An editorial entitled “Always Flunking Race 101” was written some years ago by black columnist, William Raspberry, of the Washington Post Writer’s Group. As a teenager growing up in the 1980s, I thought Raspberry’s columns were interesting and on the cutting edge for the times.
As I matured and lost myself within college life, I lost touch with Raspberry’s writings. As a grown man in this new millennium, I came upon Raspberry’s column and decided to read it. The title was an attention grabber, but I was truly taken aback when I read the first two paragraphs, the first which said:
“Kermit the frog used to remind us: It’s not easy being green. Is that ‘Sesame Street’ Muppet still around? If so, he might want to have a go at a new lyric: It’s not easy being white. I don’t speak from experience, of course. I’m just trying to guess how it must feel to be eternally blamed for anything that goes wrong, particularly on the racial front, and to get credit for nothing that goes well.”
Raspberry then makes reference to a news report that the New Black Panther Party is likening Bill Clinton’s moving into Harlem as the beginning of a “white takeover of black Harlem.” Rightly, or wrongly, the New Black Panther Party sees Clinton’s moving into Harlem as a red flag for re-gentrification. Raspberry then says, “See what I mean? If whites abandon our neighborhoods, we say they are segregationists who want us confined to the ghetto. If they move in, we say they’re taking over. What’s a poor white guy to do?”
Now, years later, I am still trying to figure out the motive for Raspberry’s editorial. What was he trying to achieve? If he were trying to personify the term, “Uncle Tom,” I would say that he is headed in the right direction. To say that it isn’t easy being white is somewhat ludicrous to me. I mean, is it really hard to be successful in America as a white person, when white people hold the vast majority of positions of influence in business, government, and the judiciary? Research the racial makeup of Congress, the upper management of the Fortune 100, and federal judges. Then, just for fun, look up the racial makeup of the prison population. Study the demographics of not only the urban ghetto, but also the poor rural areas of America.
In my opinion, many white people could ultimately care less if a black person criticizes them for being segregationist. They discount the fact that many blacks blame them for not truly addressing the many injustices and inequities that exist within the black community. If whites were really listening, then there would not be such a big (and still growing) racial divide within America today—not only socially, but economically as well. Who cares if another black “radical” accuses whites of using Machiavellian tactics to oppress blacks?
This leads me to my second point, which is how Raspberry can take an opinion from the New Black Panther Party and insinuate that it is the opinion of the black mainstream. Now that whites have read his editorial, I am sure that they will believe that most blacks feel that there is a white conspiracy to take over Harlem. The truth is that there are areas, including Harlem, that whites are beginning to take back. For example, in my North Carolina hometown, Raleigh, many whites are migrating to an historic black area called Oberlin. Oberlin, which was predominately black, and was made “historic” by the white establishment is within a walk of downtown. Basically the same exact thing has happened in my wife’s childhood neighborhood in Asheville. Is this a coincidence, or is it re-gentrification? Now, I wouldn’t necessarily say that there is a white conspiracy to move blacks out of these neighborhoods, but there is definitely a pattern forming. Moreover, many whites have realized that the same areas that they corralled blacks into during the last century are actually prime real estate. So, like many beneficial things in life, whites will find a way to exploit the situation by using their economic and political influence to uproot the disadvantaged (whether these people are black, Hispanic, or white). So, unlike the New Black Panther Party which arguably only sees things in black and white, I believe that this re-gentrification is as much about the rich exploiting the poor. Not to say that the New Black Panthers are totally off base with their assertions, but if Raspberry wants to manipulate a quote as the majority opinion of black people, then he needs to use an organization that is not so unpalatable to the American mainstream.
Basically, I am just trying to understand Raspberry’s reasons and rationale for writing the editorial. It is ludicrous to think that a black man in America feels the need to illicit sympathy for white people, when many whites could care less about what other ethnic groups think about them anyway. All they know is that they are the ones in power, and they are going to pass the laws that keep them in power—if not get them more power. I am sure that many whites got a good chuckle—tongue in cheek—and a few “amens” while reading Raspberry’s editorial during their breakfast of tea and crumpets. Perhaps a few blacks choked on their brains and eggs before asking incredulously, “Can you believe this guy?” In my opinion, the number of whites that are “always flunking Race 101,” do so because they repeatedly fail to realize the first human, moral and spiritual truth: All men are created equal. If Raspberry feels the need to write on racial matters, it seems to me that he could think of something a little more “real” to push upon the American psyche.
