Tuesday, December 19, 2006

"Bridging the Racial Divide"

Last night our local PBS station broadcast a locally produced, hour-long show entitled "Bridging the Racial Divide." The show featured local journalists, businessmen, activists, and at least one graduate student. The premise was to discuss issues of race, under the paradigm that Detroit is one of the most racially divided cities in the country. First, the group was divided racially, to have segregated "honest", blunt, discussions of race. Afterward, they analyzed the differences between the two conversations to, I guess, further the discussion.

Let me sum up for you how it mostly went. The topics were, "white privilege", Black rage, family values, and black political power in Detroit.

White group: We're white suburbanites who really have no clue, so we're gonna try not to say anything offensive.

Black group The white devils are to blame for everything, and EVERYTHING, absolutely EVERYTHING is about race

Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit.

But, the best moment, was when a guy (from the NAACP) said that the reason why some young black men don't show proper responsibility toward their children was because they couldn't find proper transportation to and from work. If you can figure out how this figures into marrying the mother of your child, let me know.