So said President George Bush in his address to the NAACP today, his first visit to the annual convention during his 5 years as president.
“I understand that racism still lingers in America,” Bush told the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. “It’s a lot easier to change a law than to change a human heart.”
For once, the president and I agree on something.
“For nearly 200 years, our nation failed the test of extending the blessings of liberty to African-Americans. Slavery was legal for nearly 100 years, and discrimination legal in many places for nearly 100 years more.”
Thank you, Mr. President, for pointing that out. More people need to understand that even through slavery was outlawed in 1865, the Jim Crow era that followed was an extension of it that continued at least until the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Virginia was one of a number of states to have participated in schemes designed to prevent blacks and poor whites from voting, by instituting a cumulative poll tax as well as literacy tests.
Given that this is quite recent history – during my lifetime – it is no wonder that racism still lingers in America. That is not to say that we haven’t made progress – we have. But we still have a ways to go and those who believe all that needs to be done has been done are, I believe, mistaken.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
Is that all you received from the President’s speech today? He gave a passionate speech and was well received, save for a few hecklers at the end of his speech. And that quote was the only thing you got out of it?
Um – did you even bother to read the rest of the post? And, it was probably the most important thing he had to say.
Vivian, I think it’s great. You and I tussle a bit, and I truly appreciate the dialogue.
But it strikes me that the same people who want Iraq’s governmental reform to be perfect after 3 years have no problem with America’s “racial struggle” lasting forever to do “all that needs to be done.”
You’d never let Bush get away with that timetable.
I don’t think you have ever seen a post on this site regarding Iraq. It is something that I have an opinion on (like everybody has one 🙂 ) but one I feel wholly unqualified to comment on. So for now, let’s leave that out of the conversation.
On the timetable of race: you make an interesting point, one that is different from what I tried to convey. What I tried to say was that to all of those people who think black folk need to just “get over it,” look at the relatively short time frame since we were actually allowed to begin to participate in the process.
Your point of those who are willing to allow the racial struggle to go on is interesting because a) it acknoweleges that the struggle is not over and b) it is true that there are folks (on both sides of the aisle) who are not helping to move it forward.
Hmm – I’ll have to think about that some more 😉
Vivian – the stuggle will never be over. There is too much political power for those who lead the struggle to ever let it end.
I can only hope that you are wrong. I fear that you may be right.
Honestly, I hope I’m wrong, too.
Insider is right. Some of the racial division of this country has been encouraged, not helped, by some of the actions of Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and so-called civil rights leaders that seem to do nothing but glorify themselves and not help those they say they help.
While racism does exist in this country, it is nowhere near what it was. There is slight racism against all races, against African Americans, Latinos, and other minority groups. There is even racism against. . .whites (what!).
Everyone has to make their own way, and nothing is stopping anyone now from being all they can be.
Maybe I am too optimistic, but I can’t help but focus on the positives of this issue. Racism against all races have come a long way of being solved. I may get slammed for saying this, but I just don’t see it any other way.
Sorry about my earlier post, but I heard the speech, and I was proud of the President, and I thought the audience enjoyed the speech as well. I don’t think this is all we can take from his speech. It ought to open a dialogue, but not a dialogue on how much racism is left in America.
hrconservative – there are as many race baiters that are white as there are that are black. Insider spoke of “those leading the struggle” without making any attempt to identify them. I strongly object to your characterization of “Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and so-called civil rights leaders” in both the context of Insider’s remarks as well as within the context of this conversation.
You are one of the people I was talking about: the ones that just don’t get what racism is about. You demonstrate your complete lack of knowledge as well as understanding of the complexity of the issue when you make asinine comments like this. There cannot be racism against whites; prejudice, yes, but not racism. Racism requires power and blacks are not in the position to have power over whites.
It is not a matter of optimism; to ignore racism is to deny what black people in America deal with on a regular basis.
Stop drinking the KoolAid, get out from behind your keyboard, and LEARN about the way things are.
I don’t see any race having a power over another race at this point. I don’t see anyone leading the struggle to keep minority groups down, unless you count extremist groups that have no power.
I know the issue is complex, but I definitely see a different view, one that is not full of negativism, and a view that definitely cannot be written off as lack of knowledge, and drinking KoolAid.
As I said, I am not ignoring racism. And if your definition of racism is one race having a power over another, then racism is done in this country. That is not my definition, but under yours, racism is gone. I can look at it no other way.
I do not see an organized effort to keep minority groups down. I do see an organized effort to keep minority groups misinformed, and that is the so-called civil rights leaders that the media loves. The real civil rights leaders are the ones leading minorities to realize their true potential!! Who the media lifts up and who I believe are civil rights leaders are two different things, and “leaders” like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have done more to enrich themselves than their followers. What characterization do you object too?
You may not agree Vivian, but I am not a racist. I also refuse to be written off as unknowledgable just because I do not step in line and beat the drumbeat the media employs.
It is obvious that you don’t begin to understand anything about race or racism. You say things that make no sense in the context of race. You don’t even understand the concept of power. You keep calling people “leaders” without understanding or realizing that the people to which you refer have been created by the MSM as leaders and not embraced by all – or even most – of black America.
Do you even KNOW anybody black? You really sound as if your only contact with black people is what you read in a magazine.
Oh, by the way, didn’t mean to attach my views to Insider in the post above. My views are my own. Sorry about that.
We can at least agree that those “leaders” have been created by MSM! Common ground!!
Now come on, Vivian. I do know many people. Attack my argument, not me. And I thought we had had a little common ground!
My secret agenda is to get this comment section to be the most on blognetnews.com. I think you are going to win.
Really great post