<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td align="left" valign="center"><div style class="cpf-deletable cpf-printOut-header-title"><font size="6"><b>Ignore racism? Fat chance, Rus</b><b>h</b></font> - CNN.com</div>
<div style class="cpf-deletable cpf-printOut-header-byline">By Roland Martin, CNN Contributor</div>
<div style class="cpf-deletable cpf-printOut-header-dateline">updated 1:48 PM EDT, Sat May 5, 2012<br><br></div>
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<div class="cpf-deletable cpf-printOut-header-domain">CNN.com</div>
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<img style="" alt="Conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh, who upbraided Roland Martin on his radio show for comments on racism " class="cpf-printOut-body-content-img" src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/120313122110-powers-limbaugh-missouri-story-top.jpg"></div>
<p style class="cpf-printOut-body-content">
<span><span>Editor's note:</span> Roland S. Martin is a syndicated
columnist and author of "The First: President Barack Obama's Road to the
White House." He is a commentator for the TV One cable network and
host/managing editor of its Sunday morning news show, "Washington Watch
with Roland Martin."</span></p><p style class="cpf-printOut-body-content"><span><br></span>
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<p style class="cpf-printOut-body-content">
<span>(CNN)</span> -- It's always funny to get tweets and e-mails from
followers of radio entertainer Rush Limbaugh. None of them ever actually
think of checking the facts out before they begin their ignorant, vile
and rambling rants. I suppose that's to be expected because all they are
doing is following their feckless leader, Limbaugh.</p>
<p style class="cpf-printOut-body-content">Last week I took to
Twitter to express my disgust with the racist tweets sent to Joel Ward,
the Washington Capitals forward who scored the game-winning goal against
the Boston Bruins in the pivotal Game 7 of their first round matchup.</p>
<p style class="cpf-printOut-body-content">Ward, who is black, should have been praised for great play. Instead, he was insulted, ridiculed and called the N-word.</p>
<p class="cpf-printOut-body-content">As a result, I sent out the following tweets:</p>
<p style class="cpf-printOut-body-content">-- "It's no shock that a
black hockey player is being called nasty vicious things for a game
winning goal. Only folks in denial about racism are.</p>
<p style class="cpf-printOut-body-content">-- "The reality is that weak-minded punks hide behind anonymous comments on message boards AND social media.</p>
<p class="cpf-printOut-body-content">-- "I had my arms crossed one day
in an editorial meeting and was called "intimidating" &
"threatening." Thinking While Black, huh? LOL</p>
<p class="cpf-printOut-body-content">-- "I simply accept the reality
that racism is in the DNA of America. And when that button is pushed,
the true feelings come tumbling out!</p>
<p class="cpf-printOut-body-content">-- "Trust me, I know the inherent
bigotry in 'we want our country back' and 'he's not like us' or 'you
have a different worldview.'"</p>
<p class="cpf-printOut-body-content">-- "Why do I love a changing
America? Because the walls are tumbling down! One of the last bastions?
Media. Some folks are still holding on!"</p>
<p style class="cpf-printOut-body-content">-- "Sports is great
because talent ain't subjective. It's clear. You win or lose. I know
from media history/experience that talent is irrelevant"</p>
<p style class="cpf-printOut-body-content">-- "So to all of the
soft/hard bigots, we ain't going anywhere. Keep hatin, we'll keep on
fighting & winning. But do know we know who you are!"</p>
<p style class="cpf-printOut-body-content">Limbaugh was apprised of what I tweeted, so when a young listener called in, he brought up what I wrote and said:</p>
<p style class="cpf-printOut-body-content">
<span><span>Follow</span></span><span><span>and</span></span>
</p>
<p style class="cpf-printOut-body-content">"Roland Martin is a friend
of Obama's and here is his Tweet: 'I simply accept the reality that
racism is in the DNA of America and when that button is pushed the true
feelings come tumbling out.'</p>
<p style class="cpf-printOut-body-content">"You asked me about racism
and the media; well, here is a black journalist at CNN. I don't know
what this is relating to but again Paul, 'I simply accept the reality
racism is in the DNA of America.' So here is a mainstream journalist who
just lives with the assumption that this is a racist country. Always
there. And in his case is first because he's black, but he's liberal
first.</p>
<p style class="cpf-printOut-body-content">"All liberals are liberals
before they're anything else, if they're Jewish, if they're gay,
female, male, they're liberals first, Paul. That is their religion. And
that religion requires loyalty. You must have faith in them. They are
the equivalent of your higher power. You must trust them; you must let
them manage your affairs. This guy tweeting today that racism is in the
DNA of America, so we are as a country founded in a flawed, sinful way.
We are unjust as a country, it's immoral as a country, and that belief
allows Mr. Martin excuse to be able to have power over people, to be
able to punish people he thinks are racist."</p>
<p style class="cpf-printOut-body-content">Here is the key phrase out of all of the nonsense Rush spewed: "I don't know what this is relating to."</p>
<p style class="cpf-printOut-body-content">Had Rush and his crack
research team bothered to get the context -- is that a bad disease going
around lately? -- he would have realized that I was speaking about the
racial slurs against the black hockey player.</p>
<p style class="cpf-printOut-body-content">That's when all of the
knuckleheads began to write me, and many said that I was inciting the
issue by even bringing it up. Several suggested that by ignoring racism,
all will be well and it will just go away.</p>
<p style class="cpf-printOut-body-content">Really? Is that how it works?</p>
<p style class="cpf-printOut-body-content">Look, there is no need for
Americans to stop living in denial. Race has been in the DNA of America
since its founding. Slavery. Formation of our precious U.S.
Constitution. The Civil War. Reconstruction. Jim Crow. The turbulence of
the Civil Rights Movement. Integration. Busing.</p>
<p style class="cpf-printOut-body-content">Pick the subject and we've
had to contend with the issue of race. I was only speaking truthfully
to what so many Americans love to ignore.</p>
<p style class="cpf-printOut-body-content cpf-viewbox-edit-highlight">But
hey, don't believe me. Here is what Republican star and former
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had to say about race in America on
CBS's "Face the Nation" in 2011:</p>
<p class="cpf-printOut-body-content">"It is a birth defect with which
this country was born out of slavery; we're never really going to be
race blind. I think it goes back to whether or not race and class --
that is, race and poverty -- is not becoming even more of a constraint.</p>
<p class="cpf-printOut-body-content">"Because with the failing public
schools, I worry that the way that my grandparents got out of poverty,
the way that my parents became educated, is just not going to be there
for a whole bunch of kids. And I do think that race and poverty is still
a terrible witch's brew."</p>
<p class="cpf-printOut-body-content">Earlier she discussed the
advancements of African-Americans in the U.S. -- whether it's a CEO or
president of the United States -- yet even she concluded that "we're
never going to erase race as a factor in American life."</p>
<p class="cpf-printOut-body-content">So I say DNA. Rice says birth defect. Hmmm, is it really that different?</p>
<p class="cpf-printOut-body-content">Ignoring racism will do nothing to
solve the problem. Calling it out, speaking against it and educating
others is what's important.</p>
<p class="cpf-printOut-body-content">I find it hilarious that as an
African-American, I'm told to ignore racism. I couldn't imagine telling
someone Jewish, "anti-Semitism isn't a big deal! Stop harping on it.
It'll disappear."</p>
<p class="cpf-printOut-body-content">The problem for too many of us is
that we live in a world of denial. We choose not to confront the problem
because that means looking inward and confronting how we were raised;
what our parents taught us; or even having to check out friends for
their bigotry.</p>
<p class="cpf-printOut-body-content">Racism isn't just black or white.
It can be a two-way street between any groups. I prefer to not be silent
about it and call it out.</p>
<p class="cpf-printOut-body-content">Have I experienced racism in my
life, as well as in the media? Of course! Sure, I grow tired of having
to fight battles that should have been long gone, but it is what it is.</p>
<p class="cpf-printOut-body-content">So Rush, I'm not going anywhere. I
won't back down. I won't surrender. And when racism rears its ugly head,
I'll be right there standing up for righteousness and to rid our world
of this wretched evil.</p>
<p class="cpf-printOut-body-content">Got it?</p>
</div><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)<br><a href="mailto:art.deco.studios@gmail.com" target="_blank">art.deco.studios@gmail.com</a><br>