A Fit of Irony

Arkansas Appellate Court Judge Wendell Griffen has been making waves for quite some time. By all accounts, he is articulate, well-educated, charismatic, out-spoken, and not afraid to speak his mind. When the University of Arkansas fired basketball coach Nolan Richardson, Judge Griffen was at the forefront of the supposed fight over whether or not Mr. Richardson was mistreated by the University. Coach Richardson was fired for speaking his mind out loud.

In most other circumstances, skin color or race would have little to do with what I offer to you today. However, it must be said that these two particular gentlemen have been most outspoken about the continuing struggle of African-Americans and how mistreated blacks in general. Both gentlemen happen to be black.

Why is the color of their skin relevant? Because both men are loud, obnoxious, and unafraid to speak up. In politics, in law, in religion, tact is everything. There is always a more appropriate time and place to speak up, and the audience must be considered in all circumstances. But what makes these two gentlemen unique in their “struggle” against white society is the mere fact that both men are well-educated, very influential, and extremely successful in their endeavors. So it begs the question: if things are so bad for black Americans, how did they (and so many others) manage to make it?

Could it possibly be because they both determined long ago that they may actually have to work hard to achieve all they intended to achieve? Could it possibly be that they are successful because they actually worked for, and earned, their own achievements?

My being white precludes me from knowing too much about what it must have been like to grow up black in America, so I acknowledge that I lack a certain perspective. Having said this, however, I recall former Oklahoma congressman J.C. Watts (a black man) saying that he was not the least bit interested in someone “insulting” him by suggesting that standards must be lowered to accommodate him or any other black person who is willing to work hard to achieve a goal. Looking at Judge Griffen and Coach Richardson and hearing Mr. Watts, what is left for me to know? All three gentlemen are proof positive that the “system” some have professed to struggle against is the same “system” that worked for them and for countless others who chose not to feel sorry for themselves but chose instead to buckle down and do whatever it takes to achieve their goals and live their own dreams.

It takes sheer hard work and determination to become a successful basketball coach (Mr. Richardson was, and can be still) or a judge or a congressman. None of these things come easily regardless of the color of one’s skin. So they struggled and achieved. Why would they suggest that others coming after them work any less hard for the same goals?