So Did Harry Reid Lie?

So what did Harry Reid say that was wrong? Barack is a light skinned Negro, who "speaks well" in front of white folks and goes black in front of his people. The White folks – particularly liberals- are mad because Reid exposed the unflattering ways in which they discuss blacks among themselves. The Black folks are mad –particularly the "light skinned Negroes" because they offer their skin tone as a means to appease White folks. It is America’s race game that has been played for centuries.

And there is not a black professional in the country who does not understand that speaking the "King James" English in front of White folks is a necessary requirement to get ahead. No White ethnic group in America is forced to abandon the uniqueness of their particular dialect. New Englanders speak their vernacular with pride. White Southerners have become Presidents talking in their regions tongue.

But Black folks hate themselves so much that, even among themselves, they will denigrate a fellow Black for speaking in our ancestral language. Early in my career, I was continually called-out by fellow Blacks because I refused to abandon my thick Black North Louisiana dialect. After a speaking engagement, I was actually told by confused Negro that I had embarrassed him. Never mind that I graduated from Tulane Law School and had been a well-known writer for years.

I knew by the age of five that my light skin and sandy red hair meant that I was going to be treated better than my dark skinned brothers and sisters within my own family. Early in life, every African-American comes to view skin color as either an advantage or a detriment. I am embarrassed that at the birth of my daughter I felt a sense of relief that she too was light skinned because I viewed her light complexion as something that would make her life easier. That is the psychological damage that America has cursed us with.

Light skinned Blacks respond either one of two ways: They become angry and militant i.e. Malcolm X, and Huey Newton. They tend to marry dark skinned spouses, for example, Barack Obama, and they live their lives with a raging anger because their light hue is a constant reminder of the rape of our relatives who came before us.

Other light skinned blacks –the majority – accept the advantage and play to the White majority's security with them, i.e. Tiger Woods. They will even take on the characteristics of their Oppressors and discriminate against their fellow dark skin brothers and sisters – the paper bag test. Never mind that under pressure White America will put all of us down in the galley on the ship of Apartheid. Just ask Tiger.

But the most telling racial comments, if true, came from the first "Black" President Bill Clinton. Clinton supposedly said to Ted Kennedy, "just a few years earlier Barack would be serving us coffee." This last alleged statement, if true, shows Clinton is emerging as a serial racist. But the truth is, Clinton's behavior is typical of White male liberals.

They love to party with us, dance to our music and make love to our women. But when it comes to sharing power, they go Dixie on us.

I remember watching an interview with Carroll O'Connor on Charlie Rose's talk show several years ago. Rose asked him to explain Archie Bunkers' popularity in the black community. O'Connor said blacks often stopped him on the street, hugged and thanked him for telling the truth about how White America spoke about us in their living rooms.

Rose asked O Connor if he thought his character had made a difference in race relations. He said unfortunately he did not. Well, this week Harry Reid and Bill Clinton reminded us that Archie Bunker is still alive. Only he does not live on Houser Street in Queens, NY. He walks the halls of power in Washington.