No license to rant

I am committed to racial reconciliation, and I'm always hesitant to touch the true third rail of politics--race, but a couple of stories of late have motivated me to point out that the color of your skin does not give you a license to rant (more than anyone else, at least).

You have no doubt heard about the man (Harry Alford) who confronted Sen. Barbara Boxer because she was lumping him in with other racially-designated organizations during a recent hearing. While I have to admit it was somewhat gratifying to see someone treating Mrs. Boxer ((grin) rudely, I have to admit that I never quite sympathized with Mr. Alford's indignation. After all, he is the head of an organization (the National Black Chamber of Commerce) that exists--ostensibly, to represent a group of people based on race (we have a purely "business" Chamber of Commerce). As a person is opposed to just about every policy preference of Barbara Boxer, it is difficult to care about what Mrs. Boxer is/was feeling, but I did sympathize with her predicament . . . Mr. Alford shouldn't lead with race and expect not to be categorized on that basis. That being said, maybe Mr. Alford and Boxer are now appreciating the sharp-edged nature of racial politics.

And on that note, the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr., a Harvard professor, should not be a news story (or not as it is being spun by the MSM (""Black scholar's arrest raises profiling questions"). I would bet that Gates (or at least Race Merchants) would have been up in arms if he had ended up dead or otherwise victimized because the police had ignored a report that two men with backpacks had seen forcing entry into an apartment. The facts as reported, even slanted in favor of Gates and even characterized as an example of possible racial profiling, do not justify Gates' actions.

Update: Charges Dropped Against Gates