Robert L. Terrell

Here’s my two cents worth regarding the surprise and outrage engendered by the widely distributed and much derided excerpts from Senator Barack Obama’s minister’s critical comments about the United States and related matters. Virtually all African Americans have attended such churches. As a result, few of us were in any way surprised by the nature of the minister’s comments, including his vigorous denunciations of the United States and its consistently biased policies toward poor people of color.

One of the most striking aspects of the entire affair is the apparent surprise of whites. I got the impression that many of them had never heard such, and that they were convinced, therefore, that the Reverend Jeremiah Wright is some kind of rare hateful monster. Many whites expressed similar sorts of statements of wounded innocence in the immediate aftermath of the devastating attacks of September 11, 2001. Claiming that they had no sense that anyone in the world could be angry enough to attack they U.S. in such a manner, they were obviously shocked. Their ignorance was embarrassing, at least to those of us who participate in communication channels outside the ones so tightly controlled by the mainstream mavens of mass communication here in the United States.

In any event, as indicated, only a small percentage of the U.S. black community can claim ignorance regarding the style and substance of Senator Obama’s colorful minister’s irate remonstrations. I might also note that a similarly small percentage of the nation’s African Americans claimed in the aftermath of the 9-11 tragedy that they were unaware that people out there in the world hate Americans. My key point here is that the pervasive racism that is characteristic of the commentary and news distributed via mainstream mass communication venues here in the United States is extremely destructive. This is particularly the case regarding those white Americans trapped inside the significantly racist narratives dispensed via the mainstream mass media. In other words, too few of the nation’s mass media are open to regular, sustained participation by non-white people, whether domestic or foreign. As a result, comprehensive, racist censorship is being practiced across the board here in the United States in ways which make is virtually impossible for the average white American to obtain sustained access to the mood, attitudes and experiences of people of color.

This is dangerous in ways that are not good for the United States and its best interests in a world wherein the overwhelming majority of the people are colored. If those in charge at the Federal Communication Commission can be dislodged from their self imposed hibernation regarding the manner in which racial bias distorts and impedes healthy communication in this nation, we might have reason to hope for better days ahead. Unfortunately, there are virtually no indications that the FCC is in any way interested in addressing the various ways in which traditional modes of mainstream racial discrimination are undermining the nation and its citizens.