Posted on 08/19/2002 11:57:37 AM PDT by mondonico
Former president Bill Clinton, the principal reason why I became a conservative, recently visited my home city of Portland, Oregon for a Democratic Party fundraiser. The event was held at a downtown hotel and was well-attended by an eclectic group of supporters.
Being black and conservative, I'm painfully aware that I'm a minority within a minority. My treatment outside of this extremely liberal event made me pause and wonder about the "tolerance" of those who claim to be so accepting of everyone.
A small group of activists who support the campaign of incumbent Republican Senator Gordon Smith, which included myself, were stationed outside of the hotel along with the supporters of Smith's Democratic challenger, Bill Bradbury. We all held up signs and peacefully exercised our First Amendment rights during the city's rush hour. The Smith supporters received the usual negative responses given the fact that Portland is a virtual breeding ground for liberals as well as feel-good, elitist, and fuzzy-headed liberalism.
Getting a thumbs down or an upturned middle finger wasn't surprising to me. What was a surprise was what a man driving by our rally said to me. With an angry look on his face and having no idea who I was, the very first words out of his mouth were: "Are you stupid?" He then preceded to blame President Bush for the nearly 400-point plunge in the Dow Jones which occurred recently.
This normally wouldn't upset me except for the fact that the driver was white. I could only conclude that he'd never seen an outspoken black conservative before, and was somehow confused by my politics and party affiliation.
Most of the time, I expect being treated like a turncoat by the liberal black civil rights crowd, which is nowhere near civil and far from being right. From them, it's no surprise to hear such vicious, acid-tongued and asinine remarks. A perfect example of my point is what happened a short time later at the same event when a black liberal decided to take me on. His comments included such terms as "blind, stupid, a sellout, a defender of Satan, my ghetto pass was now revoked, and that I was going to burn in hell". There's tolerance for you in a nutshell. Always having to have the last word, I turned back to my character assassin wannabe and said: "You forgot Uncle Tom".
I guess more white liberals are becoming empowered and emboldened to show their mean-spiritedness to conservatives of all colors, thus losing some of their guilt. All I'm waiting for now is a white liberal to call me an "Uncle Tom." At that point, I'll know that they've come full circle. I know it's not far off. It actually happened in Maryland. The liberal president of the state senate used the term against the black chairman of the state Republican Party (that man, Michael Steele, is currently the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor).
It saddens me that liberals often feel they must act like pompous jerks in order to make their point. Their Machiavellian tactics show how morally and intellectually bankrupt the philosophy is. I just have to remember who I am and what I believe. I have to get used to the fact that I'm going to continue to be a political / cultural oddity to some people and a viable target to others. This is especially true in a state like Oregon where black conservatives are very few and really far between.
I'm a firm believer that the First Amendment gives people the right to express their political views and to disagree on issues, but it doesn't give people carte blanche to act like a horse's hind-end.
I hope this anecdote will serve as encouragement to conservatives everywhere especially black conservatives. Although we may be small in number, we still have two things going for us that liberals will never understand and can never take away. First of all, a black conservative is not an oxymoron. And second, being a victim is a one-time event and not a lifestyle.
Jerry Brooks lives in Portland, Oregon. He is a former newspaper columnist, conservative commentator, and TV talk show host.
© 2002 The Washington Dispatch. All Rights Reserved.
People who don't understand economics always remind me that science took hundreds of years to get us where we're at today.
Wonder if this guy still believes that witches will float on water like wood, or that bleeding with leeches will dispel the foul humours in his body?
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