Blog Post on All-White Senate Draws The Not-So-Friendly Fire

By Chuck Sudo in News on Nov 30, 2010 8:20PM

NBC Chicago's Edward McClelland wrote a thoughtful post about how Mark Kirk's swearing in yesterday leaves the Senate without a African-American; how Illinois has seated three of the four blacks to serve in the Senate post-Reconstruction; and why the other 49 states can't get on board and do the same.

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This is no slur against Kirk. It’s not a slur against Illinois, either. It shouldn’t be our responsibility to provide a black senator. It’s a slur against the other 49 states, who refuse to elect a black politician to the U.S. Senate. African-Americans make up 12 percent of this country’s population. Their presence in America goes back nearly 400 years -- “Before the Mayflower,” as the title of a history of black America puts. Yet after 4 p.m. today, African-Americans will make up 0 percent of the nation’s most prestigious elective body. That’s disgraceful.

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Today, McClelland shows the whirlwind his post reaped. The original post, which was picked up by Drudge Report, went out to readers of conservative media, drawing in misguided, ill-informed comments from readers across the country mistaking racism for thoughtful political discourse and suggesting that McClelland either needs to leave Chicago to get a view of the rest of the country or that he was himself racist.

For the record, 33 percent of NBC Chicago readers are "laughing" at the post.

McClelland, who wrote a book about how Chicago produced the first black president, suggests (and we tend to agree) that black politicians still have a lot to overcome in the so-called "post-racial America." If you want an idea of why the other 49 states haven't elected an African-American senator, read those comments.