AT LEAST HE WAS FIRED

Did you read about the newscast by the White weatherman in Las Vegas who introduced his forecast of the weather on the air by saying, “Martin Luther Coon King, Jr. Day, gonna see some temperatures in the mid 60s.” He tried to apologize by saying “Apparently I accidentally said Martin Luther Kong Jr., which I apologize about—slip of the tongue.” Before being fired he apologized in two subsequent newscast by saying, “I in no way intended to offend anyone.” I wouldn’t want to hear what he has to say when he means to offend someone.

TIM ROOKE FLUNKS FIRST TEST

Never having been known to show much sensitivity toward the Black community in the past, newly elected City Council President, Timothy Rooke, had agreed to bring greetings on behalf of the Council at the 23rd Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholarship Breakfast sponsored by Wesley United Methodist Church. True to form, Rooke was a no-show. City Councilor Bud L. Williams, called out of the audience to replace Rooke, did an admirable job. Let’s hope we have learned two lessons. (Marjorie J. Hurst, who attended the affair, contributed the above comments.) Frankly speaking, Bud Williams should have been asked in the first place. Have you ever heard of Bud Williams being called to the John Boyle O’Reilly Club to give greetings from the Council at an Irish event?

THE GREAT AMERICAN DOUBLE STANDARD

Have you been following the stories about Armstrong Williams, the conservative Black radio talk show host and frequent Fox T. V. commentator, who was recently caught taking money from the U.S. Department of Education to sell the “No Child Left Behind Act” to his listening audience? While I don’t share many of his views, the almost unanimous moral outrage expressed by the mainstream media and the relatively small amount of money involved left me suspiciously and anxiously awaiting the rest of the story. I believe much more money and many more people who don’t happen to be Black are involved in the same behavior. A recent article buried in the Wall Street Journal has revealed some juicy tidbits. It was titled “Pundit’s Pact May Not Be Aberration.” In other words, Armstrong’s arrangement with the Department of Education may be more normal than the mainstream press wants to admit. In its subtitle, the Journal article says, “Analysts See Arrangement Between Columnist, Agency As Rise of Public Relations.” In other words, analysts see such relationships as the trend in the industry. In fact, Williams was approached by a larger, White public relations agency, Ketchum, on behalf of the Education Department. Only an ostrich would believe that Ketchum was working for free. But notice that Ketchum’s role is described as a “rise of public relations” while Williams’ role has been described as “unethical” and by some, as “illegal”. Not only is the American double standard raising its ugly head again—a standard that labels activity by a White person good while the same or similar behavior by a Black person is labeled bad—but you can bet that a lot of White journalists, radio talk show hosts and television commentators are hoping to put the Armstrong Williams story away fast before the light is shined on them. (See Wall Street Journal, January 12, 2005)

AMERICAN DOUBLE STANDARD II

“When white people are bipartisan they are brilliant and sophisticated, exhibiting maturity…When black people are bipartisan they’re brazen opportunists who don’t understand loyalty and probably aren’t to be trusted. I don’t quite get it.” Boston’s Reverend Eugene Rivers responding to criticism about his Bush connections and his recent moves to court Senator Hillary Clinton, Boston Globe, January 10, 2005.

THE SILENCE OF OUR ALLIES

Two relatively recent events remind me of the silence of the once solid White allies of the Black community. The most recent is the story running in the Boston Herald about the Boston Globe’s pending 16 million dollar purchase of the Metro newspaper. It turns out that for years the top managers of the Metro have openly used racial slurs in staff meetings and at public conferences and have generally operated the paper in a racially hostile environment. Neither the Herald nor the Globe gave any publicity to the Metro’s bigoted behavior until recently when the Herald, alarmed by the competitive disadvantage posed by the Globe’s purchase of the Metro, decided to dig up some dirt. And the dirt is ugly, raw bigotry regularly carried out by the very top managers of the Metro but just as readily ignored in the past by the Herald and the Globe. The other event involves the protest that happened and the one that did not. California’s Barbara Boxer joined her Black colleagues in protesting the Ohio voting irregularities. Since the Bush lead in Ohio was so large, the Ohio protest was symbolic, which reminds us of the protest that didn’t happen in Florida, where the Bush victory was slim enough that the voter irregularities against Black voters did make a difference. None of our White “allies” openly joined the subsequent protests. Boxer admitted that she was ashamed by her earlier silence but we’ve still heard little from super liberal stars like Al Gore, Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy, John Kerry and the many others who call themselves our allies and expect our vote and very little from the mainstream press. The slurs by Metro staff were bigotry at its worst as have been the efforts to suppress the Black votes. The silence, though, is institutional racism at its worse.

NOT MEANING TO BELABOR THE POINT, BUT…(American Double Standard III?)

Why is it that Black folks take cheap shots from the mainstream media when they engage in legitimate political fundraising, while prominent White business people and politicians carry on fundraising business with impunity? The recent revelation that Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas Reilly accepted $35,000.00 from Big Dig contractors, $4,000.00 of which was donated by contractors who, only months before, had come under investigation by the federal government for irregularities in their Big Dig contracts, emphasizes my point. Reilly is the same man who is being handed responsibility to investigate the Big Dig debacle, involving many others who contributed to his campaign. Ben Swan and other Black people involved in political fundraising come under media attack, while the same media is promoting Riley for Governor on the Democratic ticket. American double standard III, maybe?

YOU SEE WHAT I MEAN!

Some bureaucrat decided to use the Patriot Act to charge a man with pointing a laser beam at an airplane overhead and temporarily blinding the pilot and co-pilot. The FBI acknowledged the incident had no connection to terrorism but was, in fact, the foolhardy and negligent actions of a practical joker. Why use the Patriot Act, then? Why not punish the man under the many other laws that apply to non-terrorist. Why stir the fears of many, like myself, who are concerned that the gradual extension of the Patriot Act to normal domestic affairs and, therefore, to its misuse to stifle our freedoms would be in line with historical precedent?

AMERICAN DOUBLE STANDARD IV!

The judge wants an explanation! Human smugglers directed 70 Mexican illegals to a safe house until they located a Black truck driver, whom they paid $5000.00 to transport the illegals across the country. The truck driver otherwise had no relationship to the smuggling enterprise as did thirteen other people who were indicted along with him when 16 of the illegals died from suffocation in the hot truck. What the judge wants to know is why Attorney General Ashcroft is seeking the death penalty against the Black truck driver and not against the ringleaders. The other 13 conspired to recruit the illegals, they recruited the Black truck driver, who was otherwise not involved in the enterprise, and they loaded the truck with 70 people and locked the doors. Temperatures in the truck reached 173 degrees. When the truck stopped for refueling, the driver looked in on the illegals, discovered the carnage, bought them 20 bottles of water and ran away along with the other perpetrators. At least you might think they would be equally prosecuted. At most, you might think the Black truck driver, being the least culpable, might receive lesser charges. The American double standard is at it again! n