Although there are hundreds of news and blog articles out there this morning discussing "Harry Reid's racist comments," I don't think his words actually reveal a closet racist at all. They certainly don't at all prove that Senator Reid thinks any less of black people.
In their new book Game Change about the 2008 presidential election, Mark Halperin and John Heilemann say that during the campaign Harry Reid explained in a private conversation that he liked Barack Obama's chances partly because he was a relatively "light-skinned" African-American, with "no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one."
I think, honestly, that these comments show Harry Reid to be, more than anything, brutally honest about his perception of the American electorate's feelings about race. Reid wasn't saying that Barack Obama is a better person or would make a better President because of his lighter skin. He was admitting that realistically, all other factors aside, Americans (read: middle-class white Americans) would be somewhat more receptive to a black person with lighter skin and who speaks more like Brian Williams than Flavor Flav.
The word "Negro" is seen by some (but not all) blacks as an antiquated and mildly offensive term. It's surprising that someone who's risen to the level of Senate Majority Leader (especially in the Democratic Party) would opt for that word, but it's not the sort of word that conclusively indicates racism on the part of a white person uttering it. It does, however, show that Reid really isn't up-to-date on his PC terminology.
Which brings me to Republicans, those guardians of political correctness, those passionate defenders of the feelings of black people everywhere, calling for Harry Reid to resign as Majority Leader. There are apparently few people better at producing crocodile tears than the likes of Michael Steele and John Cornyn, who don't accept Reid's apology, and don't accept Barack Obama's acceptance of Reid's apology. Make no mistake - Republican leaders could give a damn about the sort of remarks Reid made. They care because it's Reid - they smell blood in the water, and they're circling like sharks in the name of Reid's personal destruction and their party's political gain.
recommend
Facebook
Twitter
bookmark 
print
Comments: 26
Who really cares what the party of no ideas thinks?
Harry Reid is a white man of a certain age, and his analysis of the electibility of Barak Obama was based on his perception and his life experience. He wasn't wrong, and he wasn't being a racist.
I’ve lived the reality many either ignore or are ignorant about all together. One also has to keep in mind that all people do not synthesize data similarly. Many older blacks refuse to move on from the use of Negro to identify those of African descent they were raised with that moniker and continue to use it. I know a couple older neighbors who still use the term Colored. Does that make them racist? No, it does not. When one expresses such from the collection of their lives it is difficult to call them racist.
For any yo yo who wishes to compare Trent Lott or Strum Thurman with what Reid said I say now is the time to look deeply into your thoughts. Reid simply stated his feelings as they brewed from his working knowledge but did not include any real untruths. Both the others not only created differences but served their time in public office placing the differences in the public eye with the intent to sway opinions of all Americans. There is no way on earth for an elected president who was a follower of not only a racist leader but one who taught supreme conditions over some races. To have had a president with that sort of mind set would no doubt have been detrimental to the whole nation. Too much of the argument is not comparing reality but apples and oranges.
I've already reported you to gather for harassing me. Either you're entirely stupid, or you don't understand the way Gather works.
I'm voting for the former.
I sent you an email today on Gather telling you that I hadn't sent you an email. I didn't even know you had a website.
In any case, I've blocked you. Bye, take your head out your ass on the way out the door.
Ali probably doing the happy dance she turned you in, maybe we could get Ali some bread with that whine.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-reid-banks11-2010jan11,0,3963271.column
Reid told the truth. The truth is not always pretty.
He was expressing what many people in black, and white, thought at the time. His mistake was saying it out loud.
What a person does, their voting record, the actions they take and how they choose to live their lives has a lot to do with how their statements are treated. Don't think the black community isn't talking about the comment former president Clinton made to Ted Kennedy.
And the more the right trying bringing Trent Lott into this conversation, the fresher the incident becomes in the minds of the nations' citizens.