Virginian-Pilot: Mayoral “unfitness”
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Published July 24th, 2008
I called for Mayor James Holley of Portsmouth to resign yesterday for his reckless, racially-inflammatory and bigoted public comments. We make no progress toward being one America if the standards of conduct are different for some than they are for others. Unacceptable for some must be unacceptable for all.
The Virginian-Pilot says the comments show Holley’s “unfitness to be the leader the city needs today.”
They’re right. Holley should step aside now.
Dr. Holley did not call for the new hotel to be an exclusive, African-American, establishment. He merely opined that rather than having his picture in the lobby of a generic “White” hotel, that he wished that Portsmouth could have a hotel that catered to the Black community.
You are quite right in pointing out that had the same comments been from a White mayor seeking a hotel that catered to the White community, the Northern Liberals would have gone on a national media campaign to have that mayor ousted.
In the Twenty-first Century, we must move beyond this false premise that one cannot express any preferences with regard to race, talk about race, or even take race into account, while discussing political, civic or any issue.
Those who grew up over the last few decades were fed a cacophony of lies that Americans, regardless of race or gender, were just the same. Consequently, many otherwise educated people still attempt to make this claim that we are all alike and differences that are plain to everyone are actually due to errors in our observations.
Rather than continue the lies, we must, as Dr. Murray pointed out in The Bell Curve, take these differences into account and use the information to everyone’s net benefit.
As for Dr. Holley, he has been a longstanding servant to the Black community and activist in the NAACP. He is entitled, both as Mayor and as a citizen, to express his preferences, just as a White mayor in the same situation must be assured the freedom to do likewise.
If a White mayor had said he wished there was a Scottish themed hotel in town, that would not make him a racist for expressing his preferences. We have restaurants all across America that are based on race and cultural themes, so I see no problem with the idea that a hotel might adopt a particular theme, as long as patrons from all backgrounds were still welcomed. I do question the economic viability of such a venture in a place like Portsmouth. Perhaps such a theme might work in Harlem, but just what stylistic elements could be selected to make a hotel into a “Black” hotel, remains a mystery.
As we move forward into the Twenty-first Century, we should abandon the lies about racial homogeneity and abandon the false rules of political correctness. We should, like Mayor Holley, openly discuss race, racial differences and preferences, and use this knowledge to form an even stronger amalgam from our citizens who have come here, some recently and some long ago, from all over the Earth.
This new era of tolerance must work for all social factions. In an enlightened era, we may see members of the NAACP and United Daughters of the Confederacy and Sons of Confederate Veterans dancing in the streets in celebration of Dixie Days, then gathering together at a local African-American themed hotel for refreshments.
Would your refreshments come from separate water fountains?
Thankfully, society is leaving snotty, purveyors of the failed theories of homogeneity and political correctness behind. It will be lonely for those who still hope to profit from exploiting racial divisiveness and the bankrupt premise that we must all pretend to be the same.
So much for “E Pluribus Unum” huh?
Out of the many, one, never meant that we all give up our identity, our Liberty and our God given rights for the sake of becoming united. We can be a united people who still recognizes and treasures the cultural differences of our many and varied constituent peoples.
What will your next inane attempt at a snarky one-liner be?
Everyone can have whatever identity they want, J.
But if you think “white hotels” and “black hotels” are a celebration of America, you’re about 50 years behind the times.
Mayor Holley’s voicing his wish that there could be a hotel in Portsmouth that would cater to Blacks is no different from someone who is from Mexico wishing for a genuine Mexican themed restaurant in town, besides Taco Bell. Dr. Holley did not call for White or Black only hotels, as you have so cavalierly mis-characterized his statement. He merely voiced his personal preference.
Now, if Mayor Holley and his associates from the NAACP would acknowledge that voicing a preference is not an act of prejudice, we might be getting somewhere.
In the Twenty-first Century, we can outgrow the shackles of pseudo-political correctness, by acknowledging our differences and then uniting to form a stronger amalgam where our society draws from the strengths of each contributing culture.
I’m not mischaracterizing his statement. He said, “It’s got my black picture in the lobby, but it’s a white hotel.”
When people say “mexican restaurant” they aren’t talking about the people that go there. That’s a huge difference.
If any, ANY, white person talked about white hotels and black hotels, there’d be protests, outrage and a resignation already.
All I want is balance, Ballance.