Double Standard

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has created quite a buzz in the political world with the revelation of his comments during the 2008 election campaign about Barack Obama. A book about to be published reveals that Reid called Obama "light skinned" and a candidate "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one."

I personally don't think these comments are racist, though they are certainly insensitive and crass. The thing that really upsets me about this is the shocking double standard. All the people who are usually up in arms about racial discrimination or insensitivity in this country are giving Reid a complete pass. The Congressional Black Caucus, which went ballistic over allegedly racist comments by Rush Limbaugh and Trent Lott, issued a statement offering strong support for Reid. Even more shocking, Rev. Al Sharpton, who makes his living by stirring up racial controversy and is about as sensitive as they come to real or imagined prejudice, also made a statement brushing off Reid's comments and offering his unqualified support for Reid's continuance as Senate Majority Leader (since he apologized!). The NAADP (National Association for the Advancement of the Democratic Party) has also been pretty quiet. These people claim to speak for the black community, but it seems that in reality they only speak for the Democratic party agenda.

As I have said in a previous post, I personally think our culture is far too quick to brand people as "racist" with far too little evidence. This hyper-sensitivity makes it very difficult to discuss racial issues openly and honestly, and destroys the reputations of many good people who are unfairly branded as prejudiced. But worse than the hyper-sensitivity is the incredible double standard perpetrated by Democrats, leaders of the black community, and the media. Basically it comes down to this: the Al Sharptons, Jesse Jacksons, Maxine Waters's, and Kweisi Mfumes of America wield racist grievances like a club to attack conservatives, while behaving with complete indifference to racial insensitivities perpetrated by liberals. The vast majority of liberals in the Democratic party and the media are just as guilty of this double standard, because they go along with it instead of exposing it. It's not just Harry Reid. The Vice-President of the U.S., Joe Biden, said during the 2008 campaign that Obama was “the first mainstream African American [presidential candidate] who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.” Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia is a former Ku Klux Klan member who has a history of using racial slurs. Yet, Biden and Byrd continue to be well-respected leaders in the Democratic party. What Republican could get away with saying and doing these things and maintain a respected position in public life?