In 2002, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott attended the 100th birthday party for Strom Thurmond, his senate colleague, and former segregationist from South Carolina. While honoring an old man who had spent his life in public service, Lott said: “When Strom Thurmond ran for president (1948), we (Mississippians) voted for him. We’re proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these problems over all these years, either.” It’s not hard to understand that those comments were painful for African-Americans because they viewed them as being favorable toward segregation. However, in view of the fact that he seemed to be merely trying to make a terminally ill man feel better, I didn’t think a dumb comment was enough reason to call for his resignation. Most Republicans didn’t think so either. Nevertheless, Democrats accused him of racism and attacked him unmercifully until he resigned. Here we are, 8 years later, and another Senate Majority Leader makes a dumb comment. In a new book entitled, Game Change, by Time magazine’s Mark Halperin and New York magazine’s John Heilemann, it’s been reported that Senator Harry Reid, in a private conversation during the 2008 presidential campaign, described Barack Obama, the Illinois senator, as a “light-skinned” African-American “with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.”

     As expected, Republicans are now on the attack. Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele, a black man, called for Reid’s resignation, invoking the controversy and series of events that lead to Trent Lott’s resignation in 2002. Also, as expected, Democrats are defending him. Even Al Sharpton, the foul-mouthed racial gangster from Harlem, who has never forgiven a Republican for a slip of the lip, has declared: “While there is no question that Senator Reid did not select the best word choice in this instance, these comments should not distract America from its continued focus on securing healthcare or creating jobs for its people.” In other words, it’s perfectly acceptable for a Democrat to make a racist remark as long as he’s on board with the liberal agenda being advanced by a black president. When radio icon Don Imus made insensitive comments on his show, Sharpton pressured MSNBC to fire him, and they did. Jesse Jackson also jumped on the extortion gravy train when he demanded a meeting with network executives to discuss “diversity in broadcasting.”  

     Where is Jackson now when Reid has referred to President Obama in such a demeaning way? And what exactly is the senator referring to when he says Obama doesn’t have a Negro dialect, unless he wants one? Does he mean that Obama changes his dialect when he speaks in public? In addition, what does “light-skinned” have to do with his electability? Perhaps the question is; how do we compare one racist statement with another? Also, who should be the arbiter of what is a racist comment? One thing seems certain; there is a definite disparity between the reactions to racist remarks. As Michael Steele said, “There is this standard where the Democrats feel that they can say these things and they can apologize when it comes from the mouths of their own, but if it comes from anyone else, it’s racism.” Senator John Cornyn of Texas said Reid’s comments were “embarrassing and racially insensitive.” He added, “It’s difficult to see this situation as anything other than a clear double standard on the part of Senate Democrats and others.”

     It’s been my experience that people who make bigoted remarks in private are merely suppressing the desire to do so in public because of the societal (political?) implications. What troubles me is the fact that the authors of this controversial book didn’t chide Reid for what he said at the time. Is that because they wanted to use the publicity during its release to sell more books? If we are ever going to realize true equality in this country we must stand up against ignorance every time it spews its poisonous venom. When one of the people in the huddle during a cocktail party makes a comment laced with bigotry (you can usually tell it’s coming if the person looks around the room furtively before speaking), what is your reaction? If you laugh or nod your head in concurrence, you’re part of the problem. I like John McCain’s response during a recent interview on NBC’s The Today Show regarding the Reid gaffe. “I didn’t know those kind of words were still in the American lexicon,” he said. The best way to eliminate them from the lexicon is to challenge the dinosaurs that use them.