Roland Martin debacle: Race is always hiding under the carpet

20th February 2012   ·   0 Comments

By Rev. Barbara Reynolds
TriceEdneyWire.com Columnist

Eliot Spitzer, the disgraced governor of New York, spent thousands of dollars committing adultery with prostitutes on company time. He resigned, apologized for his scandalous behavior and went on to anchor a talk show on CNN.

Roland Martin, whose brilliance should have earned him an anchor job on CNN, was suspended and may be fired for tweeting a bad joke during the Super Bowl. His apology just might not be good enough to protect him from firing. He created a firestorm when he tweeted that male fans of an underwear commercial of soccer star David Beckham were not “real bruhs,” and people should “smack the .ish” out of them. This led to a call by homosexual activists to fire Martin, who CNN has suspended.

HBO’s Bill Maher in a bigoted tweet trashed Christ after the Denver Broncos lost 40-14 to the Buffalo Bills on Christmas Eve. He said, “Wow Jesus just f…ed Tim Tebow bad. And on Xmas Eve. Somewhere in hell Satan is Tebowing, saying to Hitler the Buffalos are killing them.” If HBO is upset about Maher’s blasphemy, I have missed it.

Christ-bashing Maher gets a free pass. After all he only insulted Christians of which I am one and I was hurt by Maher’s vile rant about my God. Martin gets a high-tech lynching. He insulted gays.

Homosexuals, heterosexuals, bikers, Christians, smokers, obese women, gypsies, belly dancers—no one—should be bullied, harassed or intimidated. Martin’s joke about gays was not funny and neither was Maher’s tirade about Jesus.

Somewhere there are lessons to be learned and questions to be asked. Maybe I should mention that Martin is Black and Maher and Spitzer are not. Race is always hiding under the carpet.

Why is the shameless behavior of an elected official, the governor of New York, something to be awarded with a cushy, high-profile media job? Yet, one tweet of one of the hardest-working journalists in the nation is cause for his high-profile media job to be snatched away.

Why is it that public figures can say anything no matter how vile and vulgar about Jesus Christ without the media raising a ruckus?

Where is the equal treatment? Gay ideology is virtually being spun into a religion, so hallowed that genuflection to their viewpoint is expected from journalists, teachers and even preachers. Gay activists have their own bible of rules that others must follow, such as when a gay person comes out of the closet that is time for celebration, but when a gay person converts back to straight those who applaud that are called homophobic. Tolerance has come to mean intolerance for any viewpoint that does not affirm homosexual behavior.

During the Super Bowl which is supposed to be family-correct entertainment , the media couldn’t stop drooling over the half-naked Beckham parading around in his underwear and the pop star who used her middle finger to tell her adoring fans; “f you.” Where I live thug-looking juveniles run around sporting their underwear barely covering the crack in their behinds. I am sick of that and here comes one of the world’s highest paid athletes proving to our kids that “behind showing” is a good thing. The media loved it; I didn’t think those celebs were appropriate role models for our children, but as a Christian, who cares what I think?

Virtually no-one gets fired for trashing Christians, but if Martin gets fired for an inappropriate joke about gays, he will have stepped into a growing trend, not a glaring exception. Under-reported instan­ces of Christians being fired, reprimanded or denied equal rights are numerous on Christian websites.

For example, last September an honor student at a Forth Worth high school was suspended for stating in class that “being a homosexual is wrong.” A biology teacher in California was fired for citing research that “homosexuality” may be influenced by both genes and the environment. Also a high-ranking administrator at Toledo University said she was fired after writing an opinion piece that contradicted the theory that Black civil rights and gay human rights are similar issues.

The tragedy that confronts Martin is that gay rights groups have the courage to fight for their beliefs and the right to deny others of theirs, while too many Christian leaders are either afraid to defend the Gospel or no longer believe their faith matters. Martin told a bad joke; if he were not a Christian he would be forgiven.

This article originally published in the February 20, 2012 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.