By William Dwight McKissic Sr.
Controversial quotes regarding race made by Jeremiah Wright and Rush Limbaugh were used in efforts to thwart a presidential campaign and the purchase of an NFL team. Responses to the Wright and Limbaugh quotes reveal the fact that blacks and whites in the United States are miles apart with regard to racial understanding.
In this country, blacks and whites often live in the same neighborhoods, work on the same jobs, sometimes go to the same churches and schools, and their children play on the same teams — but we really don’t know, understand or fully appreciate each other beyond a surface level. Therefore, we need to get together in an organized and orchestrated fashion and seriously talk about the pink elephant in the room: race.
When blacks have a discussion about race, usually there are no whites present, so an important perspective is missing. The reverse is also true. Consequently, when the discussion spills over to our television sets and newspapers as a result of some major event (such as the recent presidential campaign and Limbaugh’s unsuccessful bid to purchase the St. Louis Rams), we discover that blacks and whites often have vastly different interpretations of the appropriateness or legitimacy of racially tinged statements or incidents. We vicariously talk to each other through quotes and sound bites without truly engaging each other in honest and sincere dialogue.
The recent, highly publicized Limbaugh quotes surrounding his NFL bid and the Wright quotes surrounding Obama’s presidential campaign demonstrate that such quips can be damaging, divisive and detrimental to effective communication. Rush Limbaugh and fellow conservative commentator Sean Hannity used Wright’s words in service to an effort to convince the American public that they should not elect Barack Obama as president. Black leaders Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson used Limbaugh’s words to convince the NFL that Limbaugh should not be allowed to be the owner of an NFL team.
What do the Wright and Limbaugh incidents have in common?
Wright and Limbaugh are not viewed as racist, extremist or polarizing figures in their own communities and among their own constituencies. But they are obviously viewed in this manner among outsiders. Limbaugh and Wright supporters believe that their quotes were exploited, taken out of context and unfairly politicized — or that if they had been allowed to explain themselves to an objective audience, their comments would not be viewed as offensive. In Limbaugh’s and Wright’s worlds their remarks would be rational, reasonable, justifiable, factual and non-racist. Anybody who would think otherwise would simply be mistaken.
The problem is that Limbaugh and Wright live, function and communicate in completely different worlds. Therefore, if America is to avoid a race war, the inhabitants of Wright’s and Limbaugh’s two worlds must come together and engage in earnest and forthright dialogue.
Perhaps, out of their shared pain, Limbaugh and Wright can host or spawn a series of dialogues across the country under the banner, “Racial Reasoning and Healing in the Age of Obama.” Both men know what it’s like to be fairly or unfairly quoted or misquoted, depending upon one’s politics, perspectives or process of reasoning.
Obviously, an open, honest conversation about race is perhaps the most difficult conversation to hold — but it is one that America desperately needs to have. Black people and white people are still too distant from one another. We need to come together and talk. “Come, let us reason together.”
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