Roland Martin, Rush Limbaugh and the GOP’s Race Problem

Name calling and rhetoric stall battle against racism

The views expressed in this Op-Ed do not reflect that of the Loop 21.

For political pundits and radio talking heads, social media spats are part of the daily routine.

So it’s no shock that Washington Watch host and CNN contributor Roland Martin and conservative talk radio giant Rush Limbaugh squared off earlier this week. Limbaugh took exception to a tweet Martin sent his nearly 128,000 followers, in which Martin  stated “…I simply accept the reality that racism is in the DNA of America...”            

Limbaugh ranted on his nationally syndicated radio show that the belief that America is inherently racist is typical of those who he described as prescribing to the “religion” of liberalism. Martin struck back via Twitter, citing Limbaugh’s history of racially questionable declarations and drug abuse.

During the ensuing backlash, both sides have tossed the accusation of race baiting at the other. Those sympathetic with Limbaugh insist racism is not an intricate part of the American story, disingenuously arguing that Martin claimed racism is a uniquely American problem.

It’s unfortunate but not surprising that some have adopted the stance that racism isn’t married to the history of America, and the rest of the Western world.

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The ultimate irony is that many of those decrying moderates and liberals who cite our country’s racist past simultaneously believe – in line with basic Judeo-Christian values – that we live in a fundamentally sinful world where people’s actions are influenced by their own self-interest.

So it’s fine to believe that mankind is fundamentally flawed, but not that America is?

Besides the political hypocrisy involved with accepting that mindset, it all-too-conveniently ignores the truth that is our nation’s dark history of racial repression.

One of America’s first acts was to massacre the millions of Native Americans who lived on these lands for generations before our white founders “discovered” it.

Next, America perpetuated one of the largest institutional acts of racism in the human history through the trans-Atlantic slave trade.