Race, Ignorance, and Black Conservatism

When I was a child, I couldn't understand the phrase, "curiosity killed the cat." It just didn't make any sense to me. But as I aged, learned, and matured, I came to realize the full meaning of it. Your curiosity can cause things to be revealed that you may not want to know about. Boy, did I ever experience that this past Friday night.

I was on a particular internet talk radio site when I came across an interesting page. The host called himself Black Conservative. He wore this title proudly, as if it were some sort of banner or high honor. But to each his own. I became curious about this individual being that I'd recently had another black conservative on my talk show who was not only very pleasant, articulate, and intelligent, but a gentleman as well. I expected no less from the one that I'd stumbled upon, regardless of race or political affiliation.

The minute that I began listening to his show, I knew that it would be the type of atmosphere that would be incompatible with my beliefs and personality. The host was on a rant about black conservatives being "right" and black liberals being "wrong." Although this statement stabbed me in the gut, I was willing to listen with an open mind. After all, everyone is entitled to his/her opinion and belief. But after several minutes of listening to partisan garbage, I decided to call in with a question.

The host took my call almost immediately. I held my question after deciding to respond to one that he had posed first. His question was: what has Barack Obama done to help Black America?
This may not be the question exactly, but it was on this line. I began the response in this manner: "It is really unfair to expect President Obama to reverse the many ills plaguing the black community when he' s only been in office a little over 3 months." The host responds, "how much time do you black people need before you can see that Barack Obama is doing nothing for the black community? Well, I'm black and the host is black so therefore, I became baffled and taken aback by this question. You black people? I then asked, "what did George Bush do to help the black community? He then went on this long-winded, voice-raising, ignorance-revealing, unintelligent rant about faith-based initiatives, social programs, etc. that Bush supposedly put forth to help blacks. Hmmm.

During this moment of extreme insanity, I decided not to even try to reduce myself to his level. I could have countered much of what he stated in regards to Bush but he really wouldn't let me get a word in. Furthermore, I wanted to get to my burning question before it got lost in a political abyss. When he took a brief pause and appeared to be coming down from the delusional "conservative" high that he was on, I attempted to ask my question again. Again, he wouldn't allow me. He tried to push me into a corner with the whole Bush did so much more for blacks than Obama is doing. I was done with that issue because his ignorance and arrogance was not going to allow him to listen to reason and logic. I pressed ahead with my question.

Before I could get the question out, he made some foolish remark about me "waking a sleeping giant." His arrogance had no bounds. I was getting a little angry at this point and stated, "Yeah, George Bush did a lot for blacks. He sure had a lot of them killed through the deception and lies that led to the Gulf War." Okay, this really inflamed him. I was through. There was no getting through to this person. When the opportunity finally arose, I kindly responded, "I'm going to hang up now. I can see that we're not going to agree." He continued to press for an argument and I hung up. Those in the chat room that sided with him seemed to think that he "pushed me into a corner" and that I didn't know how to respond to him. They were so wrong. I can't tolerate foolishness. I didn't call in to be controversial, I called in with a question for a black man who claims to be a conservative republican. I wanted an answer; an intelligent answer to the question: "As a black conservative, what do you think about some of the divisive, racist remarks made by those like Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, and others?"

The chat room began to go crazy. Conservatives began jumping all over liberals. I witnessed some of the most vile, vulgar, profane language that I've ever seen. The host continued ranting and raving to every caller that was in opposition to his madness. He started saying things like "you dumb black people put Barack Obama in the White House." Let me back up one moment. He made that particular statement when I was on the line with him. I responded, "black people only make up about 14% of this country's population. If every black in this country voted for Obama, he wouldn't have won the election." I don't remember his response but I'm sure that it was just as ridiculous as all the others.

Anyway, the host continued in his verbal attacks against black liberals. A soft-spoken, intelligent male caller began to challenge the host on his position. The host referred to him as a dumb black. The caller corrected him and said, "I'm not black." The host responds, "you sound dumb so I assumed you were black." Again, the chatroom went wild. The host and supporters in the chatroom began to use the words negro and niggers consistently. No shame. No apologies. The host began to say that blacks need to get off all assistance programs, stop being lazy, find jobs, and support themselves. They don't need programs such as affirmative action he stated.

Although I can agree that it would be ideal for black americans to be self-sufficient without assistance from the government, it is also unrealistic. We are living in some harsh times. People are starving, living in the streets, and stripped of hope. They can't see the forests for the trees. Is it such a bad thing for the government to extend a hand of help to those who find it difficult to help themselves? Do conservatives wish to see children literally starve to death? Do they wish to see the elderly succumb to their diseases and ailments all because they need to get off their lazy butts and get a job? In a nation as rich as this one, these things should not be happening. Just because many of them are filthy rich, it doesn't give them the right to deny the less fortunate access to aid.

Conservatives are quick to claim their "Christianity" and religious beliefs when it suits them. But a real Christian would reach out to those less fortunate. A real Christian has a heart of compassion that it not easily influenced by motives, agenda, or political position. A real Christian would share his vast wealth with others who are without because he is full of love and compassion. The hypocrisy of many "believers" are astounding. Take into account the controversy at Notre Dame. Some are opposing the President's commencement address because of his positions on abortion and stem cell research. They believe that stem cell research kills a child in order to advance science. But they give no thought to Catholic Priests killing a child's innocence to advance sexual perversions. Hyprocrisy at its best.

To sum it all up, I stopped listening to the madness of the Black Conservative's talk show and will never go there again. If I were a conservative, I would have a problem with this idiot representing me. This is one of many reasons that the Republican party is flailing around like fish out of water--politically oxygen deprived. Those that are speaking on behalf of the party are jokes and not taken seriously by anyone with a minimal amount of thinking capacity. They are divisive, mean-spirited, and lack compassion and care. Those little extra taxes that they have to pay in order to help others is the driving force behind their rejection of President Obama.

TO ALL CONSERVATIVES: IF YOU WANT TO REGAIN POWER, BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY, AND REACH ALL AMERICANS, NOT JUST RIGHT WING EXTREMISTS, THEN YOU NEED TO ALLOW SOME HEAT TO THAT FROZEN HEART OF YOURS AND LET THE THAWING BEGIN.

Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it didn't kill me. What it did was place my opinion of black conservatives much lower on the political ladder.

AfterThoughts Signing Off..