A lesson from Condoleezza Rice

CONDOLEEZZA RICE was reminded of her decision to become a Republican after the 1984 Democratic National Convention. She said the Democratic Party's speeches to ''women, minorities, and the poor'' really meant ''helpless people and the poor.'' In a profile in The Washington Post, Rice said, ''I decided I'd rather be ignored than patronized.''

The national security adviser to President Bush was asked if she thinks the Democratic Party still patronizes ''women, minorities, and the poor.'' Laughing, she declined to answer the specific question last week before the Trotter Group, an organization of African-American columnists. But her answer was as riveting as if she had actually gone on to trash the Democrats.

''The fact of the matter is, race matters in America,'' Rice said. ''It has, it always has ... It is not that I mind being associated with the group. I am African-American and proud of it. I wouldn't have it any other way. And it has shaped who I am and it will continue to shape who I am.

''I do not believe it has limited who I am or what I can become. And that's because I had parents who, while telling me what it meant to be African-American and exposing me to that, also allowed me to develop as an individual to be who I wanted to be.''

Rice said the 1963 church bombing in Birmingham that killed four girls, including friend Denise McNair, shaped her views on the war on terrorism. ''If you've been through home-grown terrorism,'' Rice said, ''you recognize there isn't any cause that can be served by it ... Because what it's meant to do is end the conversation.''

In profiles, Rice talks about being hollered at as a child by a white store clerk for touching a hat. Rice's mother told the clerk ''Don't you talk to my daughter that way!'' Her mother then said, ''Now, Condoleezza, you go and touch every hat in this store.''

That reminded me of around 1965 when I was about 10. I bought comic books and ice cream in a drug store in DeKalb, Miss. Later, my grandfather informed me that was the ''white folks'' drug store. He could have berated me for breaking white folks' rules. Instead, he smiled and said, ''Good.''

For me, not accepting racial barriers would mean going on to little things like being on the first integrated child championship bowling team at a particular alley in Milwaukee, then bigger things like sportswriting when there were few African-Americans covering pro teams for major newspapers.

For Rice, it meant parents who ''didn't say to me, `You know, it's really weird for a black girl from Birmingham, Ala., to want to be a Soviet specialist.''' Rice said that she liked Motown, the blues, and funk music like most of her friends, but her parents drove her to learn Brahms. Rice has often said bluntly that she had to master the white world better than a whole lot of white people to succeed.

''Sometimes when we say to our kids, `You are a minority,' we don't say it in a way that says it is part of who you are, we say it as if it's an impediment that cannot be overcome by hard work and access to education and all of those things,'' Rice said. ''And I just think the messages are wrong when there is only focus on what group you happen to belong to, rather than the group is part of who you are, but also, who you are is who you are as an individual.

''We don't talk about it very much, but, yes ... it is a very good thing for the rest of the world that when Colin Powell and I walk in with the president of the United States, we are there as secretary of state and national security adviser, because I think it says to people that there aren't boundaries in which black Americans are not supposed to play ... I think it's an extremely important message to our kids. That's why I talk so much about the individual. It's not to deny the group, but I really think it's important that we appeal to each individual's worth and capability.''

Such reflections do not make Rice's political views and America's global arrogance any more appealing to me. But those who dismiss her as a hotheaded cold war queen miss a chance to dwell on her focus and drive. Unlike many black conservatives who shout louder than white ''color-blind'' conservatives that race no longer matters, Rice has no problem saying race matters, and since it is so, black folks had better work to get the most out of their individual talents.

In a Newsweek interview last year, Rice said, ''It wasn't as if someone said, `You have to be twice as good' and `isn't that a pity' or `isn't that wrong.' It was just, `You have to be twice as good.''' One does not have to like Rice's politics to appreciate how being twice as good has made her the most powerful woman in the world.

"In a Newsweek interview last year, Rice said, ''It wasn't as if someone said, `You have to be twice as good' and `isn't that a pity' or `isn't that wrong.' It was just, `You have to be twice as good.'''

Based on my experience, I don't buy the twice as good stuff. Being intelligent, hard working and good looking gives her advantages that are absolutely not available to everyone."

I am a Rice fan and would gladly vote for her for President, but in this age of affirmative action and enforced diversity, "half as good" is much closer to the truth.

Colin Powell could be President if he wished. C Rice has a shot at VP soon. How can those rabble rousers convince the black population that they are constrained by racism? Oh, I forgot! Harry Belafonte would be defeated. He is such a profound intellectual! There! Proof positive we are a racist Country.

To echo what others have said in reply above, but in different words: I'm sure that if there was a "white folks" drug store in 1964, when the Civil Rights Act was passed, then everyone in town excepting perhaps a clueless newcomer still knew that it was the "white folks" drug store in 1965. Small towns don't forget their heritage that fast.

Perhaps so, but in the space of one year the entire paradigm of segregation greatly changed.

Yes, your right of course. We passed a law prohibiting discrimination and there was no more discrimination.

We have a law against murder here in my state and, therefore, there is no murder. Right?

I didn't think it was possible to read all the way through an article by Derrick Z. "I hate whitey" Jackson. After being 0 for 500 in previous attempts, I just assumed it was one of those things that could not be accomplished.

Just goes to show you, something amazing can happen every day.

There weren't? You sure are smart, aren't you? Try telling this to some of my friends who I went to High School with in Central Florida who were chased by Klansmen through orange groves and beaten to a bloody pulp in the early 70's. Our town didn't have whote only stores, but if you were black, no cab was going to come get you. You weren't going to use a restroom in a nice restaurant, if you ever got service. And I guarantee there were "white folks" rules in Nachez, Mississippi up until the mid 70's. You make these statements that really expose your ignorance on subjects, or was that intentional and I missed the sarcasm?

Black conservative ping

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There weren't ''white folks'' drug store in 1965 because they were outlawed by the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

BTW - I like fairy tales also.

Stop being an ass. Racism wasn't instantly wiped off the face of the earth by the stroke of a pen. Especially in the south in the mid-60's.

Yeah the sherriff had to take his badge off before beating down "uppity niggers" so it wouldn't be an official act. Get real Tuco, it takes a lot more than one poorly written law to eradicate things like institutional racism. Read a little history, how's about March of 1965:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/wallace/peopleevents/pande05.html

Something that hasn't been pointed out about the article thus far - the positive role that Ms. Rice's parents and extended family played in her life.

One of the many disasterous side effects from LBJ's "war on poverty" has been the disintegration of the black family. All it's proven is that you can throw billions (trillions) of dollars at a problem and, in many ways, make it worse.

Ah, but that's the definition of Liberalism, isn't it?

You know, I'd really like to have a conservsation with you face-to-face.

I really, really would.

Shine on you crazy diamond.
Coming soon: Tha SYNDICATE.
101 things that the Mozilla browser can do that Internet Explorer cannot.

I sure there were cases as such, but overall there was integration.

In fact intercity transportation (i.e., Greyhound Bus, etc.) wes integrated prior to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Stop being an ass. Racism wasn't instantly wiped off the face of the earth by the stroke of a pen. Especially in the south in the mid-60's.

Stop being an ass, Racism still exists today.

We are referring to segregation.

The issue we are discussing is not police brutality or racism but segregation.

You know, I'd really like to have a conservsation with you face-to-face.

I really, really would.

Hmmm - you're implying you wish to beat me up because I might disagree with you.

And the link I provided showed how it took the national gaurd to desegregate a school. Now it stands to reason if schools were still forcibly segregated in 1965 there were probably a few drugstore defacto segregated during the same time period.

Hmmm - you're implying you wish to beat me up because I might disagree with you.

That just goes to show that you are totally unfamiliar with me. I never imply anything.

Like I said, I would really like to have a face-to-face conversation with you. I truly would.

Shine on you crazy diamond.
Coming soon: Tha SYNDICATE.
101 things that the Mozilla browser can do that Internet Explorer cannot.

Here's some more stuff about how segregated things still were in 1965:
http://www.davison.k12.mi.us/dms/CivilRightsWebPage/sao.htm
http://www.csiss.org/classics/content/38
http://alt.tnt.tv/movies/tntoriginals/wallace/seg.time4.html
http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/integration/IAF-fm.htm
http://teacher.scholastic.com/researchtools/articlearchives/honormlk/segraga.htm

Remember the 1964 Civil Rights Act was so effective that it had to be backed up with the Voting Rights Act of 1965 because people still weren't willing to let black register to vote until the fed got downright brutal about it.

Learn your history.

I think he just wants to look you in the eye and see if you really believe the crap you spew or if you just cop contrarian positions to be fun. Just because somebody thinks your an idiot doesn't mean they want to beat you up.

Public schools were NOT Lawfully segregated in 1965.

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