Monday, January 11, 2010

Why Harry Reid is Not a Racist

"It's a good thing the neighbors who are trying to sell their house painted it a more neutral color. Better chance it will sell now."

Imagine the quote above was uttered by somebody. Think about it. The person making the statement is a simple observer of the real estate market, knowing that a house painted bright, vibrant colors in most neighborhoods would just not sell. Would you imply the speaker above is biased against bright colors in general, or even houses that are painted bright orange?

Now, shift to Senator Harry Reid's recent statements about the color of Barak Obama's skin. There are plenty of sources we could quote to provide you with a little background, but let's just go over the Fox News, shall we?

"Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid issued an apology today over private remarks reported in a new book in which he described Barack Obama during the presidential election as a black candidate who would benefit from his "light-skinned" appearance and speaking patterns "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one."
http://whitehouse.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/01/09/reid-apologizes-for-no-negro-dialect-comment-about-barack-obama-from-2008-election/

Ok, so what did Harry actually do? I propose he simply commented on the American culture and how Barak would have a chance at winning an election because Americans, on average, are racist toward darker skinned Blacks and people with ethnic dialects. Reid didn't say or do anything that would suggest he himself is a racist.

We have become so sensitized to racism that even neutral observations are construed as racist - especially if one political party or another deems it in its interest to drag someone's name though the mud.

I don't know if Harry Reid is a decent person. I don't care. My point is that his statements recently quoted in the media do NOT prove, or even directly suggest to any intelligent person, he is a racist.

"Hey, look at that bird! Good thing it lost its brown summer feathers and grew in white winter ones."

"You bird racist! Are you saying only white birds should survive the winter?"

...you get my point...I hope.