29 OCT 06: COLOR SCHEMES

The caller had a question about a campaign commercial on Columbus television. I've seen many of them this year - enough that I'm ready to tell someone that Mark Taylor is the candidate who's "the big guy."

But this caller the other night was asking about an ad for the Georgia Attorney General. He said Thurbert Baker's first TV commercial shows law officers of several ethnic communities -- but the citizens Baker supposedly has helped are all white. I should have asked the caller if he could recall Baker's tag line - or if that question was as "tough as nails."

I hadn't paid that much attention to every little detail in Thurbert Baker's commercial. I was interested in content and facts. This caller was more interested in images and visuals. Come to think of it, doesn't that make him more like a man and me more like a woman?

What struck me more about Thurbert Baker's TV commercials is how little you actually see the Georgia Attorney General. One shows his suit and his shoes while an announcer mentions his record -- but you never see his face until the last few seconds. It's as if most Georgians can't believe an African-American man could be so tough on crime.

But anyway: can you believe in 2006, someone would be counting the people in TV commercials by skin color? Aren't we at 40 years and more after Selma? Aren't we approaching 50 years since Little Rock Central? Aren't we.... oh, I forgot. We're at two weeks without mixed co-hosts on WRCG's "TalkLine."

It gives me no pleasure to admit my late father did the same sort of thing in the 1960's. While watching Sunday afternoon basketball games on TV, he'd lead me in a game of.... well, unlike the caller the other night, he wasn't counting white players....

But in the game of politics, sometimes appearances in a TV ad are carefully designed to make a point. Take the Mike Hubbard "attack ad" that Alabama House candidate Carolyn Ellis is running right now. It shows smoke around Hubbard's picture, apparently to depict a "smoke-filled room" - because the ad never says where he stands on smoking bans.

So at this caller's urging, I watched Thurbert Baker's initial campaign commercial - and sure enough: the four "ordinary citizens" helped by the Georgia Attorney General are all white. The African-American caller seemed insulted by this. Are only white Georgians supposed to feel safe from crime?, he suggested to me. Well, maybe those are the only people Baker is helping....

Somebody has to ask it -- does the Kenneth Walker family plan to endorse Thurbert Baker's opponent, in the Georgia Attorney General race? After all, Baker has refused to intervene and order a second grand jury review of the case. Or would that endorsement actually bring Baker more voters - because it would imply the opponent wants weak, wimpy sheriffs?

Your blog called the Thurbert Baker campaign office in Atlanta Friday afternoon, to ask about why all the ordinary citizens in the commercial are white. But as of Saturday night, the Attorney General's press people had NOT returned our message. Maybe it's because someone figured out the real message - or maybe they can't believe someone looked that closely for subliminal messages.

Meanwhile, the Thurbert Baker campaign issued a new TV ad - this one including retired Taylor County Sheriff Nick Giles. This raises an obvious question: where's the CURRENT Taylor County Sheriff? Is he too busy keeping high school students separated, to prevent racial turmoil?

To be fair: this caller is not alone in thinking in counting skin colors in this campaign season. The latest issue of "The Courier" lists contributions to mayoral candidates from "black leaders." For some reason, the "Eco Latino" side of the tabloid doesn't list the donations from Hispanic leaders - and beyond Mimi Woodson, there must be someone.

(The tabloid noted Rep. Sanford Bishop gave $1,000 to BOTH the Bob Poydasheff and Jim Wetherington campaigns - so at least someone around here understands that "One Columbus" stuff.)

A full-page ad in the latest issue of "The Courier" lists people who support Bob Poydasheff for a second term as Mayor. It's noteworthy that all three African-American members of Columbus Council are on that list. So is Muscogee County School Board member Pat Hugley Green - but that could be because the incumbent gave her relative a nice promotion.

Not even a trip to church this weekend could give me a break from all this talk about skin color. The Pastor where I attend told us about an upcoming movie called "Color of the Cross," which he says will be released only in "black neighborhoods." Thanks to Carmike Cinema, I guess we'll never see it in Columbus....

The Pastor said "Color of the Cross" portrays Jesus as African-American, and not Jewish. "That's rather sad," he declared - adding the Biblical evidence indicates Jesus was white. But doesn't all this miss a point? The next time people see Jesus, it'll be like Western movies - the way we'll know this spirit being is a good guy will be by the white robes others around Him are wearing.

If you saw the ABC News report on newborn twins in London the other night, you may remember the genetic statistics it had. Only ten genes out of the tens of thousands in the human body determine skin color. So we've feuded in this country (and others) for decades over all of TEN genes. We were micro-managing before anyone even came up with the word.

And if all this wasn't enough, the caller who alerted me to the Thurbert Baker commercial called me again Saturday. This time, he noted the red and black sky in one of Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue's campaign commercials matched the colors of the brush fire in southern California. Hmmm -- should more money for fire departments be on the "Sonny-Do" list?

So what's going on here - with so many people suddenly making such a big deal about colors? After thinking it over, the answer became obvious. People are looking at the changing fall leaves....

Now before someone else e-mails us about the changing colors of this blog, here's a look at news items from the weekend:

+ People across Georgia and Alabama reset their clocks back one hour for standard time. Or as I've come to call it - my one night a year on Central Time.

+ Georgia gubernatorial candidate Mark Taylor came to Columbus, to talk with "special needs children" affected by cuts in Medicaid funding. WRBL's Heather Jensen said this was "not campaigning." If Taylor's in Columbus NOT campaigning ten days before the election, either that station is awfully naive -- or Taylor's having a big fling with campaign travel money while he can.

+ The Columbus Convention and Visitors Bureau held an open house, to mark "Columbus on My Mind Day. " For some reason, Pine Mountain Wild Animal Safari brought a python to display - as if it's also "Get Pine Mountain off your Mind Day."

+ The Stylistics and The Manhattans headlined a "70's Soul Jam" concert at the RiverCenter. The Dramatics also appeared - although during football season I suppose they show up at the last minute.

+ Shooters from several countries competed at Fort Benning, in an "International Sniper Competition." Why do I somehow have the feeling entries from Iraq and Afghanistan were turned down?!

+ The Columbus Cottonmouths lost their first road game of the season, 8-3 at Fayetteville. It's good to hear Cottonmouths games on WEAM "1580 The Zone" this season. After two years of broadcasts on a small FM station in West Point, I was starting to think the Kia land might double as a hockey arena.

+ Instant Message to "Cascabel the Professional Pirate": I don't care if you were at the big Port Columbus pirates' weekend. I simply don't believe you're a professional pirate. After all, you didn't wear a Pittsburgh baseball uniform.

SCHEDULED MONDAY: What we thought of the candidates for Muscogee County School Board....

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