Posted on 12/29/2005 6:00:38 AM PST by T-Bird45
While off for the holidays, I took my 90-year-old, former Marine, Republican dad to his inner-city barbershop. Dad goes to the same barbershop that my brothers and I went to when we were growing up. Different people now own the shop, and I hadn't set foot in there in probably 35 years. Is it still, I asked Dad, the same "afro-centric," white-man-done-me-wrong, trash-talking joint? "Yes," sighed my father, who taught my brothers and me to overcome racism through hard work and personal responsibility.
When we get there, it's packed. Two barbers, cutting hair, with about six or seven people waiting. But the walls no longer sport posters of an angry, finger-pointing Malcolm X, or Elijah Muhammad, the founder of the anti-Semitic Nation of Islam, or Marcus Garvey, who urged blacks to leave racist America and return to Africa. I remember them staring down at me as my barber ranted about how "the white man" oppresses us. But on this day, as my dad and I walk in, one of the barbers recognizes me.
Barber: Mr. Larry Elder, how you doin'?
Larry: This is my dad. (My taciturn dad never told him that the notorious Sage from South Central was his son.) How many ahead of him?
Barber: Two.
The barber offered to take my dad right away, cutting in front of others, but dad and I quickly refused. As we waited, one of the barbers and I began talking about what the barber called the "problem of racism." I argued that racism no longer posed a significant obstacle to black progress. What other country could produce a Colin Powell, a Condi Rice, an Oprah Winfrey, a Tiger Woods, a Barack Obama and a Snoop Dogg?
Larry: What about my dad? How did he manage? How do you compare what it's like now to what it was like then? He grew up in the Jim Crow South during the Depression, when black adult unemployment was 50 percent. He dropped out of school at age 13, after his mother threw him out of the house in favor of her then-boyfriend. Hard jobs followed, and he served in World War II. When he came out, he worked two full-time jobs as a janitor, cooked for a family on the weekends and went to night school to get his high school G.E.D. He saved his money and somehow managed to start a restaurant when he was in his 40s, which he ran until he was in his 80s. If racism didn't stop him then, how can racism stop you today? And he votes Republican!
Most of the customers, and the barbers, start laughing. But another customer could take it no longer.
Customer: But you have to admit, Elder, that the playing field is not level. White people have more money and more property than we do.
Larry: (Turning to him.) Let's say I'm white and I got money. (Laughter.) Either I worked for it or my dad worked for it, or my grandfather worked for it and I inherited it. Still, it's my money. And guess what -- I'm not giving it to you! I'm sorry about Rodney King. I'm sorry about Emmett Till. I'm sorry about Rosa Parks. I'm not giving you my money. I'm sorry they turned water hoses and dogs on Martin Luther King. I'm sorry about Rosewood. I'm sorry about the Tuskegee Experiment. I'm not giving you my money. I'm sorry about slavery. I'm sorry about Jim Crow. But I never owned a slave, and I don't use the 'N' word. I am not giving you my money.
The barbers laughed.
Larry: Now, what are you gonna do about it? Take it from me? Hah! I believe in the 2nd Amendment, and I own a gun. (More laughter.) Try and come and get it. (More laughter.) Try and take it from me through politics, and I'm gonna vote Republican to keep my taxes down. (More laughter.) Now I ask you again, what do you intend to do about it? Let me offer a suggestion -- invest in yourself. Get an education, learn a trade or a skill, get a job, and get your own stuff. So you can BMW -- bitch, moan and whine -- all you want. But I am not giving you my money.
By now, most of the men in the barbershop, including the barbers, laughed.
Barber: The man makes sense.
Larry: When can we blacks get to the point where you and I can have a disagreement -- about racism, affirmative action, the War in Iraq, whatever -- without someone who thinks like me being a sell-out or an Uncle Tom? Is that at all possible? Am I asking too much?
Barber: (Smiling.) No, man, that's not asking too much.
While driving home, my dad said, "That was something, Larry."
"No, Dad," I said, "you are something. Besides, I said nothing you hadn't heard before -- or said."
Larry Elder is a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist and publishes a monthly newsletter entitled "The Elder Statement."
Bump
ping
Great column!
darn good post!!!
Thanks! Great article!
Fantastic column. I'm surprised Larry and his dad didn't get run out of the place and harassed for their views.
As a white man, I get the feeling that blacks still cling to the idea that white's are still trying to "keep the black man down".
Few things would make me happier than seeing this country filled with wealthy, successful, achieving blacks.
However, after years of paying significant portions of my salary via taxes which are redirected to numerous aid and welfare programs, primarily designed to help minorities, and yet still seeing the "black community" glorify gang behavior, escew personal responsibility, and continue to vote for pandering politicians, I'm more than a little exasperated.
What more is a white brother to do?
Obviously, I'm generalizing, but how much longer is the white guilt trip and victim mentality going to be milked before we start seeing some real progress? The slaveholders died generations ago. Jim Crow ended before I was born. I don't believe that blacks are any less competent or less able to achieve than whites (or asians, ro anyone else). So, what's it going to take?
The scene in the barbershop sounds too good to be true, even if he does make a good point.
In fact, especially if he does make a good point.
Wouldn't you have loved to be a fly on the wall for the scene described in the article?
Better yet, Larry needs to take his show on the road and do a live remote from the barbershop.
Good story - reminds of the movie 'Barbershop,' which was hilarious.
God bless Larry Elder and if you want a reeeel treat; check out his radio show!!!
I only wish he would run for mayor of Los Angeles!
Semper Fi,
Kelly
I'm a big Larry fan as well....I can't wait for the Sage to get back from vacation...that jerkoff subbing for him this week is driving me nuts!
The Barber shop I attend, I mean go to, has the walls filled with US military posters and art. It is also full of law enforcement memorabilia.
I liked what you said. Shortened it to fit my tagline. Is it okay?
25 years, according to that witch O'Connor.
Wanna' know what? Merry Christmas to me! That is one fine piece of truth. Thanks.
thanks for linking to this, I missed it over the holidays...and it's a wonderful story.
Larry Elder is a statesman. It took balls for him to speak up in that setting, and by doing so he scored important points. He does this five days a week on the radio. He and those like him will eventually help to break the black 'Rat voting coalition. Once a significant number of black voters leave the 'Rat plantation there'll be no turning back. As Bush points out, all peoples yearn for freedom. Once blacks revolt and claim their freedom, they and our country will be better off.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.