Ouch.

It’s one of those moments where white people everywhere get really uncomfortable while we wait to see how the black community reacts. If they react negatively, we throw Chris under the bus. That’s what’s currently happening, but read his whole comment and see if that changes how you feel about his “d’oh!” moment:

You know I was trying to think about who he was tonight and it’s interesting… he is post-racial by all appearances. You know I forgot he was black tonight for an hour. You know he’s gone a long way to become a leader in this country and passed so much history in just a year or two. I mean it’s something we don’t even think about. But I was watching him and said “Wait a minute, he’s an African American guy in front of a bunch of white people and there he is President of the United States and we’ve completely forgotten that tonight”. Completely forgotten it.

I admit, it doesn’t make it that much better, but it does change the flavor of the statement. I don’t watch TV and have never see Matthews’ show, so I have no background knowledge by which to decipher the intention of his comments, but these words alone make an interesting point about how far racial relations have come in just the last year. Think about it; for over 40 presidents and 200 years as a nation we’ve NEVER had a president who wasn’t white and male. From the time slavery was ended in the 1860’s, it was a full one hundred years later before blacks could even ride in the front of the bus.

Most of us figured that we would eventually have a non-white president, but it was anyone’s guess as to how exactly the nation would react. In liberal areas we take for granted the advancements in race relations, but I’ve spent some time in the midwest and the deep south where, everyday, you hear things and see things that make your mouth drop open in shock. Therefore, to think that we’ve had a non-white president for a year without major ignorant rioting (unless you count the tea parties, and I don’t blame you if you do) is kind of impressive. Not only that, but conservatives are beginning to move from hating Obama because he doesn’t see America “the way we do,” an obvious euphemism to his race, to hating him because he’s a Godless liberal who wants to take our money and indoctrinate our children like every other Democratic president. When you consider the aforementioned century to get to the front of the bus, the idea that this fundamental change could happen in less than a year is kind of amazing.

Maybe Chris Matthews says a lot of racist stuff in general and my view of this comment would be different if I knew anything about him, but I think it would add a great deal to the discussion if we didn’t automatically vilify white people who talk about race in this country. The way he worded his statement was dumb at best, but in general I like to believe white people try their hardest to be “correct” in their thinking on race relations, and crucifying anyone who doesn’t say something in exactly the right way leads to a less open dialogue with more ignorance about race in general. Most of the “would be hilarious if they weren’t so sad” sound bites you see on the news are made by people who actually have no idea how racist they are. It seems incredible, but it’s true. Maybe dialogue, rather than demonization, would be a more effect method for the achievement of true racial equality.