As an extremely light-skinned biracial person myself, I know the truth of this much hidden and little understood dimension of racism. When I was in high school during the height of the Black Power movement, I was aggressively put down by the local Black Panthers – until they later invited me to join what they called their Fifth Column: blacks who could pass for white (and therefore be useful as spies, infiltrators, etc.). I passed – on their offer.
America still has a lot of work to do in dealing with its racist past and present. And making a political boogeyman out of Harry Reid is not only not part of the solution, it only serves to highlight the problem. Until we learn to make the important distinction between racial and racist, we’ll never be able to get past the artificial racial barriers that make meaningful dialogue impossible, and which ultimately damage us all.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Dr Dreadful
Interesting take on the controversy, Jeanne, especially in pointing out the subsidiary racism wherein light-skinned blacks get preferred among both whites and blacks, and that this is particularly noticeable in the media.
This doesn't seem to have been the case in my native Britain, where among the first black people to achieve mainstream acceptance and success were news anchor Trevor McDonald, actors Rudolph Walker and Norman Beaton and comedian Lenny Henry - all of whom would fall decidedly on the darker side of the 'paper bag test'.
Which I think goes to demonstrate the origin of the phenomenon in the American slave hierarchy.
2 - Glenn Contrarian
Jeanne -
I often travel to the Philippines, and one thing that I really don't like there are these huge billboards advertising 'skin-whitening cream'...because there, like here, the lighter one's skin is, the more easily one travels the halls of money, power, and fame. It's sad...but it's a fact of life as you well know.
3 - Dr Dreadful
Same thing in Thailand and, I hear, most of Asia. Lighter skin, historically, meant you were well-off enough not to have to work outdoors.
Until very recently, pale skin was prized among people of European origin for the same reason. Now, of course, it's flipped, because having a tan conveys the message that you can afford to go on vacation to exotic places.
4 - STM
Or be lucky enough to live somewhere like Hawaii, Australia, Tahiti ...
Actually, down here, we now take great care NOT to be in the sun.
White folks, especially those of anglo/celtic background, which most of us are in this country, are extremely susceptible to skin cancers caused by the sun.
My son has olive skin and gets a tan in five minutes. I burn, however, despite not having the red-head celtic-type pigment, and now slap on heaps of sun lotion with a high protection rating.
I also wear a sun-proof rash vest in the surf in summer rather than just wear boardshorts.
The other trick, of course, is to be out of the surf by 10am ... 11am at the latest, and not back in before 4pm.
Enjoyed the story BTW Jeanne; an eye-opener, although I'd always suspected that might be the case.
5 - The Obnoxious American
A few problems with this article.
1) It may have been true that the lightness of skin mattered in the past, but I think it's close to meaningless these days. With the exception of the black community itself which is still pretty "self-racist". I think most white's really don't care how black a person is, and for that matter Obama isn't really all that light skinned.
2) Here is where your anti-GOP argument goes off the rails:
"What Harry Reid said was a political reality. He wasn’t celebrating or condoning it, he was simply recognizing a racial truth"
The same recognition of truth that has stung many a white person. Most, if not all cases of whites being ostracized, fired or resigning for their jobs, all for an inopportune racial comment fits this description exactly - often times it's a political, if inconvenient, truth. So again, why should Reid be treated differently? Oh yeah, because of the left's double standard.
6 - Matthew T. Sussman
The fact that Reid's comments offended white people most of all tells you this wasn't a slam on Obama.
7 - The Obnoxious American
No one is saying it is. What it is a slam on, as I suggested in my article, is the intelligence of Americans, white and black.
What makes Reid's comments so disgusting is that he was clearly interested in Obama because "he could turn off the dialect." That's manipulative. Manipulative using race no less.
What Reid was basically saying is, wow this guy Obama can sound white when we need him in front of whities, and black to convince the darkies, we can bamboozle all of them, and appear to be racially equal with the selection of this candidate.
So rather than selecting a candidate based on his views (which are unclear), or his accomplishments (which there are few if any), he selected him, for large part, for his racial appeal. That's using race to manipulate and puts Reid as well as any other Dems who agreed with him (many) in the same class as other race baiters such as Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.
8 - Matthew T. Sussman
"What it is a slam on, as I suggested in my article, is the intelligence of Americans, white and black."
And if a group of people can be so easily swayed by the accent of a candidate ... then the slam is entirely warranted.
9 - zingzing
"So again, why should Reid be treated differently? Oh yeah, because of the left's double standard."
no, because it's the right thing to do. he's no racist, and it's blindingly obvious.
"What it is a slam on, as I suggested in my article, is the intelligence of Americans, white and black."
while your article is much the same. stupid people.
10 - The Obnoxious American
Matt,
I agree, it's the people's fault for buying the Democrats BS hope and change rhetoric in 2008. And while I am positive that this generation has learned the lesson of what the Democratic party really stands for, none of that absolves the left of their manipulative, race baiting behavior.
Zing
You're started to get long on emotion but short on facts. Reid isn't just a racist, but he's the type of racist that is all for using a black man to gain votes and power. That's way worse than any redneck who idly and merely hates.
You can try to recast Reid's comments any way you like - it really doesn't change what Reid said. You can call me or my article as an insult to the intelligence of the American people, but the views I've raised are starting to come up everywhere in the MSM.
Note that I typically shy from any topic adequetly covered in the MSM, but posted my article yesterday as a follow on to my article on the same topic (but Gender politics, not race) from the prior week.
11 - zingzing
oa: "Reid isn't just a racist, but he's the type of racist that is all for using a black man to gain votes and power. That's way worse than any redneck who idly and merely hates."
politics has been playing this game with race for generations. that you get all up in arms now just shows that you either weren't paying attention, or are using race to political ends yourself.
and while politics might be just as bad (in some ways) as plain old hatred, i'm not going to agree with you that it's worse.
12 - The Obnoxious American
Of course it's worse. There is legislation attached. And again if you want to compare left v right on this issue, as I admitted IN MY ARTICLE, the right does this too, they just don't try to pass feel good diversity laws, which are unconstitutional and unneeded.
13 - zingzing
"they [the right] just don't try to pass feel good diversity laws, which are unconstitutional and unneeded."
no, but they do try to pass hateful laws (doma), which are just plain evil.
14 - The Obnoxious American
Well that's your view of Doma, and you have a right to it. But there is another side that disagrees with you. Personally, I cant see why the state has anything to do with marriage - a religious institution. Nor why they should have any right to define what marriage consists of. It's simply beyond the U.S. Government's pay grade, no matter how fashionable gay marriage might be among the hoi poloi. That said, I also know that gay people have real lives and deserve the right to live it in dignity. I just think that since the Bible is clearly anti-gay, some of this debate of gay marriage has an element of sticking it to the religious right, when the adoption of civil unions work just as well and don't require religion to accept something beyond their texts.
That said, this is a whole can of worms, not at all related to the article. If you feel strongly about DOMA, write about it and we can bash each other's heads in the ensuing discussion :>
15 - Zedd
Jeanne,
I beg to differ.
It would have not been acceptable for Reid to say "Its time for a slim, busty woman to run for President". Regardless of our bigoted mindset, as a society, it's unacceptable for a law maker to promote that type of thinking. We know that in corporations, "boob girls" do well. That neither gives anyone in such a position an opening to make such a statement.
Also, is Obama that light? There are a lot of articulate brothers who are much lighter than he (perhaps even your sons). That does not make them an ideal candidate. This guy had ideas and was nervy enough to articulate them. If he were brown or Carmel or deep chocolate (breath:o), he may have still resonated - or maybe not. But he's not so light. His mixed ancestry may have helped though. With that, everyone wins :o)
16 - zingzing
yeah, well, i don't want to get into that either. but the idea that the right doesn't try to pass laws that are divisive is just ridiculous.
17 - Cindy
Excellent and interesting article, as usual, Jeanne.
18 - roger nowosielski
Reid was definitely clumsy in expressing his idea. But then again, what was his idea given the clumsy expression?
19 - zingzing
when someone on your side says something stupid, you at least try to figure out what they meant by it. if it was said by someone on the opposite side, you blindly call racism. that's the way it is. everyone knows it. that's why politics is just bullshit.
20 - The Obnoxious American
Zing,
Next time someone on the right says something really stupid (I'm sure it's coming any day now) ask me my views. I'll try and prove you wrong.
21 - zingzing
if it's only to make a point, it's empty. we'll see how the right wing as a whole responds. goes for the left as well. we'll see how they respond the next time racism takes a poop in a republican's mouth. we both know how it'll go.
22 - Jeanne Browne
Ladies and Gentlemen: Thank you for your comments. I'm pleased that this incident and my article (as well as that of The Obnoxious American) have prompted so many comments. Clearly, a nerve has been hit, and in political discourse that's always a good sign.
I want to add [to what I said in my piece] that as far as I'm concerned, a racist person is someone who is irrationally hateful and seeks to harm, oppress or at least snub another person for what they are. I don't believe Harry Reid is such a person. Naturally, what he said is deemed very politically incorrect in today's humorless, literal, take-no-prisoners social/political climate. But I still say this is a meaningless red herring in the big picture of racism in America.
What concerns me about the impact of racism is that millions of blacks still attend bad schools (and graduate without a real education and no skills), find it hard to get good jobs and decent homes, are still largely pariahs in white social circles, and are still oppressed by the criminal justice system.
You wanna talk about real racism, let's talk about that. The Harry Reid conversation is just further proof that both the media and the public would rather tussle about the small stuff than confront the really serious and injurious systemic issue.
23 - Dr Dreadful
Next time someone on the right says something really stupid (I'm sure it's coming any day now) ask me my views.
Does Glenn Beck count? I hear he opened his mouth this morning.
Or does it have to be an actual politician?
:-)
24 - The Obnoxious American
Lollll, I'll be happy to opine on Beck as well. I'll say right off the bat that while some of the things I've heard him say make sense and are excellent points, and while he's done the job the MSM has been absent for these last few months, there are times, often, where the things he says makes me cringe. So while I do like Beck, I don't like everything he says.
Jeanne,
I don't agree that what Reid said wasn't racism, or that it wasn't harmful.
Reid's comments were:
1) manipulative, using the specter of race (and thus racism) to promote the liberal adgenda
2) insulting to the millions of Americans who don't view everything through the lens of black and white
3) further divides Americans of all races by creating an atmosphere where the left is actively trying to show how enlightened they are, and using useful idiots (in this case Obama) to prove it
4) destructive to Obama's presidency, giving rise to the thought in many minds that Obama was as many actual racists thought he was, an affirmative action pick.
Bear in mind, it's not some congressman from the ozarks saying this. It was the active Senate Majority Leader of the Democrats. Any person interested in putting the the issues of race behind us should be outraged that the Democratic leadership, in the 21st century, still sees the world as black and white and still uses that issue to gain votes.
Black America: Harry Reid and the Democratic leadership has played you artfully. Enjoy.
25 - Dr Dreadful
Black America: Harry Reid and the Democratic leadership has played you artfully. Enjoy.
Obnox: if, let's say, the last election had been between Hillary Clinton and Colin Powell, which way do you think the black electorate would have gone?