Crime & Federalism

I am sure the rumors can't be true. Mike Nifong is not leaving public service. No, I don't believe for a moment the talk. Nifong is not leaving to become personal attorney to a public figure. Why would Al Sharpton hire Nifong, anyway?

The convergence of the Duke lacrosse hoax and the immolation of Don Imus give us a unique chance to talk honestly about race and racism.

Truth number one. We still can't talk honestly about race. One reason is residual white guilt. A corollary is smug black complacency. You see there is entire culture of entitlement out there. It supports the likes of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton: Men's whose only apparent talent is anger. Set my people free, they say. But what they mean is something far less. Our suffering makes us morally unique, they suggest. As a result, we're not fully responsible.

Thus this week we see Sharpton skewer Imus for the now infamous comment about "nappy headed hos." Yet Sharpton has played the race card in incendiary ways for decades. He stirred the pot in the Tawana Brawley farce. And he was a cheerleader of hate in the Duke lacrosse farce. Why doesn't anyone call for Sharpton's resignation? But I forget, he's a victim of racial hatred, and therefore to be forgiven for being little more than a moral caricature. Ditto Jackson.

Why can't a white man call a black man a fool on the topic of race? Why is honky suspect when he ups the ante in the race game and calls a spade a spade? Al Sharpton sets race relations back decades. He can't outgrow the pimp walk he learned decades ago. He still thinks his race is the most important thing about him. Thus, Sharpton the racist warps all he touches.

Truth number two. White men like Nifong are the moral equivalent of Sharpton. Toss color on the palette of human affairs and the crypto-white racist is paralyzed. Did white boys rape a black girl? Perhaps, and a prosecutor is obliged to gather evidence and evaluate the case when the accusation is made. But when the evidence overwhelmingly shows that the rape story is a farce, why not drop the case? Why not? Because race makes a coward of men like Nifong, men who somehow can't recognize that the color line is only one among the many vectors that shape our lives.

Race matters. Poverty and color often go hand in hand. The so-called war on drugs decimates communities of color. Equal opportunity remains a goal, not a reality. These are real issues calling for serious solutions.

What do we get instead of debate? We get professional blacks calling for Imus's skin. We get white men afraid of the color of their own shadow prosecuting lies. We get cheap symbolism of netowrks distancing themselves from the mere expression of a symptom of racial disharmony.

We get the illusion of doing something. But nothing really changes. Fire Imus, go ahead. But tomorrow a young black kid in some court near you will still get sentenced to decades for possession a few grams of crack cocaine. Test scores among children in urban schools will still be poor.

But, oh, how good we will feel for a day or so in the wake of this symbollic execution.

Race matters, but Don Imus does not. Race matters, but not as a public relations tool for the likes of Al Sharpton. Race matters. Ask the Duke lacrosse team.

Nifong working for Sharpton? Why not? He's been dancing like a puppet on Sharpton's string for the past year anyhow.