I took a deep breath and said," I think it will be hell for blacks in America." He asked, why? I told him that after Obama," very few whites will trust blacks. Most will feel that they gave a black man a chance and he blew it."
He said what about you and other black conservatives who opposed his policies? We will suffer as well? I responded. There are so few of us (blacks) who didn't support him and over 97% that did, how will whites distinguish which ones supported him and which ones didn't?
Even now as I travel across the country, I see more and more whites distancing themselves from blacks in general. I have attended many different events and was looked upon with suspicion until they realized that I was their speaker. There is a mistrust and that's understandable given the number of times the race card has been played.
There is a cold feeling and an atmosphere of distrust brewing in America and I am afraid for the future of my sons and their children. Why should whites trust blacks in general when they have been bombarded with the race card every time they spoke out against Obama's policies. It will be like Viet Nam all over again. In that war the American soldiers had a very difficult time trying to determine which citizens were their allies and which ones were the enemies. Conservative whites will be face with the same dilemma.
This will be difficult period for those black conservatives who have gave their all to support the conservative causes. The only conservative blacks that will escape this backlash, are those who were highly visible and that's not very many when you consider the number of blacks that have participated in the national Tea Party events around the country and the handful of blacks that were the invited guest on the various Fox News Shows. Most black conservatives have little or no media exposure. Many are working behind the scenes at the local level. They are manning phone banks, sending out campaign literature and attending small fund-raising dinners. These individuals are never seen on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News. I spent three days in Arizona as an invited guest, speaking in support of their new immigration law, and not one network that covered the event showed any of the blacks that attended or spoke at the event. In fact they chose not to air any portion of the weekend event. They acted as if the event never happened.
I hope my predictions will not come true, but I'm not betting on it. I predicted that an Obama Presidency would divide America by race and few believed me. Now I see clear signs of a backlash coming, and it will not be good for black conservatives. The Tea Party movement and the opposition to Obama's policies is now viewed by many as a white movement, not a conservative black and white movement and that is most unfortunate because the efforts of black conservatives are being discounted. A few weeks ago, when black conservatives called a press conference to show their support for the Tea Party Movement very few networks aired the event. The media refuse to show black support of the Tea Party and it seems like some white conservatives are starting to believe that blacks are not supportive.
Does this mean that white conservatives will participate in the backlash. Yes, I think some will, particularly those who will not take the time to distinquish the conservative black from the liberal black. But I think most of the backlash will come from white liberals. Why? Because white liberals never fell in love with black folks, they merely fell in love with the black vote, they never wanted a relationship with blacks, they only wanted their vote - and many of them are also upset and disappointed with Obama. They know that Obama will be the reason why many white independents will vote conservative. Besides, the liberals no longer need the black vote - they have now turned to Latinos, so they can care less what happens to blacks (particularly conservative blacks).
All I can tell my sons, is to brace themselves, a backlash is coming and the efforts and the loyalty of many black conservatives (who are not elected to public office) will go un-noticed, we will be considered as part of the 97% of blacks that voted for Obama. He asked: Dad will you survive? I said I hope so son, I hope so. Our only hope of surviving will be based on the number of black conservatives that will be elected this November aournd the country and the number of blacks that conservative candidates will include in their print and television ads, that will give us the visibility we need to survive.
What are your thoughts.
Rev. Wayne Perryman
So sad. Quite possibly true.
ReplyDelete