Posted by
Defend America on Wednesday, March 10, 2010 7:16:22 PM
I must confess that until recently I had no idea what Twitter was.
Even now, I'm not completely sure how it's best used. When I want to
post something, the younger, more tech-savvy people in my office help
me out. But I do know this: if you searched Twitter for "Dan Rather"
over the past few days, you probably could guess why I feel the need to
write this column.
It started this past Sunday when I appeared on Chris Matthews'
syndicated talk show. I've known and respected Chris for many years and
I enjoy doing his show. I take the train down from my home in New York
to Washington D.C. and as I approach Union Station my thoughts often
turn to the years I spent covering the Johnson and Nixon White Houses.
It was a turbulent time for the country and a formative period for me
as a reporter and a young father.
...
Meanwhile, new forms of journalism have emerged that were
unimaginable when I lived in Washington. The online and cable world has
allowed a freer exchange of ideas and more access to news. People can
scour the New York Times (or the Times of India for
that matter) in real time around the globe. If someone reads a
fascinating article he or she can share it easily with friends. When
news breaks, eyewitnesses have a forum for relaying their observations
and insights.
All this is the backdrop for what I said on the Matthews show. I was
talking about Obama and health care and I used the analogy of selling
watermelons by the side of the road. It's an expression that stretches
to my boyhood roots in Southeast Texas, when country highways were
lined with stands manned by sellers of all races. Now of course
watermelons have become a stereotype for African Americans and so my
analogy entered a charged environment. I'm sorry people took offense.
But anyone who knows me personally or knows my professional career
would know that race was not on my mind. Reporting on the injustices of
race was part of the reason I became a reporter. I grew up in
segregated Texas on the same side of the tracks as the African American
community. At the time, enlightened people called them Negr*s. Many
people called them much worse. When I covered the Civil Rights
movement, I saw sheer hatred in ways that still haunt and shock me. For
doing my small part in reporting on the South in the 1960s, I was
called a traitor to my roots and other names not fit for print. I was
threatened with death by people who would have welcomed me to their
church on Sunday on account of my white skin if they didn't know what I
was there to do. I do not take this issue lightly.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-rather/watermelons-washington-an_b_492890.html