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POINT Double Standards By AMY HIGGINS 11.30.03 10:56PM CST Howard Dean recently advocated a new strategy for the Democratic Party: court the Southern white voters who display confederate flags on their pickup trucks. Almost a year ago, Trent Lott was pressured into resigning as Senate Majority Leader for comments far less inflammatory than this statement regarding the confederate flag. Where are the angry demands for Dean to withdraw his name from the list of Presidential hopefuls? The silence is deafening. This incident provides further evidence that it is not the content of an offensive remark that makes it racist, but whether an (R) or (D) follows the speaker's name. For all of my liberal friends, I need to ask you to be intellectually honest and answer an important question. Did Howard Dean receive the same treatment a Republican would have for the exact same comments? The attention that this remark received in the media was far from commensurate with the seriousness of its implications and most Americans have already forgotten the incident. Trent Lott made multiple apologies for thoughtless flattering remarks made at a dying man's birthday party, but the outcries for his resignation went on for weeks with increasing intensity. When race is involved, the media has a double standard in its treatment of Republicans and Democrats. In October, three of the Democratic presidential candidates (including Dean) believed that football commentary was so critical that they called on ESPN to immediately fire Rush Limbaugh for offensive remarks. But for a fellow Democrat aspiring to the White House, Dean's peers demanded only an apology. Initially, Dean refused to apologize and defended his inexcusable remark with one even worse by saying, "It's a racist symbol, but I also think the Democratic Party has to be a big tent. Poor white people need to vote their economic interest." With this comment, Dean further characterized low-income, white Southerners as racist, confederate-flag-waving hillbillies. Strike two. After all, Dean is only taking the next logical step in the "It's the Economy Stupid" strategy set in place by the party's greatest recent hero William Jefferson Clinton. Under Clinton, Americans learned that character doesn't matter as long as you do your job well. Perhaps if Dean becomes president, we will learn that values - even values involving the elimination of racism - are also secondary to the economy. The media's differential treatment of successful minorities is also striking. In 2002, Halle Barry and Denzel Washington won academy awards for their performances in Hollywood movies. The media exploded in celebration of how doors of progress were suddenly open for future generations of black Americans. During the same year, Condoleeza Rice and Colin Powell made countless decisions affecting our national security and reached positions of power with international significance, yet little has been said of the quality role models they are for young children. Which pair of individuals is truly paving the way for future generations? No one really wants to talk about a very important fact in our society. The African Americans who have reached the highest positions in the United States government have been Republicans: Colin Powell, Condoleeza Rice, JC Watts, and dare I even say it - Clarence Thomas. Accomplishments of black conservatives are ignored at best, villainized at worst. People of color who dare to express ideological diversity should no longer be ostracized. The media should recognize the tremendous accomplishments of all minorities, regardless of political affiliation. The double standard on racial issues has gone on far too long. For the liberals who are intellectually honest and also enraged by Dean's comments - loudly demand the immediate withdrawal of Howard Dean from the Presidential race - after all, an apology was insufficient to allow Trent Lott to keep his position. Amy Higgins is a second year M.P.Aff candidate at the LBJ School of Public Affairs. She holds a Masters Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from Abilene Christian University and a Bachelors Degree in Biology from Oklahoma Christian University. |
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