by Scott Darnell
Daily Lobo Columnist
Is Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas a white person trapped in a black person's body? How about Secretary of State Colin Powell, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice or Congressman J.C. Watts? Unfortunately, portions of the black community and many black leaders are saying "yes."
Magazines and southern conferences have been, in recent years, forums for some of our nation's black leaders to refer to, Clarence Thomas for example, as a "chicken-and-biscuit-eating Uncle Tom," "Benedict Arnold," "race traitor," "black snake," "house Negro" and "handkerchief head." The black magazine, Emerge, ran on its cover a caricature of Clarence Thomas as a grinning lawn jockey with the title, "Uncle Thomas: Lawn Jockey of the Far Right."
Donna Brazile, Al Gore's 2000 campaign manager, referred to Colin Powell as an "Uncle Tom" and, seemingly unaware of Gore's ethnicity, declared that, in the 2000 campaign, she would not "let the white boys win in this election." She also said that Colin Powell and Congressman J.C. Watts have "no love and no joy."
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Let's also think back to when Bryant Gumbel, as host of the Today Show on NBC, asked J.C. Watts whether it bothered him to be associated with, "conservative extremists who are historically insensitive to minority concerns."
Or, let's reflect on when the irreverent Rev. Jesse Jackson (you know -- the one who fathered an illegitimate child and was never called onto the carpet for it because of the fear society has of him) received $700 million from the Toyota corporation because Jackson screamed about the corporation supposedly not hiring enough blacks. The $700 million was to be distributed, through Jackson's Rainbow Push organization, to the black charities of Jackson's choosing.
Jackson opened a forum for black charity founders to request some of the money, and at the forum, Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, founder of a boys home for blacks, asked Jackson for money, outlining the charity's initiatives, as well as the conservative basis that the charity was founded under; he then proceeded to, as the room somewhat scoffed at him, ask the Toyota representative seated behind Jackson if there was anyone in the Toyota corporation that he could deal with directly because Jackson would not, and had never given money to conservative charities. In the words of Peterson, "all hell broke loose . . . most people started calling me names." Jackson stepped off the platform and waded through the crowd to Peterson and said, "The issue is parasites who want to pick up apples from trees they didn't shake."
So are black conservatives Uncle Toms? Are they "insensitive to minority concerns," as Bryant Gumbel put it? Not at all. Black conservatives, and conservatives as a whole, along with many moderates, simply feel our nation's bad racial history is behind us (our societal worldview has changed), leaving the powerful social programs geared toward blacks and initiatives like affirmative action outdated and not suited to our times.
Prior to and directly following the 1900s, children were taught, from the ground up, that a fundamental difference, one that placed blacks inferior to whites, existed between the races. And, as generation after generation was bred, that sentiment only became more deep-rooted in society. Were there whites who didn't believe that? Sure.
But, following the 1960s and into present day, our societal vantage point has turned 180 degrees, and children are now taught, from the ground up, of the horrors of our racially oppressive past -- taught that the fundamental difference, skin color, never renders one race superior to any other. And, as generation after generation are born into this world, this pillar of thought only becomes further ingrained into society. Are there whites that don't believe these sentiments? Sure -- there will always be.
We've reached a point in time where programs like affirmative action, which forced this nation down a path of good after the 1960s, are not suited to the climate of America any longer; the preferential treatment that affirmative action and other social programs propagate causes people who feel they are racially righteous to be denied opportunities for no other reason than the color of their skin.
Today's black leaders are creating and enlivening racial issues as a way to maintain power, have a leg up on the rest of society and keep their thumbs on urban black communities that feed on their empty promises of more and more social aid. Black conservatives aren't evil turncoats, abandoning minority interests. They are simply looking forward, not dwelling on an unsettling past, to a true racial equality that our future generations can understand and be proud of.
