Setting the Record Straight and Talking about Race Relations

By Eric Sedler

Jim Purcell owes me an apology…and a retraction. So does the Voice of Youth guy, Matthew Morehead, but at least Morehead stated the fact that I was responding to a comment by “Lugar96”.

I guess by now some of those are wondering what I am talking about and why it has taken quite a bit of time for me to respond to this whole racism issue. The reason for the delay was a family vacation I was on. Over the time of two weeks, I barely kept up with all the New Jersey news going on and never even saw the Courier story hit job that featured a quote from me, completely out of context, and a picture of Art and I, until a day or two ago.

Alas, let’s go back to my original quote that somehow got me thrown into this whole race conversion. On Art’s Jim Purcell Weighs in Post, Lugar96” commented saying: ““He used a lot of words to say almost nothing in that post. It seems Jim wants to tiptoe around the issue and treat it with kit gloves so as not to upset the "victims." Treating people as victims will ensure they feel inferior and encourage that inferiority. I think equality is closer than he is willing to think. Look at Barak Obama. Time was only a white double talker could get a major party nomination for the White House. Look at Charles Rangel. Time was only a white man could spend such a long period of time in Congress to reach a chairmanship and take advantage of laws that were designed to help his people. Maybe it's time for leaders in the black community to stop instructing their followers when to be insulted and start leading in a positive direction. If you tell everyone that their problems are due wholly to the members of another race, you can't expect racial harmony. Racism cuts both ways. If you want to cling to it because it serves as an excuse for not making an effort, that's not society's fault. If you want to cling to it because it's the only way you can get on TV or seem relevant, that's just as pathetic. I think it's just as racist to be overly afraid of offending black people because it implies that they are too tempermental, too sensitive to handle "certain words or comments." You know, like children. If that's not treating people as if they were inferior, what is?
Lugar96”

To which I responded, “I really couldn't agree more with Lugar. I think it's absolutely ridiculous that everything has gotten to be overly sensitive these days and somehow a cookie reference by some old white guy was called racist. Rick exemplified this when he complained that your nigger nuts post was right next to the obamanation picture. This is exactly what Lugar was talking about when he said racism works in both ways. Too many people are now over-reacting and over-analyzing everything. Who knew a monkey reference from Japan (or was it China?) could be considered racist?! It's just too much. The over-reaction and over-analyzing will only hurt race relations. Being too careful about what you say will never lead to a relaxed atmosphere with other races. Like you said, respect is key, don't treat them any differently than you treat friends just because of their skin color.”

Now let’s bold and capitalize something for all those who get lost in plain text, I said “I really couldn’t agree more WITH LUGAR”

Nowhere did I say I agreed with what Mr. Gallagher has said about race relations, and yet both Mr. Purcell and Mr. Morehead took the quote out of context to say that I agreed with Art’s “stance on racial slurs”

I guess I should not be surprised, this is politics after all. In politics, taking quotes out of context seems to be a bi-partisan problem, with perhaps the most infamous example being Senator John McCain’s “100 years war” that we see all the time, without mention to that all important part of the quote about casualties.

In the Courier story hit job about Art and I, Mr. Purcell writes, “However, Gallagher has his supporters, including Ocean resident Eric Sedler, chairman of the Monmouth County Young Republicans and founder of the conservative online hub Red Jersey (www.RedJersey.com). In reaction to critics of several of Gallagher's post regarding race, but not speaking for his organization, Sedler posted, "I think it's absolutely ridiculous that everything has gotten to be overly sensitive these days and somehow a cookie reference by some old white guy was called racist.” In addition, Sedler posted, "The over-reaction and over-analyzing will only hurt race relations. Being too careful about what you say will never lead to a relaxed atmosphere with other races." Sedler went on to recommend people "don't treat them (blacks) differently than you treat friends just because of their skin color."

First off, it’s RedJersey.net, and I’m not the founder. I was the managing editor and site administrator of the site for a period of time, though. At least Mr. Purcell wrote I was not speaking on behalf of the Monmouth County Young Republicans.

For those of you looking for an “official” statement from the Young Republicans, here it is: “The Monmouth County Young Republicans condemn the use of any racial slurs, whether they affect African Americans, Italians, or any other race. If a member of the Monmouth County Young Republicans were to use a racial slur, they can be sure to expect a form of punishment, whether it is suspension or even expulsion. The Monmouth County Young Republicans prides itself on being a diverse club that is welcoming of all races, sexual orientations, and creeds”

Now that we got that out of the way, let’s go back to Mr. Purcell’s story hit job. When I was talking about the cookie reference by some old white guy that was called racist, I was referencing talk show host John McLaughlin who used the term “Oreo” when discussing the infamous Jesse Jackson comments about Barack Obama. “Oreo” is not a racial slur, although I would say it is a derogatory term, I certainly do not believe its racist. Maybe some people do, to that I respect their opinion but I have trouble seeing how calling an African American black on the outside and white on the inside is racist. It’s improper and derogatory, but not racist.

That being said, in referencing Jackson’s comments, McLaughlin got called a racist and took major heat. In my view, that’s an example of over-analyzing and over-sensitivity. But it has become a typical trend this year where everything said is put under a microscope times a million and even the slightest perception of racism, even if it is simply referencing a quote someone else said, is skewered to an extreme. This I believe, has only made race relations worse, because now a large majority of people are too scared to even comment, much less even converse for long periods of time about race relations and what exactly constitutes a racial slur. That is what I meant when I said the over-analyzing and over-sensitivity will never lead to a relaxed atmosphere.

The other reference I made was the story about Japanese commercial using a monkey selling a cell phone and using the “change” slogan made famous by Senator Barack Obama. I believe depicting anyone as a monkey is wrong, no matter what race they belong to. I was surprised the commercial was called racist, although I can certainly understand the anger towards it. Now if there was a certain word in front of monkey, the same tern used in the movie Clerks 2 (I don’t have to say it), then it would definitely be a racial slur. I admit, I could be wrong about this since I am not a great expert on the history of whether or not a monkey used to be a symbol for racism towards African Americans.
Further dissecting my comment, I would say that African Americans would agree with my statement that they should not be treated differently than everyone else. I think when we treat one race differently than others, we pigeonhole them.

I do not want to bring this argument to a partisan level, but when Senate and Assembly Republicans unanimously opposed borrowing billions in school construction bonds without voter approval and COAH they were essentially called racist by Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman. That is what I like to call pigeonholing. There are other names for pigeonholing, like categorizing or stereotyping. Of course these comments by Coleman were widely overlooked; possibly because Ms. Coleman is an African American. I think she pigeonholed her own race by using the perception that anyone opposing COAH is perceived as a racist, never mind the fact that the formula is simply bad math and will eventually lead to building on preserved open spaces. By using the perception that African Americans and other minorities are dependent on the government to supply them with taxpayer subsidized housing, Ms. Coleman effectively pigeonholed her own race. As far as Coleman’s remarks regarding being against borrowing billions for school construction without voter approval being perceived as racist, well then we are following the belief that those in need of new schools are those in lower income neighborhoods and those people are all African Americans and minorities. Anyone want to explain to me how that is not pigeonholing? Besides the fact that it is apparently perfectly ok to circumvent the New Jersey Constitution, as long as it is perceived to help one minority or a number of them.

The reason I bring this up is to further demonstrate my agreement with Lugar when he said racism works in both ways. I completely agree with his sentiment. For as many people who will not vote for Barack Obama for the wrong reasons, there will be a number of people voting for him simply because they do not want to be perceived as racist or they simply believe it is time we got away from the old white guy always being President of the United States.

I think African Americans and other minorities are now afforded every opportunity as Caucasians are in America. Is the system perfect? Absolutely not, but in most cases I do not believe the government holds African Americans and other minorities back from succeeding, except when they pigeonhole them. Sure there are racist bosses out there who will not hire certain people for the wrong reasons and sure there are plenty of people out there who are racists. That’s a true shame and they should know better. I would hope that karma teaches them a lesson in the future. But in no way is this issue a partisan matter. I know at least one hardcore Democrat who will not be voting for Obama for the wrong reasons, and I am sure that I am not the only one who knows people like that.

Now we can circle back to what Art is doing on his blog and his method of doing it. Of course it is controversial, because he is openly using the “N-word” and using it as a way to try and have an open discussion about race relations of all things. I do not use the “N-word”, to which I am sure Mr. Purcell and others would point to my comment on the “Jim Purcell Weighs in on Race Relations” post and say I openly used it, no matter if I was just referencing Art’s first post that started this whole controversy. (Very McLaughlin-like, eh?) At this point, I do not think I am in a position to comment about Art’s very interesting methods of getting this discussion started.

That being said, I think we all need to ask ourselves this question: Do you think Art Gallagher is a racist? Maybe for those who do not know him, or those of you who do not know him well, it is a hard question to answer. I would say I do not know Art too well, but I do not think he is a racist. I think even some of his most vocal opponents would agree with me that he is not a racist. Sure, one may disagree with his methods, but for the most part we all agree that an open discussion about race is a great thing that can only advance relations between different races, regardless of the method used to get there.

Let’s keep this discussion going, tonight, tomorrow, and so on. The worst thing we could do is suddenly stop talking about it out of fear of being labeled a racist and go back to hiding under our perspective rocks because God forbid we upset someone or say something that can be considered controversial.

Oh no, I just used the lord’s name in vein. At least I might divert some of those people outside of Art’s door with pitchforks to my door now.