Race Card Played Out (Carson, Sessions, and Obama)

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Despite the full account of his remarks, and the groundswell of grassroots support for the Nevada rancher who took on the federal government and won, The New York Times just could not resist repackaging Clive Bundy as a heinous racist.

The incomprehensible distortions of his comments on race, welfare, and the United States government as they appeared in the liberal shill, compared to the full context of his remarks recorded on You Tube, confirm that if there is any racism going on now, one will find it with the New York Times. The failing periodical insists on maligning conservatives, limited government advocates, and anyone who recognizes the danger of aggressive, metastasizing federal power.

Liberals (and their media acolytes) will never cease contending that the United States is a racist, homophobic country, looking for every faulty or disrespectful comment from isolated individuals  to indict latent strains of bigotry among all white people, rich people, or any other targeted class.

 Now, the latest controversy surrounding the LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling's off-hand remarks to his girlfriend prove that the media is more interested in trashing people for their comments and playing up the conflict.

Instead of discouragement at the declining morale (and impact) of the national press, I consider how far this country has come on the issue of race. From the legislators in our statehouse and the federal government, to the candidates running for local office, to the opportunities of minorities born here or immigrating (legally, and even those brought here against their will illegally) to thrive.

If there is one event which exemplifies how far this country has come on race, consider the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast.

The Keynote Speaker was Dr. Benjamin Carson, the world-renowned African-American neurosurgeon. Born into poverty in Maryland, raised in a single-parent home, he overcame many setbacks because of a strong upbringing from his mother. She made him read, even though she could not.

Despite the prejudices of his time, as well as the poverty he struggled through, Carson rose to great prominence, becoming a world-class medical professional.

At the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast, Carson was introduced to the leading political lights by Alabama's Junior US Senator Jeff Sessions. Can anyone fathom how great a turn-around such an introduction was? Fifty, sixty years ago, Southern US Senators were filibustering the Civil Rights Act. Segregation was the norm not just in the South, but throughout the country, although on a more subtle level. Yet last year, a white elder statesman from Gulf State, Deep South Alabama introduced an African-American neurosurgeon to deliver the Keynote Address for the National Prayer Breakfast.

Not only that, but the President, Barack Obama, of mixed African and American heritage, listened to another African-American in a national forum, who criticized the President's own policies with humor and insight, as opposed to insults and invective. Carson's speech exemplified not just the importance of honoring the opinions of professionals instead of politicians, but the legacy of civil rights in this country, which put aside barriers to African-Americans seeking higher callings such as medicine, or getting elected to federal office. How about becoming President of the United States?

And a white Southern US Senator introduced one of them and honored his presence by sitting down and listening to him. I cannot understand why the media, why politicians, why community activists, if they are well-intentioned, insist on harping about racism as if this dark vein of intolerance still infects our society and inflicts against our capacity to listen to one another and learn.

Beyond the legacies of wealth, academics, and political affiliations evident in that Prayer Breakfast, Dr. Carson had the courage to indict the culture of political correctness which inhibits people from talking to each other. This man, an African-American neurosurgeon from Johns Hopkins, and a conservative, carried the courage and convictions to call out the failed policies of the President, who was seated on the same dais.

The race card is all played out in this country. We have come a long way, indeed, America! Another black may be running for President in 2016, which is another blow to the marginalized Mainstream Media screed which seeks to weed out racism behind every thought and deed.

The United States of America has come a long way on race, and the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast symbolized this blessed transformation gracefully.