Blacks weigh in on Harry Reid's racial comments
| Atlanta
The furor over Senate majority leader Harry Reid鈥檚 racially insensitive comments apparently has yet to arrive among African-Americans, at least in one corner of Atlanta.
Washington is obsessed by Senator Reid鈥檚 observation in 2008 鈥� and made public Saturday 鈥� that Barack Obama was electable because he is 鈥渓ight-skinned鈥� and has 鈥渘o Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one."
Republicans have called on Reid to step down. Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele (who is black) called the statement a return to Jim Crow ideas.
So the Monitor did a curbside survey of what black Atlantans think of Reid鈥檚 statement 鈥� random and unscientific, yes, but also somewhat instructive.
Six of the 10 people asked had never heard of the comments. Yet even when they were read the quote, umbrage was scarce.
Not hopping mad anymore
Willie Blair, a 60-something Atlantan, would have been hopping mad upon hearing those kinds of words from the mouth of an older white man years ago.
But today, Mr. Blair says, it鈥檚 just a case of a throwaway comment being magnified beyond its importance.
鈥淪ometimes people mean what they say, and sometimes they let a word just slip out,鈥� he says, referring to Reid鈥檚 anachronistic use of the word 鈥淣egro.鈥�
Republicans say Reid is benefiting from a double standard. Republican Senate majority leader Trent Lott was ousted in 2002 for lauding the career of former South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond, who once led a segregationist party challenge in the South.
Why shouldn鈥檛 Reid be ousted, too? they ask.
It is a double-standard, Blair says. But 鈥渋t鈥檚 just the way things are,鈥� he adds.
What controversy?
Graphic artist Clarence Jones, walking to work on a chilly afternoon, said he鈥檇 never heard of the Reid imbroglio.
Still, what does he think?
Amused more than anything, he says. He suggests that Mr. Obama 鈥� though he was only a candidate in 2008 鈥� may simply have created a different, slightly less constrained atmosphere for talking about race in America, even then. Obama has referred to himself as a 鈥渕utt,鈥� and, as Jones puts it, a half-breed, setting a new tone.
鈥淚t鈥檚 Obama himself who has made it possible to make a comment like that,鈥� he says.
One voice of anger
But if Jones says it鈥檚 good for America to relax a bit when talking about race, Robert Wade, found huddling in his buddy鈥檚 pickup truck on Atlanta鈥檚 Hosea Williams Avenue, pipes up with the lone voice of condemnation in this nonscientific survey
鈥淚 was offended,鈥� says Mr. Wade. 鈥淗e should step down.鈥�
His friend, Arvin Freeman, says Reid and Obama have much bigger fish to fry for an awkward, two-year-old utterance to get in the way of Obama鈥檚 legislative agenda, healthcare reform chief among them.
Besides, Mr. Freeman says, 鈥淚t鈥檚 in our nature to talk, and you can鈥檛 stop people from talking.鈥�
In the same neighborhood, Michelle Veerasawmy agrees that Reid 鈥渕ade the wrong statement at the wrong time,鈥� but that 鈥渉e鈥檚 of the people鈥� and shouldn鈥檛 step down.
Besides, she says, Reid seemed to have gotten his cadence and meaning from former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who in 1995 conceded that, 鈥淚 speak reasonably well, like a white person,鈥� and, visually, 鈥淚 ain鈥檛 that black.鈥�
-----
Follow us on .
