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The Card Game
by Nathaniel Gadsden

In recent years, the media has played the “Card Game” to shift opinion on everything from race relations to the economy. I have gotten sick and tired of hearing about the “Race Card” each and every time a Black Person talks about racism in America. The News Reporter or commentator will usually start their report by saying “playing the race card….” This type of reporting used to saved for the likes of Rev. Jesse Jackson or Rev. Al Sharpton, but now it is commonly used to describe the position of any person that dares to discuss the obvious, that racism is alive and well in America, and many parts of the world community. The part that gets me the most is when the reporter uses the phrase “played”, as if to suggest that the person, who 9 times out of 10 is Black, is trying to manipulate the system or the situation to their advantage. The other suggestion is that the person “playing the race card” is not believable or honorable. My question is, when did the media become so opinionated and right winged leaning. What happened to the good old days when the media at least pretended to just report the news, and not try to influence it?

Most recently, I heard a reporter ask one of the Presidential hopefuls if they resented the fact that their opponent “played the money card.” I laughed out loud. What the heck is the money card? It appears that reports, like the mob crazy photographers, are working over time to not only report the story, but influence the slant of the story. The question that the reporter asked about the money card, sounded to me like an instigator on an elementary school playground. The reporters of today too often see themselves as part of the “Hollywood Stars Community” that gets the attention and the awards. They want to make a “name” for themselves by getting the story of the day. The real cards being played are the ones dealt to us by the person with the microphone and the pen.

As African American People we can’t afford to be backed down or backed up by media types who try to intimidate us from telling the truth about racism. The use of the phrase “playing the race card” has had a chilling effect on the serious conversation about race in America. The Black conservative right has played a part in this silly trend. They agree with anything that white people have to say about black people. The Black conservative movement in this country has been an embarrassment to themselves for the past fifty years. Their recent embracing of the “race card” lingo has exposed them for who they really are, fairly confused individuals. A white conservative colleague, who I clash with often, said that she would rather talk to a person that she feels is being honest, than with someone who is trying to be “acceptable.” She went on to say that she must admit, many of her conservative white friends and colleagues really don’t like the Clarence Thomas’s of the world. They tolerate them because they defend their positions. She went on to say, “I never feel like he and others are being honest about their true feelings.” My position is that race and racism is not a game. The only true cards are those people who refuse to be honest about the game that is being played on us.

We can only play the hand we've been dealt.