More Problems in Logic

Some years ago I attended a political rally. A number of us in the community had gathered to oust a local politician. This man had made a comment, in a council meeting, regarding a bid that a contractor had made, trying to get a government contract. To be honest, I don't know exactly what the man said (I can guess), but I don't like the fact that he said it. The local newspaper printed that he called the contractor a "black baptist preacher." They later printed a retraction, based on the politician's claim that he did not say "black" or "preacher" (I suspect that what he really said probably had something to do with the word that the NAACP buried in Detroit yesterday. About time). I like the irony that the man that we elected to replace him was, in fact, an ordained, African-American baptist minister. The rally was emceed by another African-American minister, who expressed his surprise at the racial makeup of people attending the rally. He had apparently expected a crowd of all the same color. It was not. Almost half the people attending the rally were white, and outraged that this other white man thought he could make such a statement and get away with it. He said something to the effect that, I expect people who look like me to think like me. There is a certain amount of logic to that, but it really doesn't hold true.

I admit that it seems that it's generally easier to find common ground, and common life experiences with someone who shares one's own skin color. The fact of the matter is, though, that sometimes, if you try, you may find that you have a lot in common with somebody whose skin color, education, economic background are completely different. Okay, it's harder if it is all three, but you mean to tell me that you can't find common ground with a person with similar education and economic background just because their color is different?

It isn't just skin color either. I used to know a man who was a vice principal of one of our local junior high schools. He mentioned once that if he went into a department store on his way home from work, he was treated pretty much the same as I was. But, if he got home, changed into jeans and a sweatshirt, and started working on a project, and then realized he needed something, he could go back to that same store, and the store detective would follow him around. That doesn't seem to make much sense, until you realize that he's a rather large black man. Go in wearing suit and tie--Oh, yes, we trust you. Go in wearing grungy clothes--Uh oh, he's probably shoplifting.
On the other hand, let an educated black man walk around in a black neighborhood wearing a suit and tie, and speaking in a proper manner, and he gets flak for 'trying to be white.' Was Martin Luther King, Jr. trying to be white when he got his doctorate? What about Malcolm X (or El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz)? I realize that he got a lot of his education in a prison library, but listen to the man's speeches! he spoke in a way that made it clear, he had some education. He did that because he didn't expect people to take him seriously if he didn't. So many people today still have so much to learn from him. What about Bill Cosby (William H. Cosby, PhD)? Is he trying to be white? Look, I realize that people want to be able to be themselves. Nobody wants to come off looking like Steve Urkel, or Jamie Kennedy's character in 'Malibu's Most Wanted' (which really is the opposite-a white guy trying to be black, and all the more ridiculous because he doesn't have the first clue about what it means to be black). Still, education only helps you. Whatever you learn, nobody can take away from you. Don't let stereotypes keep you from being the bast that you can be.