Media Misses Big Story
By: Leland Conway
Minority females across the country are being denied a story they should all hear. Tucked quietly away between the major media networks’ prep work for what they hope will be a “See, we told you so” Iraqi election violence story and top Democrats vying to lead their party to victory in the next election cycle, is perhaps the greatest racial equality story in American history. Only a week after we celebrated Martin Luther King’s birthday, Condoleezza Rice has been sworn in as the first African-American female to hold the nation’s top diplomatic post.
Where is the celebration among the civil rights activist community? Where is the acknowledgment of the progress that we have made as a country by those who have so long desired it? I think it necessary here, to point out those 13 dissidents in the Senate (Democrats all, including the most liberal Ted Kennedy, Barbara Boxer, and John Kerry) who voted against her confirmation. This was the most in history to oppose a Secretary of State nomination. For the party that has made so many empty promises to the NAACP for so long to come against this confirmation is confusing. Why is this not the biggest story of the decade in the main stream media? Why is this good news not being shouted from the mountaintops? It certainly has received coverage, but mostly on the negative attacks that Democrats were making against Rice. The biggest story of last week was California Senator Barbara Boxer’s bruised ego when Rice bested her in debate during the confirmation committee hearings.
Condoleezza Rice’s story is one of inspiring significance. Raised in segregated Birmingham, she has seen first hand the treachery of prejudice. Despite the obstacles before her, she has risen to one of the highest posts in the land. As a child, her parents took her to Washington D.C. where she saw the White House and told her mother “I am going to work there someday”. Her mother replied, “You can do anything you want to”. Minority women the world over should rejoice, and take heart. The trail has been blazed and the old stereotypes are falling.
There are certainly many battles still to fight to stamp out racism, but this particular victory is momentous. Not just because it is the first minority female to lead the State Department, but think of how it will change perceptions of America over time. Both from without and within, people who have long harbored quiet racial differences will be forced to re-examine the validity of those emotions now that an African-American woman has reached such a lofty position.
Fifty years ago, women were relegated to the role of housewife, and African-American men and women had to drink from separate water fountains than white people. Today, an African-American woman will guide American diplomacy, and there is serious talk of her possible Presidential bid in four years. Condoleezza Rice made herself what she is today through hard work, persistence and determination. Because of a society increasingly more open to diversity, she has become a mentor to people of all races, not just her own. Our society is progressing. With more work to do, we should stop bickering over political differences for a moment and thank God for this victory. I don’t see the Democrats rejoicing at something they long thought they would be the first to accomplish. But then, if Rice was a Democrat, it may never have been necessary for this column to have been written. Trust me; it would have been front page news.
