3/21/08 Myrtle Beach Sun News (S.C.) C1

2008 WLNR 5455627

Myrtle Beach Sun News (SC)

Copyright 2008 The Sun News

March 21, 2008

Section: C

ISSAC J. BAILEY A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE: Racial hypocrisy too common

We are a nation of racial hypocrites. Not one of us would pass the kind of racial purity test many are applying to Barack Obama .

Not those who voted to re-elect Rep. Thad Viers after he was caught on tape using multiple racial epithets during an ugly domestic dispute, nor those who plan to vote for him in November.

Not those who hold uncritical views of Ronald Reagan, even though his administration had a too-cozy relationship with the apartheid regime in South Africa and was credited with dismantling numerous civil rights protections.

Not those who look the other way when the likes of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell make incendiary remarks about race or blame America for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Not those who are angry that Gov. Mark Sanford forced two leaders of the S.C. Highway Patrol to resign after they did little to punish a trooper who used the n-word while threatening to shoot a black motorist, unless they believe it's OK to remain supportive of that trooper but not OK that Obama refused to completely distance himself from his pastor while denouncing his pastor's comments.

Not those who wanted Don Imus fired for his racially-tinged comments but excuse the language used by black rappers and entertainers and the past racially-divisive comments of the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton.

Not those who use Mark Fuhrman as a guest commentator, knowing his lies about his frequent use of the n-word helped sink the prosecution's case in the racially-charged O.J. Simpson trial.

Not those who have been silent on Sen. John McCain's embrace of Bob Jones University, his double talk about the Confederate flag and his acceptance of an endorsement by the fire-breathing Rev. John Hagee.

Not those who have uncomfortably laughed while a friend or a neighbor or a parent made racist jokes and loved them anyway. Not those who would be appalled if there was a movement to remove George Washington's face from the dollar bill, even though Washington was one of the nation's most prominent slaveowners.

This country is soaked in racial contradiction. Every ethnic group is in on the act.

Each of us has embraced someone who has said or done racist things because each of us recognizes that people are complex than their worst acts.

Racial hypocrites deny that reality.

Unfortunately, too many of us wear that label without realizing that we do.