LITTLE ROCK — My hope for our troubled nation is that its melting pot of citizens, who weave the fabric of America’s body, heart and soul, doesn’t fall for calculated attempts to racially divide us into conflicted factions.
We all stem from different cultures, faiths and skin color, but the cohesive factor that has maintained us as the world’s most free, prosperous and compassionate beacon of hope is the fact that we have been willing to unify and sacrifice, even our lives, to preserve this country and its principles.
When I see the national NAACP publicly decry as racists the everyday Americans of the tea-party movement who are pushing to retain individual freedoms, limited government and reduced taxation, I see a purely political agenda. That is a shame. There’s no convincing evidence whatsoever to support such a sweeping, ugly allegation..
It makes me sad to realize that this historic organization, which has such a proud tradition, is actually fomenting unjustified racial tension rather than promoting unity. Surely there are many authentic issues facing black Americans that scream for this organization’s attention. Unemployment, housing, child welfare and the criminal justice system leap to mind.
What would the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. have had to say about an organization devoted solely to human heritage that so flagrantly promotes one political party’s radical agenda? What happened to King’s admonition to judge others by thecontent of their character rather than the color of their skin?
To me, there’s clearly a calculated effort under way to divide the races in America using manufactured quotes and false accusations against specific people (always conservatives). It’s all being aggressively pushed by the über-liberal national media that are intent on supporting an elitist political ideology called progressivism that is way out of step with the beliefs of a majority of Americans.
Yet when real indicators of vicious racism that needs to be illuminated and rooted out do arise, the national media and the NAACP fail to adequately report on, or properly condemn, that kind of hatred. A good example: the voter intimidation case of the leader of Philadelphia’s New Black Panther group, who fumed on film about how he deeply hated whites (“crackers”) and even promoted “killing crackerbabies.”
This tells me, as much as I regret saying it, that the hard-earned credibility that once was a hallmark of the Fourth Estate has evaporated in many newspapers and broadcast outlets.
No media outlet gains credibility by reciting press releases of the latest official version. Citizens simply aren’t being told many relevant andvital facts by the press, which only two decades ago was still a watchdog in the public interest.
Today, rather than digging into government corruption and hidden agendas to inform our citizens, I see the arrogant mainstream media trying their best to smear, even silence, their peers who are still digging to report truth. It’s unbelievable.
It means that Americans are being left to sort out truth as best they can from wherever it’s still revealed.
Have you heard of Cass Sustein? How about the Tides Foundation? The Joyce Foundation? Whose money and influence is behind them and which strings do they pull inside our government?
Which brings me to manufacturing “racism” for political gains. It appears to me that liberal progressive candidates who are facing a stiff wind at the ballot box in November may have chosen to foster a summer of hard feelings between races, dividing them to gain voting blocs.
Let’s hope that’s just a false impression. After all, wasn’t this the administration that was supposed to bring us together? It is failing miserably.
Frankly, I’ve never understood why anyone with a heart and soul would hate, or even dislike, another human being because of skin color. Most folks I know still weigh another’s merit on the content of his character.
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Mike Masterson is opinion editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s Northwest edition.
Editorial, Pages 81 on 07/25/2010