Fatimah Ali: Me, hue & the race debate

THE RECENTLY revealed comments by Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) about Sen. Barack Obama being a viable candidate for president because "he is a light-skinned African-American, with no Negro dialect" - which made such a stir - actually pale in comparison to the nasty verbiage that airs daily across right-wing broadcast media.

As long as we have the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Pat Robertson routinely polarizing America, it will be challenging to counteract the racism that continues to plague this country.

As you've no doubt heard, Limbaugh accused President Obama of trying to politicize the devastating earthquake in Haiti to improve his popularity in the black community (and also tried to discourage people from making donations to Haitian relief), while Robertson said Haiti had been cursed because its people struck a deal with the devil in order to free themselves from French-imposed slavery 200 years ago.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs denounced Robertson: "It never ceases to amaze that, in times of human suffering, somebody says something that can be so utterly stupid." Unfortunately, there are people who are actually prepared to believe such tirades, no matter how mean-spirited and heartless they are.

Yes, I understand the First Amendment, but I can only shake my head at the fact that these broadcasters have a venue to spew such ugliness, especially about a disaster which may well have killed 100,000 people.

I hoped that Limbaugh might have been humbled after he suffered chest pains that sent him to the hospital in Hawaii recently. But, no, he's back behind the microphone, as vile as before. When Robertson talks about anyone making deals with the devil, perhaps he should put a check mark next to ol' Rush, who daily seems to fan the flames of racism and ignorance.

In comparison, Reid's comments about skin color, for which he's apologized and the Obamas have forgiven him, are relatively benign.

Chronicled in "Game Change," the new book by reporters John Heilemann and Mark Halpern, a behind-the-scenes account of the 2008 presidential campaign, Reid's words sparked yet another conversation about race.

But what fascinates me about the fallout, is that skin tone and the word "Negro" are far from the real points that America needs to touch on in any discussion about race. More attention has to be spent on achieving racial parity in our educational institutions and in corporate America than on what one man said about color a couple of years ago.

(For the record, I prefer to call African-Americans "people of color" or "New World Africans," which better encompasses our rainbow of hues.)

And while I'm shocked that anyone in public life could still be using the word "Negro," I'm also amazed that in a book of 436 pages, a single quote has so much media attention when the authors detail so much other salacious information. (One example - the Clintons were despised by some fellow Democrats much more than the public ever knew.)

Reid's comments about skin tone are merely a minor point, while the behind-the-scenes battles that Obama endured with the Clintons take up half of the book - and are the real fascination.

That said, I know that some black folks (mostly elderly) still use the words "Negro" or "colored," and some even think that having European features makes them better than our darker brethren. So, did Reid speak the truth about Obama's skin color?

Personally, I find that having a mixed heritage is often a burden in some circles, both black and white. Darker-skinned people of color ridicule us for not being black enough, or whites are leery.

Light-skinned people like me routinely face what one of my former college professors called "the tragic mulatto syndrome." And I resent that, even today, people who look like me are called "high yellow" by some in my own race. It's still one of those holdovers from slavery that we still haven't gotten over.

ALTHOUGH America has made tremendous strides in race relations, there's still way more to be done. Our goal should be to love each other, because on Judgment Day, it won't matter what our skin color is. But each of us will be accountable for how we've treated our fellow human beings during our time on earth.

Fatimah Ali is a journalist, media consultant and an associate member of the Daily News editorial board.