Black columnist: "Dean handled race issue better than I did"

[Padraig18]

When confronted with the question of race, Dean came out a bit better off
By Sylvester Brown Jr.
11/09/2003

Crane Durham set me up.

I should have known better. After all, it was my second time as a guest on his conservative radio show on KTRS. I knew that many of Durham's listeners consider me a bleeding-heart, social-spending liberal.

<snip>

I didn't think there was anything wrong with the comment. Perhaps he could have found a more eloquent way to make his point, but the intent was clear: If Democrats are going to beat George W. Bush, they'll need to convince some white Southern voters to jump political ship. If people have racial alliances with the party, then it's probably wise for Dean to start slicing through those alliances.

Like me, Dean was obviously shaken by the verbal assaults his comment drew. But he handled it much better. Standing by his statement, he initially refused to apologize. In doing so, he may have even wound up appealing to more voters.

<snip>

I'll remember Dean the next time I'm blindsided on a talk show. "Race" is an uncomfortable issue - I may stumble, callers may scream. Dean survived, probably earned a few extra votes and didn't let us back away from the conversation.


Entire column: http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/columnists.nsf/Sylvester+Brown+Jr./6A16E16CE6AEA27E86256DD8003D105B?OpenDocument&Headline=When+confronted+with+the+question+of+race,+Dean+came+out+a+bit+better+off

[Larkspur]

1. Could this be why Dean's poll numbers rose in the South

Dean was obviously shaken by the verbal assaults his comment drew. But he handled it much better. Standing by his statement, he initially refused to apologize. In doing so, he may have even wound up appealing to more voters.

[Cha]

2. Grreat! For every chicken who clucks

about Dean there are more who understand what really went down! Heartening, heartening, heartening!

"At a televised debate a few days later, Dean's Democratic rivals pounced on the comment. They accused him of being racially insensitive and politically divisive. Two candidates, Al Sharpton of New York and Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, demanded Dean's public apology."

"I asked a few people at the meeting if Dean's Confederate flag comment soured them against the candidate.

A St. Louis police officer, 32, told me he was attracted to Dean because he takes on unpopular issues.

"Poor Southern whites have been sold a bill of goods by the Republicans for years. We need to confront that with facts," he said.

A college English teacher in the crowd admires Dean for not backing off the statement.

"We have to confront racism, and it's not going to be nice all the time."

A black 43-year-old physician said Dean's comment actually impressed him.

"That's why I like him. He's not a real politician. A real politician wouldn't have said that."

[MrSoundAndVision]

3. I wish you

Dean supporters here would stop trying to find one black person to represent black support of Dean as the best candidate. It's pretty demeaning. He could have said, "I'm sorry, that's not what I meant." But see, this would be against Dean's character: He never believes he's 'wrong'.

[Padraig18]

4. I wish...

... that non-Dean supporters would quit 'spinning' the comment, and projecting their own biases into the entire pseudo-issue.

I didn't 'search' for this commentary; it is in the opinion section of my Sunday paper. I went online to be able to post it here.

edit: spelling

[dd123]

5. What do you mean he never admits he's wrong.

Where have you been?

[Cha]

6. "Dean Supporters" are pointing out what many People

think of Dean's Courage...White and Black! Together! Wow! What a concept! WhoooHooo!

So Sorry you would rather wallow in negativity! See ya.

[Rose Siding]

7. We haven't had have to try hard

You don't begrudge the fact that an African American chose to write about this or make these points, do you?

[ant]

8. maybe because he doesn't believe he WAS wrong

Why apologize for something you still stand behind?

I'm not a Dean supporter - I'm still torn between three different candidates whose names I won't mention here (though one of them IS Dean) - but his comments scored points with me. Perhaps he could've phrased things better, though personally I thought the phrasing was pretty good, but the point here is substance, isn't it?

The way some of the other candidates jumped on his choice of words rather than addressing that substance was very annoying to me. Politics as usual, as far as I'm concerned, and not the sort of politics that wins elections. It made me think of the way people were jumping on his comments about raising the retirement age. No one even bothered to discuss the policy itself, whether or not (or why not) it would be a bad idea. The idea that you do NOT raise the retirement age was just treated as gospel. No one questioned it. Pretty sad, I think.

Instead of all this criticism, I'd like to hear what the other candidates plant to do to address the way the GOP uses race to divide and conquer the poor and working class. Anyone?

[Padraig18]

9. Excellent post!

I am also tired of the knee-jerk, 'we can't talk about *that*' reaction from within our party on certain subjects. The Repukes have shown no hesitancy whatsoever in talking about many 'thats' (sic), and it doesn't seem to have hurt them.

We, as a party, need open, honest dialogues on a host of issues that have been heretofore 'taboo'. :hi:

[Cha]

10. It is a good post!

Thanks!

[Scott Lee]

11. Pull your head out of the sand

Dean, more than any other Dem candidate at present, possesses the spine to admit when he erred. He has done so just recently. Do you ever watch the news or stay up on these things, or do you prefer to cling to a set of preconceptions and beliefs as if they are fact (very republican of you)?

[sandnsea]

13. He finally did say he was wrong

I first saw him make his regret to have offended anybody speech, then saw him in an interview saying he was wrong. Excusing his behavior by saying when he gets confronted he usually digs in his feet and reflects on it later. I don't know if he really thinks he was wrong or not, I do know this is just one more example of a kind of immaturity that is not appropriate for a President.

[Cha]

14. Dean has the "maturity" to admit if

he offended anyone. I'm fine with Dean's maturity!

[NewYorkerfromMass]

16. Look! A black guy backs up Dean!

racist? yes. :puke:

[Padraig18]

12. Kick

[diamondsoul]

15. I'm glad to see that not everyone is offended-

and I'm going to repost my thoughts from a previous thread because I think I managed to express my thoughts without attacking Dr. Dean. I'd like to know if any Dean supporters think I made sense, too. The other thread was so long I think my post was probably buried.


"I wasn't all that upset about the confederate flag hubbub, really, until I saw how clearly upset John Edwards was. The plain truth is neither myself nor Dean are southerners. We can't understand a lot of issues that people in the South deal with because we've never dealt with them ourselves. That just really made me think about how a Southerner might feel. For my part, I don't think it was a "racist" comment, but I do think it injected an element of race where it didn't belong.

Look the simple fact is it was stereotyping. I don't take kindly to being stereotyped, and I can't imagine most people do. There's a valid point that Dean was not discussing race in the interview which raised all the stir, and unfortunately he made an unthinking remark which put race into people's minds. He ought to apologize for stereotyping and refusing to see legitimate offense from two decent men, and one young voter, as deserving of some humility on his part.

To the person who said Sharpton was trying to "exclude certain segments" that's honestly true in an abstract way. Tell me, would anyone here invite people bearing Swastikas on their vehicles to a peace talk with Jewish folks? I sure wouldn't.

I think what Dr. Dean has really missed is that the implication works both ways. In his mind he was inviting poor white people in the South to vote for what is best for them. Unfortunately he misses that he was also suggesting that black voters should vote with the very people who would see them oppressed even now.

I can't defend the statement or why he categiorized it the way he did, I can only say after thinking about it and watching his own behavior I'm convinced it shouldn't be dismissed as trivial. To do so would be to disregard every person in this country who has ever suffered the indignity and the horror of racism."