Jerry Bledsoe needs a blog. He pops up here, then there and then goes away for a while. He needs a permanent place to call home.
In the comments over at JR's place, Jerry puts a voice to some serious questions after several local bloggers took to task one of Chuck Forrester's statements he made in a recent counter-point submission to the N&R's op-ed page. Here is the statement by the former City Councilman and County Commissioner that is sparking the discussion...
"...I have never heard any black elected official at any level in the state of North Carolina say a positive word about race relations here or anywhere... And why not? Because they don’t want to lose the leverage of white guilt. Trouble is, the guilt game is so old it’s no longer effective, as witnessed by the Greensboro City Council vote."
To which Bledsoe responds way down in the comments at to this post at Robinson's, and asks some hard questions. Jerry and Cone are at it at the moment...
"Let’s look at what Forrester says. He’s never heard an elected black official say anything positive about race relations. Come to think of it, I’m not sure I have either, not that it matters. He goes on to offer a reason: they don’t want to give up the leverage of white guilt.
Do black leaders use race and racial division for advantage? Can anybody doubt that’s happened repeatedly in Guilford County? Does white guilt make that possible? Does it even exist? ...I sincerely ask that you, or Chewie, or Roche, or somebody, tell us exactly why this is racist hate speech. If this were truly that, do you think Allen, of all people, would have put it in the paper?"
As much as I disagree with what Forrester had to say, I didn't think his remarks qualified as hate speech either. I do think he raised some important points, however. I'm glad Bledsoe is amplifying those points. We should be able to talk openly and honestly to one another without fear of labels being unfairly applied.
Get a blog, Jerry... we need your voice around here... not just in hard/soft cover.
11:08:30 AM 
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