Race Card Shuffle, Continued

UPDATED! Rogers Park politico Michael Harrington writes another great comment to Rogers Park Bench. His comments are always appreciated. They are thoughtful and well stated. Michael responded to yesterday's RPB post, "Joker in a Deck of Race Cards," in which I criticized Barack Obama for his recent recently saying that President Bush has done nothing to defuse a "quiet riot" among Black Americans that could blow up like it did in Los Angeles 15 years ago. First Michael's comments, then my response. THEN HIS response to my response! Dear Tom, Obama was raising the social status and problems of so many Black residents as an issue to be addressed (and solved) in our nation's political dialogue. Right now it's being neglected. For Obama or any of us to do so is neither race-baiting nor a call to promote rioting, as suggested by the conservative opinion links you provided. One does not have to be an Obama fan (which I'm not) in order to support his effort to put this issue on the table. Maybe using the term riot, in his attempt to describe a current social phenomenon marked by violence and criminal behaviors, wasn't the best. Whatever "handle" we use to describe what's going on, it is imperative that we take the issue seriously. It's one that needs to be tackled by Black leaders and communities, as well as the powers that be. Finally, you pointed us to Alveda King's observations on this. She seems to be an anti-abortion religious fanatic and makes a fantastic leap of logic by attributing the utter hopelessness that Obama discussed to a simple concern by Blacks about abortion. The facts just don't support her bizarre assertions. RPB's Response: Dear Michael, To dismiss Alveda King's remarks as coming from an "anti-abortion religious fanatic" is just too predictable and frankly, Michael, beneath you. How easy it must be to be a Progressive these days, when one only needs to point a finger and cry "religious fanatic!" to counter their thoughtful argument. Ad hominem attacks only muddy the water and do not advance meaningful dialog. Ms. King doesn't blame all problems on abortion, but the fact that there are many millions fewer Black Americans today than there might have been cannot be denied. It's simple arithmetic. The facts do not support your bizarre assertions. But let's move on to Obama's "quiet riot" remark. It is fine to point out social problems. If a problem is being neglected, that's not a good thing and it should be addressed. To simply point out a problem is, as you wrote, not race baiting. However... As you also wrote, using the term "riot" was "not the best." Obama is a very intelligent guy, mostly, and a guy with his kind of smarts should have known that the term "riot" would get a reaction. A bad reaction. If this is how he speaks when trying to get elected, what kind of verbal gaffes might he make if he becomes president? Having survived the Rodney King Riots in L.A. (yes, I was working very very close to them), I do not appreciate a leader casually tossing around such an incendiary term, whatever his race. To say that Obama used the term "quiet riot" innocently rings as hollow as Father Pfleger claiming that he didn't know that the term "snuff out" is synonymous with "kill" or "murder." For a grown man on the South Side of Chicago to not know the connotations of the term "snuff out" is to either admit some form of idiocy or to assume that we are idiots. Back to Barack: Either he was woefully careless in his choice of words or he is woefully naive as to the connotations - and possible consequences - of his words. Is that a quality we want in a high elected official? Obama also said, “This administration was colorblind in its incompetence, but the poverty and the hopelessness was there long before the hurricane.” As Scott Rogers wrote, "How is this Bush’s fault exactly? Let’s examine Obama’s claims. First of all, President Bush is not responsible for how states run their STATE governments. Most presidents, as you know, know that we elect Governors for this job and decide to work on the country as a whole and let states deal with more specific ‘STATE’ issues. Second, it is Bush’s fault that the people of New Orleans re-elected an imbecile mayor, Ray Nagin, to another term. We all know that Ray Nagin has complained a lot about federal assistance to his city. However, he has also neglected to provide information on where the majority of government funds disappeared to. This is the money that was supposed to strengthen the levees and provide support for displaced families. Maybe Nagin gave it to William Jefferson, who by the way Nagin still supports, even after Jefferson’s indictment. Third, according to Obama, Bush is responsible for natural disasters and acts of God. Am I to assume here that because Bush created the hurricane then he is a god? After all, he sat around and did nothing while the wind and rain slammed into New Orleans. I suppose President Obama would be out there in the storm, physically going from house to house personally to remove people stranded in the line of fire? Doubtful." Not playing the race card? Come now. Shuffle the deck. It's your deal. UPDATE: Michael is hanging in, and he dealt this hand: Tom, I'll just have to agree to disagree with both you and Dr. Alveda King. King is a pastoral associate of the Catholic pro-life group Priests for Life. I read and understood her comments clearly, and wouldn't have expected her to say anything different given her job and title. She is quoted on the Christian Post web site as saying, “Senator Obama may know of the ‘quiet riots’ coming from the black community ... but he doesn’t understand their source.” King easily projected anti-abortion concepts from the limited perspective of her work onto the whole of the Black community. I'm not buying her narrow, religion-biased rant. I call her view limited and narrow because there are other religious views that support a woman's right to choose abortion. Certainly, King has the right to believe what she does. However, it marks her as seriously out of touch with reality. Among Black parents, Black community social service workers, and the Black ministers I know here in Rogers Park, there is ABSOLUTELY NO discussion, no moral angst, and no alarm about what you and King claim to be high Black abortion rates. There is not even any discussion about the fact that abortion is a legal option. If anything, there is more talk about promoting contraception as a way to stop disease transmission and to prevent youth from being parents too soon. Again, contrary to King's assertion, abortion is not perceived as the "source" of Black discontent with the status quo. Obama and many of us talk about conditions in education, employment, and housing. Those are the fundamental issues and a primary "source" of the riotous behaviors we see everyday by many Black adults and youth living without hope or inspiration towards a better path. Oh, let me add institutional racism to the pile too! This is what we Black folk, and lots of others, are talking about. Finally, if using riot (and now that I've invoked the word racism as well) gets you or anyone else alarmed, I'm sorry. This is not "playing the race card." It's about raising issues that many would rather not discuss. I won't agree that Obama was in error for using the word riot, indeed, maybe his was a good turn of phrase in that it helped give attention to a neglected issue. June 9, 2007 12:46:00 PM CDT