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October 06, 2005
Leonard Pitts on Race in America: "Further ahead than we once were, but not as far as we ought to be"
by Faithful Progressive
FP had the pleasure of going to hear Leonard Pitts Jr., the Pulitzer Prize winning Miami Herald columnist, speak this past week and even had the chance to ask him a question that may be of interest to readers of this Blog. For those of you who don’t know his work, Leonard Pitts Jr. is simply one of the two or three best newspaper columnists in the country. He is a Christian and is not afraid of saying so. Here’s a recent piece of his on the Intelligent Design debate and an older column that inspired FP to begin his blog. Finally, here's his take on the idiotic and insensitive remarks of a former Secretary of Education: Bennett's quip touches on tacit race, crime tie
His speech in Madison to a packed room of 300 asked the same question as Dr. Martin Luther King’s last speech—Race, Reconciliation and other Tattered Dreams-Where Do We Go From Here?" Pitts said the Katrina disaster was a sort of national “Rorshach inkblot” into which people projected what they wanted to see. For himself, Pitts thought it was odd that we immediately fell into a discussion about race at a time of national disaster. Rather, Pitts saw mostly the impacts of poverty, which he believed were even more important than race in his assessment of Katrina’s disproportionate effects on people from different strata. But America readily falls into a dialogue that is based upon "race, culture and recrimination."
The truth is, Pitts said, that both blacks and whites have become locked in to a view that sees only a part of the real picture. Some African Americans deny the extent of racial progress, while many whites pretend that race is no longer a factor and that we should therefore be color-blind in making important social decisions. Pitts challenged both assumptions with a detailed set of facts about both the real progress we have made and the extent to which racial disparities still plague us.
He spoke of the irony of hearing a black couple complain that things were "worse than ever" at a park in Birmingham where an earlier generation would have had dogs and hoses put on them by racist police chief Bull Connor. Pitts also cited numerous labor and criminal justice statistics that demonstrated how far we are from color blind (the killer of a white victim is 11 times more likely to be put to death than the killer of a black victim, etc). He also recalled an NBA star driving an expensive car that was pulled over and questioned at length. The police found nothing, but claimed they pulled him over not because of his race but because his license tags were about to expire later that month. Pitts concluded that we were, "further ahead than we once were, but not as far as we ought to be" How do we get further down the road to racial progress?
Mr. Pitts suggested that we are still too divided by race, including in our churches. He told the story of a "preacher exchange" where a white minister said his world was too white, and then cautiously added and "perhaps yours is too black." Much to his surprise, the congregation greeted him with applause. Both sides need to work to engage and get to know each other. Pitts noted that a decade ago he had paused before inviting a white friend at work into his home-a boundary neither of them had crossed. He finally invited the friend to meet his family and friends and a good time was had by all. It's these subtle boundaries that keep us apart, Pitts suggested, the law can only take us so far. Pitts said Katrina was a crossroads for this country but that "we are not doing everything we can to get off this crossroad." The key failure is a lack of honest communication between the races, but no one can blame this on the refreshingly direct Mr. Pitts.
PS
Now the question FP put to him: had he noticed any greater voice from progressive people of faith since the election? Indeed Pitts had heard more from the Christian left in his e-mail inbox and on the Web, but he expressed surprise that faithful progressives were not a louder voice in the letters to the editor pages of local newspapers and that opposition to the war hadn't galvinized them as a political force. In the next weeks, I'll describe a letter-writing campaign that the Wisconsin Christian Alliance for Progress is undertaking relating to speaking out for the poor in relation to the federal budget.It's time that we make sure our voices are heard.
Posted by Faithful Progressive at October 6, 2005 10:12 PM
Comments
Sorry to post this here, but just wanted to give another Public Service Announcement:
Not sure if anyone else got this, but it looks as if the Joseph character here has taken to spamming the bloggers on this forum. His poor grammar and anger gave him way. I got this message in my inbox this morning from someone named joe intili :
"It is not the Republicans nor is it the Right Wing Connectives, It is The Mom and Pop Christians, the old, the shut inns, the destitute who watch the 700 Club, and Farwell, and Dobson, and the Interfaith channel, and Billy Ghram. Its Its all the people who send their $29.00 $45.00, $100.00, in each month, and you are not touching them with this site. They are rooted in the Bible from long before you left launched your campaine. with with your vitriol speak you can never turn these people who read the Bible and SEE WHAT GOD SAYS, do you really think you can first convince them that the Bible they have been reading for 40 years is wrong/that is laughable, but first you must convince them of that, then convince them Homosexuality is Good, which they have believe all their life it is wrong."
Posted by: Greg at October 7, 2005 05:09 PM
I got something else along the lines of "you are a homo....trying to protect other homos"
Is this kinduv stuff tolerated when a specific individual harasses fellow bloggers by sending junk to their personal email? I hope not. I post here for spirited conversation...not to receive threats in my personal email. This individual has crossed the line, and it should not be tolerated.
Posted by: KJM at October 9, 2005 03:57 AM
No, it's not tolerated. Glad you brought to our attention.
FP
Posted by: FP at October 10, 2005 09:14 PM
I Am sorry to post this here, but as a public service, to let ordinary people what is going on. go see what is being said on this political site, hidden in Shepard's clothing's. Why would a so called Christian site bring retribution against me for what I said above, or any where else, I Asked the " INFAMOUS REVEREND ARDEN C HANDER" THE LEFT WING ACTIVIST AND PROFESSOR FROM ONE OF OUR HIGHER LEARNING UNIVERSITIES IN FLORIDA to show proof that I had any site spammed, again I say if the Infamous Reverend can produce any evidence that i spammed anyone to do it, here and now, but he will not because he is untruthful, and hateful to make such a accusation It should be very easy to show spam with my IP address, being REV. HANDER WORKS FOR SOJOURNERS. Why would a Reverand and a Christian site single me and others and try and slander us and call us names, here is anoyhrt quote from Thr Infamous Revrend Hander about another person who posted on Christian Alliance:: "Now. Eddie Hughes, another recent interloper, lacks a lot before chronicling the "responsibility of the believer" with his shared biblical literalism & bibliotry "Sounds like an imposter to me, as indeed are ALL fundamentalists which are the PLAGUE of America. AND MORE FROM MR> ARDEN C HANDER>>
A word to interlopers: you don't have it in you to make intelligent, educated comments to progressives, much less liberals. It's surely not a biblical calling you have. I will not engage in your subcultural rant,
The Infamous Reverend Arden C Hander says :" can we count on Justice Kennedy as we are currently having to do" but then cries when justice Alito came up for Confirmation, Surely we can see Mr. Hander, is a man of integrity, and only wants a Justice not to be Confirmed if he is not Qualified, Certainly a Reverend would be honest and follow the rules, and not be a cronies for his left wing socialist party. NO PARTISANSHIP HERE
Lets see The now Republican party, the Democratic party always existed, then their was a Communist-socialist party, headquartered in Russia, then Russia became a Democracy, so where did all these Social Communists GO?, did they go to another planet? no, did they all go to China?, no, did they all just go away? no! They made a new party, they ripped the Democratic party in half and infiltrated it, even the real Democrats like Joe Lieberman are targeted for destruction. Where did all those slick Propagandists go?, where did the disinformationists go? Where are all those counter parts to the CIA the FBI? those who started anti Americanism in the streets of America,and other Countries during the Cold war? and burning of the flag? Does anyone really think they are not the new left wing who have changed their name to the progressives?. The following is from a congressional hearing in the 1960s, it is in fact the very agenda taken from a communist document, read it and see what tactics the Communists told their operatives to do in America, to get it accomplished, by the time Communism lands full force, in our Country and in our Government. HOW MANY OF THE COMMUNIST GOALS DO YOU RECOGNIZE THE LEFT HAS ALREADY ACCOMPLISHED???
:Congressional Record--Appendix, pp. A34-A35
January 10, 1963
Current Communist Goal
16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.
17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks.
18. Gain control of all student newspapers.
19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.
20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.
21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.
22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."
23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art."
24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.
25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.
26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."
27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."
28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."
29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.
30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man."
Posted by: joe at July 3, 2006 10:46 AM
Before admonishing Tiger Woods for not carrying the "black banner" let's recognize that he is equally white as he is black, and more Asian than either.
Posted by: Harry Coker at January 19, 2008 03:45 PM
