Black racist generation is fading away
By
Dr. Sherman N. Miller
As I watched the Reverend Wright debacle
gain notoriety, I recounted an experience I had in 1972 where black
racism, in its full furry, presented itself in a public forum.
I have always been an
integrationist. During the 1972 Black Political Convention, I was a
representative for the State of Delaware when the Black Agenda was
debated. I took some chastising because I refused to succumb to the
militant black rhetoric similar to what Reverend Wright was espousing.
I am a conservative Republican, but I found myself
arguing the case for welfare rights because their effort was to help all
children regardless of race. I worried that we did not have a prayer of
getting an integrationist issue through in this room full of
Afro-centric zealots. A lady who I understood was the Welfare Rights
leader showed me how to get their issue included in the document in a
room full of black racists. The Welfare Rights leader knew many deep
secrets, so when I called for the vote it passed. This lady taught me
how to handle these black zealots, so I see Senator Obama in a similar
position where he does not have to accept racist ideologies even in the
company of racists.
However, I was very disturbed at the ratification
meetings following the Black Political Convention. One could close his
eyes and wonder whether or not he was in a Ku Klux Klan rally. I was
upset at the anti-Semitic tenor of things. You would have thought we
were refighting the Arab-Israeli 1967 war. I also did not feel
comfortable with the continued vilification of White Americans, but they
were only practicing lessons they got from the infamous Late Alabama
Governor George Wallace who proclaimed segregation now, segregation
tomorrow, and segregation forever. Surely, Wallace and other white
segregationist leaders gave Rev. Wright plenty of reason to react to the
ill treatment they orchestrated on Black America.
I know of many Wright’s generation black people who
have an aversion for whites, but they try to be decent people. I am sure
there are many whites who hate blacks, but are decent people. Do we shun
these people or do we share different views to keep others from getting
enchanted by their caustic rhetoric? I like to challenge their racist
beliefs and I have no problem telling them that I think they are
racists.
I guess what one of my white friends shared is
coming to be. Roughly twenty years ago he said that on an occasion at a
luncheon in the 1950s, he predicted that blacks would rise to the level
we see things today. His white associates promptly rebuked his forecast.
This white friend’s grandfather had hidden Confederate horses from
General Sherman during the US Civil War. We chatted again in 2008 about
his forecast. He feels once the population over sixty fades away we will
see another quantum jump in race relations. I guess he is on target.
Rev. Wright is in the process of fading away.