black city activist as his civic-engagement
coordinator to give out hip-hop cards to promote Patrick that resembled the ones someone might use to promote a brand or deejay,
for example.
RACE: AN AMERICAN CONCERN
Younger generations are socialized in an
atmosphere where diversity and valuation of
differences is the norm, which is fueling a cultural shift toward increasing acceptance
among the American electorate as a whole.
Increasingly, an atmosphere of hate is not
being tolerated in this country.
Let’s not forget former Virginia Sen. George
Allen, whose use of a racial slur against Asian
Indians became fatal to his political career
when it was immortalized on YouTube.
“These issues aren’t going to go
away, nor should they. We need to
have an honest conversation about
the issues that affect us all in this
country, and rather than pointing
fingers and laying blame, we need
to bring the country together.”
Ron Christie, Vice President, Navigators
And let’s not forget former radio talk-show
host Don Imus, whose racist and sexist slur
aimed at the Rutgers’ women’s basketball team
resulted in his nearly 30-year-old show “Imus in
the Morning” getting kicked off the air, thanks
to cross-cultural demand for him to be fired and,
ultimately, pressure from advertisers.
It’s no coincidence that the 2008 U.S. presidential candidates who also insulate themselves
with few or no people of color on their campaign staffs came to Imus’ defense. Giuliani and
McCain defended Imus; Romney said the “next
time” he appeared on Imus’ show, he’d be sure to
let Imus know he had crossed a line. For Obama
and Clinton, who spoke at Rutgers after the
incident, there wasn’t going to be a “next time.”
“These issues aren’t going away, nor should
they. We need to have an honest conversation
about the issues that affect us all in this country,
and rather than pointing fingers and laying
blame, we need to bring the country together,”
says Christie, citing the racially polarizing images
perpetuated by the media in the aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina.
“The preponderance of the people there
were minorities; it was on television every day
for several days,” says Latham. “Who did
[Bush] surround himself with? A whole bunch
of people who did not think it was important
to take care of those people and didn’t realize
the importance of the image of
America across the world.
“Many younger people couldn’t
believe when they watched their televisions and saw an inept administration allow Americans to look like
we were in a third-world nation,
starving to death, when we had all
the resources in the world to get it
fixed,” adds Latham.
Looking to the 2008 U.S. presi-
dential election, candidates such as
Clinton, Obama and Richardson
already have a strategic advantage in
the diversity of their campaign staffs that can
be further leveraged by creating a platform for
discussing these and other issues of concern to
the electorate.
“What will those candidates do to make
policies or decisions that impact the lives of
everyday Americans?” asks Christie. “Who
will provide healthcare and education for
their children?”
Yoji Cole, Aysha Hussain, Mark Lowery and
Freymilin Pichardo contributed to this article. DI
