Some Progress, But We Still Got Some Work To Do.....

Click here for the Jeffrey update - Jeff is my super-sized nephew born on Monday!

Let's rewind to last week because I wanted to talk about race relations.  There were 3 events last week that indicated how far we, as a nation, have come and unfortunately, how far we need to go.

First let's talk about the positive - Jackie Robinson.  Mr. Robinson ha been credited with breaking the color barrier in baseball by being the first African-American player in the game.  Mr. and Mrs. Robinson endured lots of hateful remarks and threats for breaking barriers, but remained classy and dignified throughout all of the hate.  People today can learn a lot from them.

Unfortunately Mr. Robinson died from diabetes complications in 1972 at the age of 53.  His widow, Rachel, has continued his legacy by establishing the Jackie Robinson Foundation which helps minorities attend 4-year universities.   Now when you look at the baseball diamond, you see people of all different races and nationalities which is no small part to Mr. Robinson's influence.

Unfortunately we had a couple of events over the past week, which also indicated how far the U.S. needs to go in racial relations.  The whole "Imus in the Morning" thing was absurd on so many levels.  I don't know why Mr. Imus felt a need to denigrate the women on the Rutgers basketball team in what was supposed to be a time of celebration for them.  I hope Mr. Imus doesn't have daughters of his own because I wonder how he would feel if someone disrespected one of their achievements on national radio.

So Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton (who both incidentally never apologized for all of the hurt associated with the Tawana Brawley hoax) called for Mr. Imus to be fired.  The networks obliged after also listening to their employees' feelings on the matter.

Now move over to the Duke lacrosse case, where we had a prosecutor who played on racial tensions in an election year.  Mike Nifong, the prosecutor, made infammatory statements that riled up national support because of allegations that 3 Caucasian college students had raped an African-American woman.  Reverends Sharpton and Jackson were on the case calling for justice for the woman and inciting protests, etc.  I, along with most of the country, believed that these students committed rape based on the D.A.'s statements.  My bad, for sure.

And guess what - after over a year, a new prosecutor who took over from Mr. Nifong basically states that a "rogue prosecutor" wrongly withheld key evidence that would have exonerated the subjects almost a year earlier.  One of the former suspects talked about how fortunate he was that he could afford representation that could expose the D.A. (Nifong) for what he was -  an "overreaching prosecutor".... makes you wonder about people who can't afford comptent legal representation.

But while the Reverends called for action on networks for Mr. Imus and got it, they never apologized to the lacrosse players who were wrongly accused - just like in 1987 with the cops in New York whose lives were ruined by the false allegations in the Brawley hoax.  In my mind, people like the Reverends do not help move forward racial harmony but only continue to incite hate.  Racism goes both ways and there needs to be some acknowledgment of that.