President Carter's Take on Race and the Obama Administration

A little over 2 weeks ago, former President Jimmy Carter unleashed a flurry of controversary and conversation when he stated "I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man". Unfortunately and sadly, I feel compelled to agree with the former President.

New York Times op-ed columnist Maureen Dowd recently noted in a column just days before President Carter's comments that "some people just can't believe a black man is president and will never accept it". Pretty much since his inauguration in January, the President has been subjected to a level of disrespect and hatred that certainly has racial overtones. Repeatedly, throughout the summer, the President's place of birth has been called into question with the intent to paint him as a non US citizen and delegitimize his Presidency. During many of the recent Congressional town hall meetings on health care reform, numerous people have displayed racist signs and images portraying the President as "Curious George", an African witch doctor, or showing him hanging from a noose.You would have to be living under a rock to not realize that this kind of imagery reminds many Black and White Americans of a time when we had federally mandated segregation and crushing Jim Crow laws throughout the South. Last month, thousands of parents refused to let their children hear an address from the President to the nation's students because they feared that the President would indoctrinate their children with "a liberal agenda". Was that really the reason or was that a smokescreen for something for socially unacceptable? And let's not forget the outrageous outburst by South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson during the President's address to a joint session of Congress last month. The level of disrespect shown by Congressman Wilson was almost unprecedented. It was almost like he was attempting to remind this young, Black President of "his place" in society.

Disagreement on important issues is fine. As a society, we should never be expected to agree on all issues, but what happened to being respectful with our disagreements? To deny that the animosity that the President is facing has racial overtones is simply not being morally nor intellectually honest. Immediately after President Carter's comments, he was denounced in many corners for injecting race into the public square. Unfortunately, race was already injected months ago when many decided to use stereotypes, imagery, and language laced with bigotry. What is really sad is that many of the people that are behaving in this manner have no clue and do not realize the lack of racial sensitivity that they are displaying. In fact in many cases, they do not even care, and their actions are deliberate.

More people must stand up and speak out against this type of behavior. As I said earlier, it is okay for us to debate important issues, but there is no place for the level of racism that is being displayed. More people need to denounce this behavior and call it what it really is instead of tip-toeing around the issue. Our country really needs to have a serious conversation on racism, bigotry, and stereotypes.

Has the Segregated Cafeteria Moved Online?

We have all heard about or seen the segregated high school cafeteria used to decry the racial divide among our young people. A recent study conducted by a social media researcher at Microsoft and fellow at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society claims that self-segregation is "rampant online. What do you think?

Click here for this interesting story from the website The Root.

ABC News Show Poses Tough Questions

Earlier this year, my wife and I were fascinated by a program on ABC named What Would You Do? In this show, individuals are confronted with ethical dilemnas, while a hidden camera captures all. Many of these scenarios deal with racial issues. A recent scenario featured 3 White teenagers (actors) vandalizing a car in a New Jersey park. (Click here to watch the segment). Repeatedly, dozens of people walked by the car without saying a word, merely dismissing the activity or choosing to ignore what was happening. Amazingly, only 2 people stopped and challenged the youth and only 1 call was made to the police. Ironically, on the other end of the park, 2 Black teenagers were sleeping in car, and several people contacted 911 about them!

Later, the producers of the show turned the tables by having 3 Black teenagers (actors, again) vandalize the same car in the park. This time around, passerbys in the park immediately contacted 911 and several of them confronted the youth. Nearly a dozen calls were made to 911 when the Black teenagers were vandalizing the car, while only 1 was made to authorities when the scenario featured the White teenagers.

To me, it seemed that the White young men were actually given the benefit of the doubt or completely ignored, which was apparent from the lack of reaction that they received. On the other hand, the Black young men immediately had the police called on them. One person that called 911 even stated that she would not allow the Black youths to "come into her neighborhood" and vandalize cars "in her backyard". Her statement was very telling. Because the Black teenagers looked like they didn't belong, they immediately had suspicion cast upon them and were viewed as criminals. On the other hand, the White teenagers were perceived to belong in the neighborbood, and their antics were dismissed by some as teenage, bad behavior. With both scenarios, one would hope that the reaction from others would be the same. One would hope that the reaction would be to contact the police immediately when a crime is being committed - regardless of the race of the perpetrator.

Stereotypes played a major role in the reaction of people to the actions of the teenagers. Would the juvenile justice system also show bias and be influenced by similar stereotypes? Is is possible that the reaction of the police would be influenced by similar stereotypes? These were the questions that I asked myself after seeing this segment. Are perpetrators committing similar crimes judged differently because of their race? What would you have done?

Longest Journey Begins with One Step

For a little over a decade, a big part of my life has been committed to facilitating diversity and tolerance programs for high school and college students. During this time, I also served as a board member for the Georgia office of the National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ) - one of the nation's premiere social justice organizations. Suffice it to say, these are issues that I have a great deal of passion around. Over the years, I have discovered that there are very few forums where adults can openly discuss topics around diversity and tolerance. Are we afraid that we will be judged? Are we concerned that our opinions may be antiquated? Are these conversations too uncomfortable?

For a little over a year, I have pondered creating a gathering place committed to fostering open and honest dialogue, and as the old saying goes "there is no time like the present". Our nation has become more multicultural, and the evolution that experts are predicting between now and 2050 will be quite dramatic. The ability for us all to co-exist together will become even more important. I plan to share my viewpoint on many of the current issues of the day around diversity and invite subject matter experts to guest-blog from time to time. We may not always agree, but I do welcome your comments.

I hope that you will join me on this new journey. We have a lot to learn from each other.

- Gregory