Letters to the Editor
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Excellent article.
I agree with some of the things you've said. and all in all, an excellent response to a pretty stupid fiasco.
A couple of points: Even a small local paper is connected to the internet. Anyone who makes on-the-record statements in this day and age has to know that 6 billion people are going to have access to it within the hour. And a skilled politician like Ferraro must have known this. Do I think her comments were insidiously designed to attract anti-AA white voters? No. But to suggest that simply because she was talking to a local paper that her comment was unfairly examined is a little thin.
It's true that the American public is too focused on superficial qualities. So it should be up to our leaders to rise above that quality and convince us to look deeper than the color of skin. Ferraro may have had a good point: we are at a point in the US where those opportunities are available for an African American. We're also at a point where they are obviously available to a woman. Her argument could have been flipped right around to the candidate she supports.
Sorry gets people a looooooong way in this day and age. I think she could have stemmed the "overblown" response by just saying, "Boy was I stupid. I'm sorry." a little humility gets respect. being defiant to the point of digging a hole for yourself doesn't. So yeah, KO was over the line, but because of her inflexibility, he looks like a staunch defender of equality. Say you're sorry, and KO's comment looks overblown. That's damage control 101.
I'm not African American, so I can't begin to understand what could be construed as a "racist" comment. But to me, suggesting that someone has doors open because they are black would have a profound effect on any African American who has struggled through institutional racism to be successful or who has had their success stymied through institutional racism. It just looks like she doesn't acknowledge the hard work many African Americans do to move beyond racial boundaries (and the work that those who are still stuck in poverty do just to stay afloat). Whether that's how she meant it or not, that's how it looks. and like it or not Ms. Ferraro, politics is perception.