RACE HAS ALWAYS MATTERED IN AMERICA

Home ownership in White America skyrocketed after World War II when access to credit and special government programs made owning houses affordable, but Black America was excluded from the benefits and still has not caught up. 75% of White households are homeowners compared to only 60% of Black households. But, you must admit, we are catching up!

RACE HAS ALWAYS MATTERED IN AMERICA

In the 1930’s, renowned Black sociologist Kenneth Clark performed a test in which young Black kids were asked to select between two dolls, a Black one and a White one, and they consistently picked the White one, leading Dr. Clark to conclude that the Black kids had a very low self image. In fact, the tests influenced the Supreme Court’s Brown vs. Board of Education Arkansas school desegregation decision. A recent series of tests conducted by a New York student yielded a similar result, leading Miami Herald’s Leonard Pitts to write, “How in the hell, a lifetime after a little (Black) boy pointed to a Black doll and exclaimed, “That’s a nigger … I’m a nigger!” can we still have Black children who think black and bad are synonymous?”

RACE HAS ALWAYS MATTERED IN AMERICA

The Air Force banned Black flyers from flying beside White flyers in World War II, but finally allowed them to form their own flying teams after they received segregated flying training at Tuskegee Institute. “With nearly 1,000 pilots and as many as 19,000 support personnel, ranging from mechanics to nurses, the group was credited with shooting down more than 100 enemy aircraft and – for years – with never losing an American bomber under escort.” Boston Globe, December 12, 2006. Now, a few over-zealous researchers claim to have discovered minor discrepancies in the perfect record and the mainstream press is making a big deal out of it. Hey, if Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves and George Washington chopped down a cherry tree and Thomas Jefferson truly believed in the equality of man and Tarzan was the great White hero of “deepest, dark Africa,” then the idea that Tuskegee airmen never lost a bomber is that much more palatable!

RACE STILL MATTERS IN AMERICA

Some White folks can be so hypocritical. Boston University’s Republican student group started a scholarship for White students using the rational that they wanted to spark a debate about race-based programs. Their president was quoted as saying, “I don’t think race should be a part of any scholarship. It should be based on merit or economic need.” Since when? Maybe when “legacy” admissions end for children of White alumni who graduated from segregated colleges during a time when the country promoted a system of legal segregation in the south and de facto segregation in the north that gave their grandparents and parents such a significant advantage? To quote Oprah Winfrey, who was presented with some testy questions from the White South African media when she opened a $40 million school for South Africans of color with a class that included no Whites, “I don’t think I have to appease the White people of this country.”

RACE STILL MATTERS IN AMERICA

In 1956 when the Los Angeles fire stations were officially integrated, Black firefighters were denied use of the kitchens and were subjected to such vicious hazing that off-duty Black firefighters began patrolling the integrated stations often carrying guns. Still, in 1974 the federal government had to force the department to agree to hire more Black firefighters. And, this year, with a department that is 12% Black, 87% of the Black firefighters responded in a survey that they had experienced or witnessed discrimination, much of which involved racial slurs, offensive comments or pranks aimed at humiliation. So, it was refreshing to read that a Black firefighter, who ate dog food that his White colleagues had stashed in his meal, was awarded a $2.7 million dollar settlement in a federal lawsuit.

RACE STILL MATTERS IN AMERICA

“He’s a nigger! He’s a nigger! A nigger! Look, there’s a nigger.” As Leonard Pitts says of the 2-½ minute racist rants of Michael Richard, “It seems obvious that Seinfeld’s Kramer (Michael Richards), his claims to the contrary notwithstanding, has no use for (as he put it on his rambling, disjointed and painful-to-watch apology on Letterman) “Afro-Americans.”

RACE STILL MATTERS IN AMERICA (?)

“Life itself – its hard lessons – cautions me to look with consummate cynicism on the Obama trial balloon. After all, the man has been in the United States Senate for a mere two years and before that he served – with distinction – we are told – in the Illinois Legislature where, it seems, just staying out of jail is distinction enough. We know little about Obama’s political performance since he has performed so little. He is only 45, which is about the age of some of my suits. On the world stage, he would be a child.” The Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen. No, Mr. Cohen! Obama is a full-grown man a la Jack Kennedy! And, he would put Bush to shame.

RACE STILL MATTERS IN AMERICA

“Anyone who thinks that racism in this country is history really ought to watch the video of Kramer going postal. I am not saying that everyone is like Michael Richards…But I am saying that as a society, we still haven’t purged ourselves of racial prejudices and animosities. We’ve buried them under a layer of sincere enlightenment and insincere political correctness, but they’re still down there, eating at our souls.” The Washington Post columnist, Eugene Robinson.

MASSACHUSETTS MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY IS DOING IT!

Gregory E. Deavens was named senior vice president and chief financial officer for the U. S. Insurance Group of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company. The Black, Florida A & M graduate worked for New York Life and CIGNA Corporation before coming to MassMutual. n