Racism Card: Does it belong only to minorities?

Yesterday I posted a question on Facebook that resulted in 34 comments being made that never really addressed the question that was posed. The ponder made was “How is the words of Glen Beck in regards to President Obama being a racist any different than the words the left and other leaders in the black community used during Katrina calling President Bush a racist? Is this similar as we can have BET but not WET? Or NAACP vs. NAAWP?” The comments that followed ranged from questioning the validity of Glen Beck to “birthers” to Gates/Crowley situation.

My question was not to defend the actions taken by Glen Beck; rather to point out that people like Kanye West, Al Sharpton, and Jesse Jackson all asserted that President Bush “hates black people” because FEMA dropped the ball with Katrina and that was acceptable commentary.

Kanye West said, “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” during the NBC aired program “A Concert for Hurricane Relief”. Prior to the comment Kanye West had stated that “I hate the way they portray us in the media. If you see a black family, it says they’re looking. See a white family; it says they’re looking for food. They’ve given them permission to go down and shoot us.”
Rev. Al Sharpton said on Keith Olbermann’s “Countdown” on MSNBC September 1, 2005, “The real question is not only those that didn’t get out. The question is why has it taken the government so long to get in. I feel that, if it was in another area, with another economic strata and racial makeup, that President Bush would have run out of Crawford a lot quicker and FEMA would have found its way in a lot sooner.”

Rev. Jesse Jackson claimed President Bush was “incompetent” and “racist” and questioned President Bush, “How can blacks be locked out of the leadership, and trapped in the suffering?”

Today Mr. Gates, Sgt Crowley, and President Obama will be sitting down for a beer and discuss what took place during the events that led up to Mr. Gates arrest. One of those commenting on Facebook accused my question as a Rovian Ploy. I am not sure where that comes into play; perhaps someone is able to explain it further for me. During the Democrat primary, the Obama campaign tried to paint former President Clinton as playing the race card; Bill Clinton a racist? No!

President Obama waded into the Gates/Crowley case without knowing the facts of the case, the media reported without the full facts, and now things are coming to light. All this said, I am not defending what Glen Beck said nor giving credence to him; rather I am looking at the situation in a big picture format. The catalyst of the conversation just happens to be the Glen Beck’s exercise of free speech that has offended others in the nation.

The ultimate question is why it is okay, accepted by society, for minorities to claim racism or have exclusive organizations while white America is vilified for similar claims or exclusive organizations?