Jim comments on Don Imus and racial remarks

I just wanted to share a comment and my response to a post I made on one of the blogs I write to. Sometimes I get comments of interest in other blogs and I think that you my readers deserve to hear those thoughts too. This is in response to my post Don Imus - the offense is unending

jim Says:

Don Imus didn’t say anything racial no more than anyone else has said.Why don’t the people that are so concerned like Sharpton say anything about Obamas remarks when he brings up race or the rev. wright.Blacks use race as an excuse for everything instead of taking care of their own business and get beyond it.Most Black and whites get along fine if some so called leaders would shut up instead of making a living on what someone said.

My response is as follows:

Jim,

I’m sorry that I have not responded to this earlier.

Actually Don Imus may not have said anything more racial than he has for decades, but he consistently says racial comments on a regular basis. He has a habit of stating his thoughts in the most demeaning manner when addressing or discussing African Americans among others. Every comment he makes may not be outright racist, but as a total he is way over the line – far enough to cover a continent.

As for Senator Obama, I don’t speak for him. I speak for my own comments and if you wish to address what I have said then I will respond.

But as for Rev. Al Sharpton, and Rev. Jerimiah Wright, I have spoken about both. They each have good points and have done positive things. The media coverage of those actions is non-existent. Who is to blame for that?

The media exalts in detailing every comment of both of these Reverends when the issue is racial and/or controversial. There is a vacuum and silence when they speak on things the general populace agrees with and or wishes someone would do. How much have you heard about Rev. Wright’s stand, before it was popular, against Apartheid? Or either Reverends work for the poor and homeless?

But I see that you chose to fall back on a familiar comment

“Blacks use race as an excuse for everything instead of taking care of their own business and get beyond it.”

That’s both insulting and ignorant. Just because you have the inability, or desire, to be aware of the privileges afforded to any White American does not make the world all rosy.

African Americans of all educations and backgrounds cope with a nation that is biased against them everyday, virtually all without a comment. I doubt most other races in America could do as much with so little. And I do mean little. Media would like to pretend that minorities don’t exist, or when we do we are the worst of stereotypes. Police authorities are routinely excused for acts of violence that they would not use 1/5th of against a White. And on and on.

And with all that millions of African Americans live fruitful lives. Could you do that? Could you live with the thought that the national media thought so little of you that they ignore you every day of your life? That every image of someone like you is a display of unrest and failure. That you are shunned by general society and watched like a criminal just for trying to live. I don’t think so.

And you want me to get beyond it. How can I when you can’t get beyond stereotypes, and racial insults? How can I accept that America has moved on when you embody a mindset that’s from the middle of 2 centuries ago? How can I when you empower comments being repeatedly thrown at me by the likes of Don Imus.

You are delusional. Perhaps in your eyes all Blacks and Whites get along fine all the time. But that’s a nice lie to help you get to sleep. Yes there are many who do not see race, or rather let it be an impediment. But as long as the legal system, the media, even politicians regard some Americans as different then things are never fine.

There is a big difference between making the best of a situation and being in a good one. You will know the difference the day a cop stops in front of you and draws a gun, because you LOOK suspicious. You’ll know the difference when you are singled out amongst a group, because ‘you people are trouble’, and everyone of a separate race around you just watches.

You can’t see the forest or the trees, and I understand. I understand because I, my family, my friends, and all the people we know have lived with the understanding virtually from birth. You wouldn’t be able to sleep at night seeing reality, so you change the view. You close your eyes and accept the joy that the right color provides and the wrong denies.

It’s human nature to reject pain. You see it, and you know you can’t deal with it. So you avoid it. But for those of us that can’t avoid it, we learn to live with it, like a cancer that won’t kill you but just eats away.

So if I’m pissed off at Don Imus, or you, ignore it and blame me like you always have. You’ll sleep well at night I’m sure. And I’ll understand that you are too weak to deal with it. Trust in that it’s not the first time I’ve encountered someone like you, and undoubtedly it won’t be the last.