And it has taught us once again us that no matter how little anti-black racism actually exists in America, most blacks and nearly all of the left deny this. That the vast majority of non-blacks are either proud of the fact or could not care less that a black man is president of the United States apparently means next to nothing to most blacks and most liberals of all colors. Too many blacks and liberals continue to see whites as racist and therefore to see black-white interactions as race-centered even when they are not.
In my 27 years of broadcasting I have taken a many calls on air from black listeners some of whom have told me that I do not what I am talking about when I speak about how little white racism there is in America. I am not a black, they argue, and therefore cannot possibly know how bad it is. These callers tell me that they experience racism every day as a black person.
My response has always been to ask, “OK. What was the racist incident you experienced today?”
In every instance, the response was something along the lines of, “Well, not today.”
To which I have always responded with another question: “OK, what was the racist incident you experienced yesterday?”
And, again, nothing was ever cited.
I don’t give up. I then ask the caller when the last time was that he or she experienced racism. Answers to that are usually unclear.
My point is not that there is no anti-black racism in America. It is that there is much less than most blacks and liberals think. Even when one assumes that ill treatment was due to racism, it is often difficult to know for certain.
I then provide my listeners with this example: Years ago driving home from synagogue, both my sons and I were wearing yarmulkes, or skull caps. A convertible car filled with young boys sped past me and yelled into the car “F--- you” and called my wife a “b---ch.”
I then said to my family, “I have finally experienced anti-Semitism in America.”
I decided to follow the car and, to my shock, they screamed the same obscenities at other cars, none of whose occupants were discernibly Jewish.
It turned out that the event was not what I was certain, and had every reason to believe, was an example of anti-Semitism, but just an example of young thugs acting thuggish.
So here’s the teachable moment: Harvard historian Louis Gates talked back to a police officer because he was treated as a suspect when he felt he should not be, given his fame as a Harvard professor. The professor was certain that the only possible explanation for such treatment was that he, Gates, was a black and the officer just another racist white policeman. The professor was wrong. The president was wrong. The press is wrong. Liberals are wrong. Even most blacks are wrong.
Many American non-blacks -- even those who did not vote for Barack Obama -- were hopeful that the election of a black as president of the United States would mean the end or at least the beginning of the end of the black and liberal view of America as racist.
And here’s the other teachable moment: We were quite naïve. As far as most liberals and blacks are concerned, nothing has changed.
Too bad.