciously than a lion chomping on its prey. Now I doubt if Atwater was a racist, but he was adept at pushing the buttons of the people who were.  So the lesson is simple. You may not be a racist, but if you engage in race-baiting tactics, it doesn't make a difference.

The Professor, the Police Officer, and the President

I think most of us are familiar with the phrase "let cooler heads prevail." On the outside looking in that was probably not the case with the situation where Harvard Professor Skip Gates was arrested by Cambridge Massachusetts Police Officer James Crowley. I can see where Professor Gates might have gotten a little testy if he perceived that Officer Crowley had pressured him more than was required to establish his identity as he stood in his own residence. I can also see where Officer Crowley might have intentionally pressed harder if he perceived that Professor Gates had unduly resisted his request for cooperation.

I also understand President Obama coming to the defense of a friend whom he felt might have been mistreated or been the victim of racial profiling since it falls within the realm of reality. Since he is the President of the United States and doesn't always check his polling numbers before he responds, President Obama's candidness, Professor Gates' resistance, and Officer Crowley's insistence on making what was in my opinion an ill-advised arrest, extended the shelf life of an unfortunate incident. 

Yet hindsight is 20/20. I think all principals would agree to a do-over if it was possible. In Bible study, my pastor taught that it is not a sin to get angry.  He said the sin occurs when we stay angry. Judging from their recent positive actions, it appears that the central cast members of this short story are repentance, wish to reconcile their differences and move forward. It remains to be seen if casual spectators, the mainstream media, and interfering back seat drivers let them.

WaPost Wrong, No Presidential Divide for Black Americans

Throughout the 2008 Presidential Campaign, the public was subjected to a regular dose of fabrications about Barack Obama. Add to that regiment a Washington Post article that implies that there exists a widespread split in the Black community over the President, supposedly because some Black commentators like Tavis Smiley and Jeff Johnson have been outspoken critics.  The Post erroneously thinks that Black people rely upon these commentators for forming their opinion about how to feel about Mr. Obama.  That is simply not true. 

Believe it when I tell you that Tavis Smiley and Jeff Johnson do not speak for the masses.  Smiley lost favor with a lot of Black people when he rejected Michelle Obama as a suitable stand-in for candidate Obama at his New Orleans Covenant on Black America Summit. It doesn't help Johnson's case that Smiley was a consultant to Tom Joyner about who his replacement should be on his Morning Show. It doesn't take an Einstein to figure out that it is these guys who need the lesson.  Black America is not asleep at the wheel or stuck in some naivete zone. We simply do not expect the President to be held to a higher standard or pass some litmus test not required of his predecessors.  

For those who can't see the forest for the trees or somehow missed the real implication of the election of Mr. Obama, maybe this will help.  The significance for Black America or other non-whites is that now they can unequivocally tell their children that they could grow up to one day be President of the United States because there is empirical data to back up their assertions.  And Mr. Obama's election was a victory for Whites as well.  A false promise of equality had been draped across America from it's inception.  With the merit vote cast by Americans on November 4, 2009 that elected Mr. Obama, that burden was removed. 

When I posted in my blog that "Black people now look at White people differently and there is nothing that they can do about it", a White woman responded and thanked me for my statement that had presented her with a degree of relief.  My followup response to her was I hadn't harbored any ill feeling, but that a burden I didn't realize existed was now lifted from my shoulders. I understood why Americans cried on Election Day. Mr. Obama's election helped to heal some deep wounds.  So listen up pundits.  It wasn't some fleeting feel good moment and we don't need a play by play accountability tab kept on the President. We get it!  Mr. Obama needs to be judged by his performance and he will be as all the Presidents before him.  Isn't that the real point?