ROYALLY FLUSH THE RACE CARD

Playing the race card when game is rigged

By Kelvin Wade
March 3, 2011

Recently, my girlfriend Cathi, who is white, was rear-ended while driving home. When the other driver, a young black girl, refused to share information, Cathi jotted down her license plate and called police. She overheard the girl on her cell phone telling her mother, 'The only reason she called the police is because I'm black.'

As a property manager, Cathi manages several homeowners associations

in several cities. When enforcing association rules in the past she's heard similar lines from a Middle Eastern man and a Hispanic woman, both claiming they were being singled out for their ethnicity.

And Cathi's fed up with that excuse.

What is impossible to know by looking at Cathi is that when she was a young girl living in Mountain View in 1959, her parents fought a neighborhood petition that was trying to prevent a Japanese family from moving into the neighborhood. Her family became good friends with the Asian family once they moved in.

By looking at Cathi, one couldn't know she lived in multicultural Hawaii for 11 years. No one would know her first husband was Japanese and that she has a half Japanese daughter. Nor would they know of her long relationship with a Filipino man whose sisters she's still friends with years after they broke up.

They wouldn't know of the 10 years she spent working as a sales rep for a company owned by Iranians.

They wouldn't know her biracial daughter is married to an African-American man and Cathi's two grandchildren are multiracial.

Nor would they know about me.

In trying to comfort her, I tried to explain how I let people's snarky accusations roll off my back. When I first started writing for the Daily Republic, I had people writing saying I was too young or I was the paper's affirmative action project, and I was called a socialist before being called a socialist was cool. After receiving the anonymous letters damning my soul to eternal hell for my abortion position, I'd learned to develop a thick skin. Appraisals of my character by people who don't know me don't faze me.

After explaining this to Cathi, I saw my words soothed her little. It was then I realized this was a white thing I didn't fully understand. To live one's life colorblind in a society that often isn't, is not an easy thing. So to then be labeled a racist for your trouble is deeply painful in a way I didn't initially comprehend.

Sure Cathi could whip out photos of her grandkids in her defense but she felt she shouldn't have to feel defensive. And to do that seemed like echoes of, 'Some of my best friends are . . .' The game is rigged. A white person accused of racism by a minority has little means of defense. The burden of proof should be on the accuser.

When minorities hurl a false charge of racism, we hurt ourselves. There are enough whites that deny, ignore or whitewash discrimination without false allegations creating more of them. When we're legitimately the victims of racism, our cries will fall on deaf ears.

The white lady may be calling the police after your car accident because you won't divulge any information and are threatening to leave the scene. Maybe the fact you're behind on your association dues is the reason you're being 'singled out' and not because you're Iraqi.

We need to check our motives. Peace.
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ADDITIONAL NOTES: I can't stand when someone uses race as an excuse for something they did. It hurts everyone. An embarrassing case was when Michael Jackson didn't sell as many copies of his album, Invincible (because of the declining pop music industry, Jackson's own declining popularity, a dispute with the label and the fact that it was a mediocre album), as he would have liked and went on the offensive against Sony Music's Tommy Motolla saying, "He's a mean. He's a racist. And he's very, very, very devilish." Michael Jackson as a victim of racism? Michael Jackson?

Another egregious example was when Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas successfully and shamelessly played the race card against Congressional Democrats. Thomas knew their opposition wasn't about his race but his politics. But he got away it. Because no one wants to be tainted with the stench of racism.

To be honest, I'm not fond of the term "playing the race card" because too often it's used to dismiss legitimate claims of discrimination. Just as falsely accusing someone of racism is painful, so is brushing aside legitimate claims by saying someone is 'playing the race card.'

As an example of this, many critics of the NAACP claimed they were 'playing the race card' when they called out racist elements within the Tea Party. When people are carrying signs such as "The zoo has an African lion and the White House has a lyin' African", "Go Back to Kenya", "Obamanomics, Monkey See Monkey Spend", "The American Taxpayers Are The Jews For Obama's Oven", "Obama, what you talkin' about, Willis? Spend my money?", "Congress=slaveowner Taxpayer-niggar", as well as President Obama depicted as a mugger or with a bone through his nose, that's not playing the race card. Prior to his election, some people showed up at Palin rallies with Curious George dolls or shirts depicting Obama as a monkey. This isn't playing the race card. And by no means do the people doing these things represent the majority of Tea Party members. Just some bad apples in the mix.

But claiming some racial motive when there's a more logical explanation is just weak. Some people will always try to avoid personal responsibility. It's unfortunate when people inject race into a nonracial situation. It's pathetic and makes us all look bad.