Obama's Race Card Play Shows Ignorance

By ALICIA COLON
August 3, 2007

Senator Obama pulled a Danny Glover during the Democratic candidates' recent YouTube debate on CNN, and no one had the intestinal fortitude to challenge his off-the-cuff remark. When asked if he was authentically black enough, the Democratic presidential candidate answered, "You know, when I'm catching a cab in Manhattan, in the past, I think I've given my credentials."

In November 1999, actor Danny Glover complained that six yellow cabs had passed by him and his daughter on 166th Street and Seventh Avenue. He held a press conference detailing his experience, and within days, then-state Senator David Paterson and the Reverend Al Sharpton were threatening a class action suit against the Taxi and Limousine Commission. Mayor Giuliani toughened the Operation Refusal program, which used undercover black and Hispanic agents to root out racial prejudice. Repeat offender taxicab drivers could have their taxi licenses revoked or their cabs confiscated.

What I would like to have heard from the host of the CNN debate, Anderson Cooper, was a follow-up question to Mr. Obama such as: "Senator, what would you do to address this situation? If you're going to interject racial prejudice into the issue, how do you explain the fact that the majority of taxicab drivers are immigrants from Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and the Caribbean?"

But that question wasn't asked because, just as in 1999, the reality of crime against taxicab drivers was overlooked. Isolated instances of racism may very well be behind the failure to pick up blacks, but more likely it is the fear of being the victim of a crime that prompts this action. Far too many taxi drivers have been beaten, robbed, and killed by their passengers; police officials confirm that young black men are disproportionately represented as the perpetrators of this type of crime. It is this fact that has made drivers of all ethnicities wary of any potential passengers of color, but politicians are too afraid to touch on this point.

In 1999, the notoriety of Mr. Glover's case brought out the testimony of cab drivers disturbed by the mayor's sting operation. In an urban policy paper by a Syracuse University professor, John Zinger, I read about Paul Frietz, a black native of Haiti who recalled being robbed and assaulted by two young black male passengers in 1997.

"Now," Mr. Frietz said, "I simply don't pick up teenagers. You're supposed to stop for everybody, but do you really think cabdrivers are going to put our lives on the line? That is nonsense, and you can be sure 99% of the drivers agree."

Fast-forward to 2007, and nothing much has changed. In May, Balwinder Singh became the eighth New York City cabbie to be robbed at gunpoint by the same gunman, described as a muscular black man in his 30s, within a two-week period. Though drivers have the suspect's description, they are forbidden to refuse to pick up customers based on race.

My foster nephew, Juan, is a black Hispanic who drives a cab at night and admits that he will not pick up any black person wearing a do-rag. "It's ridiculous," he told me. "You cannot refuse anybody, but I'd rather pay a fine than risk my life."

Once again, a serious problem has been superseded by a social agenda, and nothing is accomplished. Blacks will only be able to get a cab routinely in Manhattan when crime against drivers by blacks is reduced. No amount of sensitivity training will allay the fears of drivers until that happens. That Mr. Obama resorted to a crowd-pleasing rhetoric rather than telling the questioner, "Do you have a real question?" is disappointing at the very least. His supercilious remark and the press's inability to flesh out the issue gives credibility to Newt Gingrich's criticism of this demeaning primary process, which the former speaker of the House calls an "audition" for the presidency.

The Republican candidates are scheduled to participate in their own YouTube debate in September, but only two have agreed to appear. Mitt Romney said, "I think the presidency ought to be held at a higher level than having to answer questions from a snowman." He is absolutely right, but ever since Bill Clinton deigned to answer the "boxers or briefs?" inquiry at an MTV forum, we've descended into a netherworld of déclassé, sophomoric politics.

It's a dangerous world that requires solid leadership, not glibness before a television audience. I don't blame Fred Thompson at all for not wanting to be subjected to such a circus this early in the race. That being said, I sincerely doubt that Mr. Obama has ever been turned down by a Manhattan taxicab driver, and I suspect the taxicab drivers who passed Mr. Glover by were not racists. Maybe they were just discriminating movie critics.

Obama's Race Card Play Shows Ignorance

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