You just don’t get it, is that it?

Is it something inherently wrong about people in the public spotlight that they just don’t get how real people live? Do they not see how something can be offensive?

A week or two ago the new Attorney General, a black man, talked about how Americans have been cowards about race in this country, because we talk around the edges but not upfront with is. Unlike the race speech Obama gave, because this wasn’t a ‘let’s all love each other’ type of speech many people thought he was being hostile and was showing the old side of racial politics. It’s was humorous watching a broadcast where Michael Eric Dyson and Pat Buchanan were discussing the issue from different points of view. Everything started out civil and on the high ground and by the end of the interview it was like watching a talk show about race during the Reagan Administration. Everyone brought their racial view into the picture and was eager to play gotcha with racial politics.

This debate occurred days before the infamous chimpanzee/stimulus cartoon put out by the New York Post. I wrote about it a few days ago but this recent incident . . . like my mother says I’m so mad I could spit fire.

Just like most stories like this, it started with some off hand comment made on the news. I checked it out and found more information which made the story worse. Finally, reading comments made by people about the article threw me into orbit.

OK, so in a nutshell, the mayor of Los Alamitos, apparently someone who doesn’t want to be mayor anymore, send out an email showing the front lawn of the White House. The front lawn of the White House is filled with watermelons. The caption sent with the email said, “No Easter Egg hunt this year.”

Keyanus Price, a black woman who worked with the mayor, got the email. She was, to put it mildly, concerned about the email and contacted the mayor about it. She responded with a rather polite comment saying words to the effect that not all black people like watermelon. The mayor, still not grasping the implication of what he said, responded back with words essentially saying you have to laugh now and then.

Well, that’s when Price when to the Orange County Register and when the crap hit the fan. The mayor made a more reasoned apology, but the damage had been done.

Now, the initial information I got didn’t mention the middle part about how Price contacted the mayor personally before going public. That information was in the Register. That’s what I mean about getting deeper into the mess and seeing how out of touch things are with some people. The mayor sends out something stupid and a black woman sends him an email asking for a bit of acknowledgement about the image being offensive. He doesn’t see it. Even more disturbing is the mayor acknowledged sending the email out to numerous people but it was only the black woman who complained to him. She was the only one to contact the paper and the paper couldn’t find anyone else who got the email who was offended by it. While not explicitly stated, it seems Price was the only black person to get the email and the only one to complain.

This was a criticism others made about the Post cartoon. If there had been a black person who saw the cartoon or someone who lives or works around black people, seeing an image of a chimpanzee being shot by police, talking about the stimulus package, the obvious racist tone of the cartoon would have glared in their face. Someone would have warned the editor it would be a BAD mistake to print the cartoon. The mayor sent out the email and amazingly, only the black woman could see the racist nature of the picture?

The anger I have continues to the comments people left on the website for the Register. OK, I understand it is in Orange County California, not really a racial melting pot, but a good number of the postings agree with the message of the email. I mean, some people are really out there talking about how the watermelon could save the working poor to others (those of the Left Behind reading group) who refer to Obama as the anti-Christ character in the book. Those folks, thankfully, are talked down quick but soon someone pops up to defend them.

Wow, we do have a long way to go with race relations in this country.