Posted on 10/23/2005 4:21:44 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
Regular readers of these threads know I have often skewered Fox & Friends Weekend co-host Julian Phillips for his liberalism, inanity and the general sense of unease he projects.
I believe I've even observed that he "doesn't feel comfortable in his own skin."
This morning's show gave evidence that such might be quite literally true.
There was a running joke among the co-hosts this morning, with news reader Alyson Camerota joining in, over the fact that Julian and co-host Adam Housley were wearing identical suits.
At the end of one such light-hearted moment, Julian suddenly exclaimed: "ebony & ivory," referring to the fact that he's black and Housley is white.
I was jarred by the comment. It seemed to come entirely out of left field. No one had mentioned their race and it was entirely extraneous to the matter at hand. The 'same suit' shtick would have been the same if it had pertained to Housley and Mike Jerrick.
So why did Phillips inject race? I think it reflects the fact that it's probably difficult for white Americans to apreciate just how much race 'colors' everything for black Americans, how it lays just beneath the surface in many unexpected and seemingly unrelated ways.
I actually found myself feeling sorry for Phillips.
Your thoughts? Anyone else see the segment and found his comment to be an odd non sequitur?
Ditto.
Don't need the aggravation.
Thankfully, Charles Stanley is on opposite the painful-to-watch F&F Weekend show, and I was listening to a wonderful sermon.
No offense taken, but surely you'd agree that a black GOP is a very unrepresentative sample of blacks! Did you see the latest poll? W gets a positive approval rating from . . . 2% of blacks! I would say that is a yawning divide of Grand Canyonesque proportions!
The only problem I have with Julian is the fact that just recently, after the Yankees were eliminated from the playoffs, he proclaimed that he was a "Yankee fan but it was time for a different team to make it to the playoffs!"
No Yankee fan would say that - he aint no Yankee fan if he wanted to see a different team advance.
I certainly agree with you that blacks see many things from a racial point of view when none was intended, but I think most Americans do notice this. But on the other hand, (without having seen the show) it seems maybe you are giving it more importance than was intended.
Same here. I sometimes think that if I were black, the issues would drive me over the brink or into radicalism at the least. I therefore have that much more respect for blacks who can deal with it all with equanimity.
Do you remember when Kerry first started out his campaign?But he was technically correct.
He refered to his wife Terry, as african-american.
I don't feel sorry for Julian because he is black. I do feel sorry for him that he apparently is so acutely conscious of his race that it affects how he sees everything and apparently makes him uncomfortable.
Total agreement, glgb!
Julian Phillips is only another monument to the quota system of Affirmative Action. F&F is another example of each panel having gender representation, race representation, and intelligence representation!
Perhaps, and as I indicated, it was just a throwaway line on Julian's part. But I do believe it was revealing. For example, would Housley, the white guy in the identical suit, ever have made the same remark in a million years? I don't think so. Yes, he might have avoided it because it could have been interpreted as racially insensitive in some way.
But beyond that, I don't think the notion would have occured to him. Race had nothing to do with the 'suit shtick.' For Julian to have raised it reveals how race is so close to the surface for him at all times.
I've been a big Julian critic, as readers of these threads know. But this incident gave me some insight into him, and makes me more sympathetic. He's not fun to watch, and can be a boob. But the guy is apparently carrying some pretty heavy baggage.
I don't feel sorry for Julian because he is black. I do feel sorry for him that he apparently is so acutely conscious of his race that it affects how he sees everything and apparently makes him uncomfortable.Yes, I recognize that, which is why I provided the disclaimer about taking it out of context. But I was trying to get at the broader discomfort whites feel when dealing at all with racial issues, particularly in acknowledging non-white racial attributes.
Hahahahahaha... Excuse me, but the fact that it is a BLACK Republican meeting has some significance. The very nature of the group is racist. They have that COMMON factor, as their reason to meet.
Why can't they be just another part of the National, State or local Republican party? I suggest it is because they have an agenda which is different from the Party, based on COLOR of skin! Race doesn't need to be "injected", when it is your stated basis for being together.
It may seem like a subtle difference to you, but it is quite apparent to those on the "outside" looking in...
"... I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today..." - Martin Luther King (the only person still having a national holiday named especially for him)
I certainly agree. I think whites have become gun-shy about talking about race because so often things can be misinterpreted and suddenly they're accused of racism. Discussions of race are a total minefield in our society, which again points to the racial divide that exists.
Egg Zackley.....if you're not black you can't be an African-American I guess
Those 'black & white cookies' always cause me to throw-up.
Perhaps the best example of the racial divide in recent history was the differing reaction to the OJ Simpson verdict. Remember the video of black college students cheering and screaming at the acquittal?
I understand. But, you'll need to explain that to the Young Republicans, the College Repubicans, Hispanic Republicans, Republican Women and all the other groups that meet to address issues that are important to them, and the party.
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