I'm not a conservative

[teach1st]

I'm not a conservative
By Bill Maxwell, St. Petersburg Times, 4/9

All of my writing life, I have remained silent about being labeled a conservative. Friends have regularly encouraged me to set the record straight, but I refused until now for two reasons. First, I thought it would be self-serving. Second, I learned decades ago that disabusing critics of erroneous beliefs, illogic and convenient lies is next to impossible.

But here goes. I am not a conservative, and I am deeply offended to be seen as one.

Here is a definition of a conservative: a person who is averse to change and holds to traditional values and attitudes, typically in politics, religion and social practices. I have never been afraid of change, particularly change that promotes the common good for the greatest number of Americans.

I came of age as a college student at the apex of the civil rights movement during the 1960s. As a member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, I marched from Selma to Montgomery; registered voters in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi; and organized maids, hotel workers and garbage collectors in Florida. Like many other activists of my generation, I went to jail several times for acts of civil disobedience. Was that conservative?

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[Buzz Clik]

1. Not sure who this person is, but if he is viewed as a conservative by everyone who knows him,

... he probably acts and talks like one. It certainly is not a result of wanting good schools and clean, safe neighborhoods.

[rurallib]

2. read the full article.

It is an odd twist to our current situation.

[Buzz Clik]

5. How could I have made the comments I did without reading the article?

I read it. I don't understand his complaint in the slightest.

But, considering I have no idea who he is, I find it difficult to care.

[teach1st]

3. There is no mention in the article that he is viewed as a conservative by everyone

There is no mention in the article that he is viewed as a conservative by everyone. According to the article, Maxwell's "Friends have regularly encouraged me to set the record straight," so those who know him probably don't see him as a conservative, right?

Maxwell is a columnist for the St. Petersburg Times. (http://www.tampabay.com/writers/article380406.ece) He often argues that there is a greater need for blacks to assume responsible parenting, to support and be involved with education, and to take responsibility for the conditions of the communities in which they live. Readers often assume he is conservative because of those views.

The article's conclusion:

So what is the source of this nonsense that I am a conservative? My race. When it comes to race in the United States, we practice a cruel double standard in matters related to so-called values, the area in which we are judged most quickly to be either liberal or conservative.

When my white liberal friends believe that education is essential to success and insist on their children doing well in school, they are called good, normal parents. When I, a black man, believe and do the same, I am dismissed as a conservative freak.

My white friends seek to rear their children in crime-free neighborhoods. I want black kids to grow up the same way. For wanting what is normal, I am condemned as a conservative and an enemy of black people.

Liberal whites I know read to their children and grandchildren and take them to museums and other venues of culture. Blacks should do the same for their children. For this belief, I am condemned as conservative.

My white acquaintances enjoy the benefits of nice homes and clean streets. I want the same for blacks. I want blacks to stop destroying their own neighborhoods and slaughtering one another. I want them to become zero-tolerant of crime, a normal sentiment.

Why do whites escape negative judgment for desiring normalcy while I am excoriated as being a conservative? The answer lies in America's double standard — practiced by both blacks and whites — when race and values converge.

[Buzz Clik]

6. I read it before. Reading it again clarifies nothing.

Maybe you have to be a local reader to get it.

I think he has a great attitude. Perhaps he is suffering from being a thinking human rather than an ideological machine. That will get you in trouble with some of the brainless types.

:shrug:

[Siouxmealso]

4. I'm confused

Sounds like he is too. I still don't understand why people think he's a conservative.

[Buzz Clik]

7. I don't see why wanting safe neighborhoods and schools requires any political leaning at all.

[teach1st]

8. Clarification

I'm glad a few people posted that they are confused. Upon further reflection, I think Mr. Maxwell is being disingenuous as to why some would think he is conservative. Those who do think he's conservative are more likely to do so because they think he criticizes blacks for their current difficulties, while ignoring the societal effects of prolonged institutional racism.