So unless you specifically try not to know about what happens in the world and the only people you speak with are fratboys and gerbils I'd have to assume that you've heard of the bollocks going on with Harry Reid. He said that obama stood a chance in the election because he was "light skinned" and had no "negro dialect". And people are acting like he just ran down a main thoroughfare in Harlem screaming "I HATE BLACK PEOPLE AND EAT ABORTED FETUSES FOR DINNER!". Yes what he said was a little racially offensive and lacking in tact but it was true. The truth hurts ya know but that doesn't make it less relevant. Americans are still quite racist, the racism isn't as blatant as it once was but it's still there behind closed doors and in circles of all white friends. I'm confronted with the sickening reality whenever I decide to go out and do something her in podunkville. I'll hear, see, and often be spoken on the topic of someone's hatred for some random minority. Despite my greatest efforts to get the people to change their opinions they usually just write me off as some kinda weirdo that doesn't hate people that look like he does and then shun me. The way I look at it at least they won't talk to me then.
Ranting aside let me get back to the topic at hand. What Reid said was true. Had Obama's skin been darker or if his voice sounded more "black" (more bassy, used colloquialisms, or didn't fully pronounce each word carefully) he wouldn't have been elected(the irony of this being that G Dubbs could butcher the english language on a regular basis an no one seemed to give a damn becuase he was White and some people thought that being an idiot was "part of his charm"... *facepalm*). Even other African Americans seem to prefer light skinned blacks it's just how it works, it could be a carryover from the slave culture in which some multi-racial children were "passable" as tanned whites because they were light enough, it may just be a response to living in a system where your black skin makes you face hatred and disgust. As for whites it's a simple matter of "OMFG you don't look like I do!!!!" which is equally disturbing. The fact of the matter here is that despite the language he used Reid was correct. He said it at all only because it was a private conversation and it doesn't make him a racist, just a realist. Maybe someday that won't be an issue now but it's fairly certain that if Obama was "blacker" he wouldn't have been a viable candidate.
Oh, and people trying to make a big deal about Reid using the word "Negro" need to shut up. There is no "good word" to use when making a statement like what Reid said. Saying negro didn't have any covert meaning. It's just another word for black. Hell I have a friend that regularly says "Negro please!"
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