Jewish World Review March 18, 2005 / 7 Adar II, 5765

Issac J. Bailey

Issac J. Bailey
JWR's Pundits
World Editorial
Cartoon Showcase

Mallard Fillmore

Michael Barone
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Don Feder
Suzanne Fields
James Glassman
Paul Greenberg
Bob Greene
Betsy Hart
Nat Hentoff
David Horowitz
Marianne Jennings
Michael Kelly
Mort Kondracke
Ch. Krauthammer
Lawrence Kudlow
Dr. Laura
John Leo
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Chris Matthews
Michael Medved
MUGGER
Kathleen Parker
Wes Pruden
Sam Schulman
Amity Shlaes
Roger Simon
Tony Snow
Thomas Sowell
Cal Thomas
Jonathan S. Tobin
Ben Wattenberg
George Will
Bruce Williams
Walter Williams
Mort Zuckerman

Consumer Reports


Expanding beyond racial expectations


http://www.jewishworldreview.com | Sometimes I'm afraid of being black, afraid of what it means.

I've been in this skin for more than 32 years and still can't quite figure out how it defines me, can't quite figure out how others view me.

Sometimes it's limiting. I write about race and instantly there are those who believe I do it because I have dark skin. It can't possibly be because it's an important issue in which we all have a stake.

It's why early in my career I tried to steer clear of the topic. I thought I'd be taken more seriously that way.

I could have been paranoid or hypersensitive. Maybe I shouldn't have read Nathan McCall's "Makes Me Wanna Holla" shortly before joining my first daily newspaper. In it, I found fascinating the backbiting he described in the newsrooms in which he worked. McCall made it clear race was a factor in his treatment.

That's what I expected, just as I once warned my future wife in the wake of the Rodney King beating that she shouldn't be surprised the day that happened to me. I'm a black man living in America, I told her. But all I've received during traffic stops since then is a break on a speeding ticket from a white state trooper and a warning from another when points from my license could have been docked.

Here's what I also didn't expect:

I didn't expect hard work to pay off and didn't believe I would be afforded the same respect from white colleagues as from fellow black journalists. But for the most part, I've received it.

Donate to JWR


I didn't expect upon being named business editor — after a recommendation from a white colleague — that the white CEOs and other executives I'd come to know while covering real estate would be among the first to congratulate me.

I didn't expect black readers to accept my opposition to race-based affirmative action without revoking my Negro card. But they've accepted it.

I didn't expect to anxiously await the latest job creation report the first Friday of every month or to want to follow the effect the expiration of tariffs would have on our textile industry or want to explore whether or not multicounty business parks are effective economic tools in resort areas. But I do.

I plan to explore these subjects more deeply because those interests are an important part of who I am.

For too long, I've expected to only be allowed to be black. Or what my own limiting mind considered to be black.



Issac J. Bailey is a columnist for the Myrtle Beach, S.C., Sun News. Comment by clicking here.

Up

03/15/05: Rethinking the personal data problem: At what cost?
01/19/05: Changing of the guard among black leadership
12/09/04: A healthy view on weight
11/30/04: Sports done right is never about sports
11/17/04: Vote, but don't fool yourself
'Good dad' role isn't superhuman
11/02/04: Have faith in having faith
09/29/04: Conditioning doesn't equal racism
09/22/04: My brother belonged in jail
09/15/04: Tiny miracles remind us of life's choices
05/04/04: What about the rights of dads-to-be?


© The Sun News (Myrtle Beach, S.C.). Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.