What's Behind The Mask

I was just talking about this same thing with Andrew Clarksenior this weekend, with the subject of racism in Memphis being the primary topic. I said what I think is one of the main reasons this community sore won't heal.Unfortunately we have blacks that openly reveal their one sided mentality, but their are whites who quietly feel the same way regarding their race. Some of them are subtle, but you can see it if you watch them closely. Don't forget those whites who are condescending and self righteous. They feel justified in their way of thinking.Then we have those blacks and whites who act like it's no big deal. The thing is they all have some points.

Ben Ferguson is one of those whites who is subtle with his politics. I don't blame him for looking out for those who look like him, that's only natural. He is accommodating of the opposing view until it makes him look like he doesn't know what he's talking about. I must admit that isn't very often. He'll either get you off the line, or he won't let you on the air. You can bet 99.9% of the time he's going to side with whites.

Later on comes Mike Flemming stoking the city's racial fires. He doesn't give blacks the benefit of the doubt. He's condescending and always thinks he's right. I was just looking back at his archives and these two shows jumped off the page at me. One day he had Pastor Kenneth Whalum Jr. in the studio. They were talking about how the black ministers treated Steve Cohen, when he tried to explain his position on the "hate crimes bill." At that time he was in full support of Congressman Cohen, and he thought the black ministers were overreacting. He didn't see the problem with the crime bill. One week later his guest was attorney Nate Kellum, and he reneged on everything he said. The difference was Kellum is white. His opinion had nothing to do with whether it was right or wrong. He just wasn't going to side with a group of black ministers against Steve Cohen who is white.

After a whole week of hearing these two give their spins, on the weekend we have Andrew Clarksenior. He means well but that's not always enough. He holds the unenviable position of trying to please everyone. When he expounds on his Conservative views he's considered a sell-out by other blacks. When he speaks up for blacks, he's considered an arrogant negro. The thing is you have to take a side. If you don't, you just feed the others. To have someone tell you it's your imagination when you know it's not. Sometimes brothers like Andrew take it a little far, trying to be the Mahatma Gandhi of race relations. Whether they believe it or not, it's not totally up to them. You can go the extra mile, but at some point they have to be willing to join you.

These are the many faces of race in Memphis. Not including those on the other side altogether. This is just those who call themselves conservative. That's why I don't think we'll see a change anytime soon. None of these people think they are the problem. Are you behind any of these masks?