The Race Card

All throughout my life , I have heard the term , "the race card", used to describe and justify many incidents and situations! Often, it is used by whites who need to label a situation in which race is involved, but want to make it a point that race has nothing to do with an issue!! I have come to the conclusion that first , whites cannot determine anything about race concerning blacks simply because they are not of the affected group! Secondly, race has to do with EVERYTHING, at least from my point of view!!

Many are quick to say, well, that's the reality in which you choose to look at things. Others say , we live in a color blind society today in which race is no longer an issue!!!Of course , most of these people are guess what....White!!! I know that I may come across as an angry black guy who chooses to see race as an issue. Well, I am a man who has experienced life in many different settings, and I can honestly say that as a black man living in the United States, race is a BIG factor in everything!!

Let's start from present and work our way backwards, shall we!!!Yesterday, Michael Jackson was found "NOT GUILTY" by a jury of his peers. I was not present for the trial, so I don't know the details, and the testimony given. However, I made it a point to watch Fox to see what angle they took on the matter. This is a trick I frequently use to see where white Republicans are going with a certain topic!! Suprisingly enough, Fox stayed fairly neutral, until the end of the trial , then their true colors came shining through!!!Fox played it neutral until just before the end of the trial , then poured on the anti Jackson propaganda . They even went as far as to show the cell that Michael would serve out his conviction, and describe his daily routine and how he would be stripped of his wig and nose!!One day after the trial, I have noticed that many whites believe that he should have been found guilty!!!Based on what? Were they present at the trial? Did they hear the full testimony of the witnesses? NO, they are reacting from the media's interpretation of the event, not the facts of the matter!!

The other big story has been the disappearance of Natalee Holloway in Aruba! Musafir posted a very interesting article about how America has fallen into the "Damsel in Distress" syndrome! Basically, this means that the US media frequently focuses on stories in which white , petite , women are made into national headlines whenever something happens to one of them. Cases such as this , as well as Chaundra Levy, Laci Peterson, the runaway bride, etc., all are used to reinforce a message. Each year, literally thousands of women , and men for that matter, disappear , or is murdered. The US media likes to focus on petite white women because it puts them up on a pedestal as the thing to most cherish in society!!Two "natives" were originally arrested for her disappearance and their images were beamed across the globe , but it turns out that it was actually three "white Dutch men" that are being held for her disappearance!!!I have had trouble finding photos or footage of these three men!! I know these photos exist, I just find it less accessible than those of the two black men that were originally held!!


From O.J. , Kobe, and now Michael, it seems that race should no longer be an issue in the US, but these events only serve to bring out the reality of just how prevalent race is in today's society!! After all, with the 80 year old ring leader of the 1964 murders of three men during the "freedom summer" in Philadelphia, Mississippi set to go on trial, and the senate issuing an "apology" for not acting against lynching in America, it seems that we have come a LONG way........The problem is it took such a LONG time and we still have a LONG way to go!!Maybe I'm just playing the race card!!