Are we seeing the Shadow of Racism Walk Out the Door - Black Genius Network

Yesterday, I wrote about the shadow of racism, the idea being that we could be seeing the end of racism as we know it. Well, after I wrote that post I’ve had a chance to reflect and of course the news as analyzed and reported Senator Obama’s speech over and over again. As I was on my way home listening to XMRadio. The host was John Gibson and angry Rich (whoever he is). Mr Gibson, of course was analyzing the speech (as usual, he was playing snippets and taking some of the words out of context but thats conservative radio and they are entitled to do what they do) but Mr. Gibson said to a young caller “America is NOT a racist country”.

I agree, America is no longer a racist country, there is no longer overt racism and most white folks are NOT racist. So, I agree, America is not racist anymore, it is not the country that it was 60 or even 20 years ago. But I believe we still are seeing the effects of racism, for want of a term the shadow of racism as it walks out the door.

This morning I was reading Annette Hall’s analysis of the speech in the Philadelphia Inquirer (yep, I still buy the paper AND read the damn thing on the internet, the dichotomy of the old and the new). Her article “Where do we go from here” was very thoughtful but what struck we was these words “My kids always tell me to get over it. Mom, I know it’s not fair, they tell me as they text and instant-message their United Nations posse of friends. “But stop blaming it on ‘the man.’ Get over it.”

This is the challenge for people like me, we have to get over it and work hard to help racism walk out the door