Fatimah Ali: KEEPING UP WITH THE BITTERS

D

AILY News

columnist Stu Bykofsky recently accused me of having the bitters and a chip on my shoulder.

I was furious. Stu's disrespect had come without any personal provocation.

Boy was I p-o'ed!

But it caused me to think about my own personal journey, and I went back and studied every column I've ever written.

A man whom I've never met had judged me harshly, and I was certain that he just doesn't get it. I queried the online Random House Webster Dictionary, which defines "bitter" as "resentful or cynical," to make sure I wasn't being overly sensitive.

But his words had really stung. And they continued to haunt me.

I was shocked when so many white folks responded to my earlier "Great Race De Bait" writings with the claims that institutional racism was a figment of my imagination. Others flaunted their supremacist mentality. But recognizing institutional racism isn't being bitter, it's acknowledging what many black people experience every day.

Or so I thought.

Centuries of institutional racism continue to batter the black community. America is the "United States of Amnesia," says Georgetown professor Michael Eric Dyson. Dyson appeared on MSNBC last week at the forum following an airing of the documentary "Meeting David Wilson," in which Wilson traces his family's history as slaves.

Dyson said the country's refusal to apologize for slavery has had destructive implications for generations. Howard University history professor Gregory Carr also cited subtle language misnomers in the way black culture is treated, like using the term "mainstream" for white culture, instead of "Euro-stream."

All of this beats you down. Especially in a country where the wealth disparity grows wider by the hour.

But it's all about perspective.

Perhaps Stu is right, and I am bitter. So are plenty of other black folks, and with good reason. For me, the search for full-time employment has been exhausting. For others, poverty is worse.

Yes, many blacks do beat the odds and achieve.

But, far more lag behind. Especially in Philadelphia, where job opportunities and social reinforcements like enough decent schools are scarce.

So, when reports say Philadelphia leads all cities in populating the prison-industrial complex, yet nearly 50 percent of our students don't graduate from high school, I get an instant attitude.

That said, families in western Pennsylvania and throughout the United States who've endured decades of poverty because of job losses from corporate outsourcing, downsizing, mergers and free trade, also have every right to be bitter.

If clinging to their worship and their weapons makes their lives more bearable, God bless them.

Barack Obama spoke volumes when he referred to the bitterness of small-town families because of our deteriorating economy. Although, as he admits, his words were ill-chosen, no one should miss his point.

Hillary Clinton and John McCain's opportunistic reactions to his sound bite is ludicrous.

People are fed up with the elite Washington status quo that excludes them.

They are angry that the White House continues to ignore their needs and that thousands of children go to bed hungry because their parents' jobs were sent to countries that provide cheap labor. These people work themselves to the bone and still can't make ends meet.

Obama admitted his error, and, no, he should not have put God and guns in the same breath. But poverty does make people resentful, especially when they believe that no one has their backs. To blast him for aptly describing the reality of people whose American dreams have crumbled because greed has shut down their livelihoods undermines an angry class of poor people. And it shifts the blame away from those responsible.

No one is more elitist than Hillary Clinton. No one has tried to manipulate the public more. And no one has "misspoken" as much as she has.

Sniper fire? Puhleeze. Throwing back shots to show how regular she is and that she can hang with the boys does not prove that she is one of them.

OVER THE weekend, two elderly white women knocked on my door wearing Obama buttons. Our conversation focused on our children, who all support him. It's the main reason these women were volunteering. They are thinking about an American future that includes opportunities for everyone.

Bitter is a mighty strong word, but it accurately describes taxpayers like me who feel let down because it's so hard to take care of our families.

Obama told the truth. That doesn't make him elitist, it just makes him real. As for the bitters - the good thing is, they can be temporary when you're really an optimist at heart. *

Fatimah Ali is a regular contributor. E-mail her at fameworksmedia@yahoo.com.