Leonard Pitts Jr.: Some blacks forgot the sting of discrimination

[DrPresident]

By LEONARD PITTS JR.
[e-mail]
Sometimes, progress carries an asterisk.

That's as good a summary as any of a sad irony from last week's historic election. You will recall one of the major storylines of that day was the fact that, in helping make Barack Obama the nation's first black president, African Americans struck a blow against a history that has taught us all too well how it feels to be demeaned and denied. Unfortunately, while they were striking that blow, some black folks chose to demean and deny someone else.

Last week, you see, California voters passed an initiative denying recognition to same-sex marriages. This overturned an earlier ruling from the state Supreme Court legalizing those unions. The vote was hardly a surprise; surely there is nothing in politics easier than to rouse a majority of voters against the ''threat'' of gay people being treated like people.

But African Americans were crucial to the passage of the bill, supporting it by a margin of better than two to one. To anyone familiar with the deep strain of social conservatism that runs through the black electorate, this is not surprising either. It is, however, starkly disappointing. Moreover, it leaves me wondering for the umpteenth time how people who have known so much of oppression can turn around and oppress.

Yes, I know. I can hear some black folk yelling at me from here, wanting me to know it's not the same, what gays have gone through and what black people did, wanting me to know they acted from sound principles and strong values. It is justification and rationalization, and I've heard it all before. I wish they would explain to me how they can, with a straight face, use arguments against gay people that were first tested and perfected against us.

http://www.miamiherald.com/living/columnists/leonard-pitts/story/767511.html

[murielm99]

1. There is a good reason why

Leonard Pitts is my favorite columnist. Every word is polished and perfectly chosen. Every idea is explained with clarity.

Thank you for posting this.

[Berry Cool]

2. There's only one point he doesn't hit on, which is a shame

because I think it's one that might really change some minds, both in the black community and beyond it.

The last-resort excuse for why gay bigotry is OK and racism/ethnic discrimination is not is: "But you don't CHOOSE to be (black, Italian, Irish, etc.)."

As long as many African Americans, and people in general, continue to believe that sexual orientation is a choice, rather than something one is born with, they will continue to justify having a different stance toward LGBT when it comes to civil rights.

Someone needs to ask them: Did you "choose" to be straight? Did you wake up one morning and say "Well, the time has come for me to decide, and while other options are tempting, I've decided I'm going to be attracted to the opposite sex"? No? Well, if not, what the hell makes you think that one day gay people woke up and "chose" to be gay, or bisexuals "chose" to be bisexual, or transgendered people "chose" to be transgendered?

If any people being asked this question did realize they had natural inclinations toward the same sex, but never acted on them, what makes them feel they did the right thing? Why should they feel forced to live a lie, and tell others to do the same?

Yeah, like anyone's going to deliberately "choose" something that's going to make them feel ostracized and shamed by lots of other people for the rest of their lives.

There seems to be some assumption that somehow these people are "choosing" it because, I don't know, it offers more pleasure than the alternative? Well, if that's the assumption, it says a lot more about the supposedly "straight" person than it does anyone else...Or are they "choosing" it because the "correct" thing to do if you find yourself with those feelings is to turn your back on them and deny and ignore them? Oh really? Wouldn't that be like Barack Obama trying to "pass" for 100% white?

Until all straight people understand that sexual orientation is not a choice for anyone (even if acting on it is), they will continue to justify their bigotry with lame excuses like "But they can control themselves. They don't have to be what they are. They can change."

[noiretextatique]

3. while i disgree with his assertion

that african american voters were "crucial" to the passing of prop h8, i agree with much of what he says.
the african american community has failed to educate our young people about our struggles in this country, so some of them lack a connection to that struggle and others' struggles. that lack of connection is big part of the problem...that and what the author calls social conservatism. this failure is in part due to success, and the hope that things are actually different. as i struggled with various racial bs during college, grad school, and in the workforce, no one was more disappointed by my struggles than my father.

when i was young, my parents made sure i had at least a basic understanding of what was happening (civil rights, black power) and why. of course i grew up during those movements, but they also told us about colored water fountains, bodies hanging in trees and being forced to buy food from back doors.

that education shaped my worldview, and while my parents would probably not have been ardent supporters of gay rights until i came out, i think they always believed in basic fairness, in part because they grew up in such an unfair system. one difference between my parents and many of the other black parents of their generation: they weren't particularly religious.

[FreeState]

4. I would not blame on group over the other... however

Exit polls this year showed black voters made up 10% of the electorate in CA (http://www.freep.com/article/20081107/NEWS15/81107126/?imw=Y).

So it won by 4% - all you needed to do was shift 2.1% of the voters and it would have failed. If black voters had voted by the same margin of white voters, by my math, it would have failed.

I should be very clear here though that I do not place blame on one group over the other - this same math could be applied to every group of voters - especially when the margin was so close. The only people to blame for its passage are those that voted yes - not groups of people.

In reality if we place this back on the ballot in 2010 there is a good chance of repealing it - the reason being even if you change no ones mind between now and then, at least 250,000 older voters will die before then and there will be at least than many new younger voters who support marriage equality by wide margins.

[noiretextatique]

5. that doesn't matter to me...and here's why

you can use that same argument for any racial/ethnic group. such a simple concept, but too many are having difficulties grasping it. i have been saying this for two solid weeks and yet black voters who voted yes on h8 are still being held to a different standard than latino, asian, and white voters who voted yes on h8. i don't undertstand why asian, latino, and white voters are not getting the same type of criticism.

the simple truth is this: if ANY racial/ethnic group had more people who voted no on H8, it would not have passed. as i see it, that's the only FAIR way to look at it.

[FreeState]

6. I agree there... thats why I bolded that in my post n/t