Carl Jeffers at the Huffington Post had this to say about the "racial divide" brought up at the Jackson Memorial:
"The line spoken by Al Sharpton actually went so far beyond the audience assembled at the service and touched a cord I have been stressing for some time -- that America still has not had the conversation on "Race" that it needs, and that statement is true today regardless of who is in the White House. Sharpton said directly to Jackson's children that "Your Daddy wasn't strange -- what was strange was what he had to deal with around him." And that statement brought the house down and the people up almost as a defiant gesture of angry response to all the Michael critics I named above and to members of the general mainstream society that many African-Americans felt just don't understand.
And later that day, CNN's contributor Jeffrey Toobin replied to Sharpton's statement by saying, "Give me a break." And it struck me that the Sharpton statement with the audience response (the most boisterous and prolonged of any response at the service), juxtaposed with the Toobin response serving almost as a "reach out" to mainstream White America to let them know that someone was prepared to go after this saintly image of Michael Jackson being constructed, clearly demonstrated the racial divide that still exists in this country and that President Obama had better find some time to try to address while he still has such high personal approval ratings and political capital in the bank, or we are all in for some big political and social shocks next time around. "
When you read the whole thing note how he first talks about Michael being morned by all the world, which is true, but then he misses the point of that by falling back into the old line racial politics.
Whole thing at:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carl-jeffers/michael-jackson-a-final-r_b_227886.html
I disagree with Mr. Jeffers.
Obama should stay the hell away from the "Race" conversation for the simple reason there isn't one and can't be one. It is not a conversation because those that feel the "NEED" for it don't actually want to converse, they just want their position loudly proclaimed then shoved down the others throat.
Brother Al for an example is a man for whom it is always about himself, kinda like Sarah Palin.
His tirade at the Jackson memorial was a case in point. The audience was not just reacting for "RACE" reason, but for all the injustices that they perceived Jackson endured. Race, that was Al's gig.
Sharpton is a man who seeks any storm for a port. He don't need no conversation. He's already got the truth. Kinda like his friend Sean Hannity and others.
America can't talk its way to a solution about race. It can only grow its way to one. And folks it is well on its way, but the trip is long and Mr.Jeffers, and Brother Al, and I , and most probably you won't see the day when "race" means nothing and carries no weight in any manner.
Michael Jackson did more to erase and blur racial distinctions than any man that's lived in this time. No joke intended there folks, look at Paris Jackson and behold the future. It is shameful for any color race baiters to use him in this way.
Conversation, hell no, that was for the 60's and 70's. Now is the time to just live it.
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