I get it now. After being deceived for the past three months into thinking that blacks and white were working together to bring Durham together, I finally get it that the racism overflows. I’ve been so conditioned to think that racism is a problem of whites against blacks. And it most certainly is. I never had any doubt that whites in Durham and surrounding communities in North Carolina are racist to varying degrees against whites. But now that I’ve been involved with Durham Democratic politics, I see clearly just how much a lot of “leading” black Democrats have it in for the white community. Given the penchant of the right to embrace the term “reverse racism”, I don’t want to declare that this is what’s going on. That term is hurtful, demeaning the atrocities and humiliations that African-Americans endured in this country for centuries. I simply want to describe what I’ve observed as a newcomer to the sphere of Durham politics. I profess that I am ignorant of much of Durham history, and I’m interested in understanding it better.

I’ve studied the remarks over the past year regarding the lacrosse case and the efforts of Mike Nifong to hold on to his job. African-Americans in Durham LOVE Mike Nifong, because he was willing to do everything possible to lock up three rich white boys from New York. I have as much contempt for the rich white boys at Duke as anyone, but I also think that what Nifong did was so reprehensible that he doesn’t deserve to practice law anywhere around here for a long, long time.

The elders of the Durham Democratic Party, who happen to be black, seem quite willing to dispense a fog over simple right and wrong in order to advance their agenda, which seems to be to show the white community that blacks are in power here, and now that they’ve gotten their power, no one is going to take it away. It is this defiance that I presume leads to the rest of the state ignoring Durham’s needs. Raleigh doesn’t ignore poor, black Durham because it’s poor and black. They ignore it because the powers-that-be have no sense of ethics and no genuine desire for reconciliation.

I don’t know how certain well-meaning young non-black Durham Democrats tolerate this poisonous atmosphere. I don’t know how they smile and shake everyone’s hand and then try to tell me how I ought to respect these elders. I felt like I learned a lot watching some “Eyes on the Prize” DVDs a few months back, chronicling civil rights struggles of the 50s and 60s. I know America has not come nearly far enough in forty years to achieve a just and equitable society. But this defiance and rebuke of those who move to the area and desire to become part of the community is getting in the way of anything positive getting done.