Harry Reid's "Negro" Comments Were Racist

A new book has come out, in which an old quote by Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, is reprinted. In it, he expresses his support for the candidacy of then Senator Barrack Obama. He expressed his belief that the nation was ready to elect a "light-skinned" black man "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one". This set the stage for political finger pointing, both sides charging the other with having a double standard on racially insensitive comments. It has been pointed out that the former Senate Majority Leader, Trent Lott, lost his job because of racially offensive comments. Republicans point to the Democratic defense of Reid as a double standard. Democrats point to Republicans' new found political correctness that is only imposed upon Democrats. The quadruple standard has been fun to watch, as politicians on all sides go through contortions and jump through hoops to claim that their racist is somehow better than the other party's racist.

The Democrats have vigorously come to the defense of Harry Reid. That is understandable. There is a lot of important legislation in Congress right now, most notably the Healthcare Reform Act. Democrats are urgently trying to smooth this over to focus on the meat of government. Unfortunately, the Democrats have helped to create a political environment where a racially insensitive remark automatically triggers calls for heads to roll (and perhaps rightly so). It will be hard for the Democrats to brush off these comments.

The talking point that the Democrats are pushing is that Harry Reid was just making an honest observation of the racism in America generally. It was his honest assessment of the political climate that a light skinned candidate would have a better shot at the White House than would a darker skinned candidate who used urban slang. Voters in general (but certainly not he) would feel more comfortable with an African American candidate who had these specific characteristics. What could possibly be wrong with this "I call 'em like I see 'em" explanation?

• It is still a gross generalization based on broad racial and cultural characteristics.

• Harry Reid is measuring candidate Obama against a stereotype. He conjures up a stereotypical "negro" to compare Obama against. It doesn't make it any more acceptable that Obama compared favorably to this stereotype.

• What was the basis of Harry Reid's belief that a light skinned candidate has better chances? Was he referring to scientific studies? Was he referring to polling data? I would suspect he was just expressing his opinion based on common wisdom or his own biases.

• Some people say that he was referring to Obama's success compared to other African American political figures, such as the Reverends Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. But is that really the only political distinction between these political candidates? Did their candidacies really hinge on how light they were, or the use of colorful language? We don't judge Caucasian politicians by these same standards (except maybe John Boehner.)

• Harry Reid is a powerful man in our Government and in the Democratic Party. He is a leader in the overwhelmingly white Senate. He, and people like him, are gatekeepers to power. His judgment of Obama's viability as a candidate was based, in part, upon his preconceived notion of what an African American candidate should look like. Would Reid's support of Obama have changed had Obama been a few shades darker? Would Reid's support of Obama have changed had Obama used more "urban" language in the months leading up to the election? Harry Reid implies that under those circumstances, America would not be willing to vote for such a candidate. That's a belief based on very broad racial and cultural characteristics, and is the type of insidious racism that permeates our culture.

Of course, defenders of Harry Reid state that he spoke, "inartfully", or that he used "poorly chosen words", or that he could have expressed himself better. These are the same lame excuses that all politicians use when caught making offensive comments. How many times have we heard them before? Answer this question: If these were 'poorly chosen words', what makes their choice poor? The fact that they are racially offensive? If not, then what?

This slip of the tongue is just a glimpse behind the curtain at the people who are running the show. This comment was out of touch and shows Harry Reid as a clueless old throwback. It reminds us that even as far as we have come, outdated notions of race still permeate our nation at every level and even in the upper echelons of Congressional power. Racism has no official party. Election of an African American president does not defeat racism. We still must be vigilant.

Anyway, that's the way I see it.