One of the certainties of every presidential election season is the guaranty that competing television and radio hosts will vie for the major candidates to come on their programs. Another certainty is that the more self-involved hosts will engage in a taunting level of braggadocio exclaiming that the candidate(s) won't come on their show because they know "I'll ask the tough questions."
I have my own tough question! In this era wherein votes and polls are broken down into every imaginable category, "Why do almost all white candidates shun interviews with the black and Spanish-speaking media?" We can turn on a variety of viewing and listening devices to digest a panel of, mostly white, pundits and politicians discussing the importance of the "minority vote" and what it will take for the candidate(s) to win them. And at times, the candidates will be on a show discussing why their agenda should appeal to a particular minority voting bloc.
Surely, the avid consumer of many of these programs may gain some insight into listening to these, mostly white folks, talk about how to win the black and Latino vote. But as our nation revels in and glorifies our melting pot of ethnic foods, ethnic music, and ethnic styles, it has yet to occur to the politicians and the punditry that these "ethnics" just might want to ask the candidates their own questions.
It is past time that we, as a nation, begin to expect more from those who promise so much and, often, deliver so little. It is time that we Americans expand our minds, our thoughts, and our concerns to those that make all of us America, the colorfully beautiful. And, it is time for the French-speaking American, Monsieur Mitt Romney, and the African sired, American born, Barack Obama to have sit-downs with Señor y Señorita America and the news people who work at predominately black, Latino and other ethnic issues media.
Having the same recognizable Latinos and African Americans on a panel of pundits of a major network or cable news/talk show hosted by the same left leaning, right leaning, centrist standing Caucasian personalities is no longer acceptable. And now that WHITES ONLY signs are a part of an American past viewed through a bygone prism of life, good and bad, it is time that our electoral candidates presented themselves to America through a prism other than "whites only" media.
