Let's calmly discuss race and health care
Lake County Board member Mary Ross Cunningham owes her colleagues a genuine apology for her uncontrolled rant about race earlier this week.
That would be the best way for the Waukegan Democrat to begin a county board gathering this morning after she went off on them in a committee hearing Tuesday, suggesting fellow board members were refusing to support a health care reform resolution because it was recommended by the National Association of Black County Officials.
"When I saw 'black' I knew then it wasn't going to fly," Cunningham said during an extended screaming fit that had some of her elected colleagues near tears.
We have learned again and again that those who are not black really struggle to fully understand what a lifetime of living in color in a country nearly torn asunder over slavery is like, but Cunningham's emotional outburst suggesting that her colleagues are racist goes well beyond the boundaries of respect and decorum. Her words and behavior were divisive, disrespectful and unfair. Sadly, they have attracted negative national attention from one of the talking heads who pretend to be journalists on radio and TV.
Changing our health care system clearly affects us all and we feel it deeply. But this is not about race.
Certainly, counties provide health care for poor residents, but we agree with the majority of the Lake County committee members who decided county officials should not weigh in on a debate that will be determined at the federal level in Congress.
County board member Michelle Feldman was much more insightful after the outburst when she said, "Sometimes we get emotional over things we have borne our entire lives."
We can't begin to imagine what Cunningham, the vice chair of the county's health committee, has borne in her lifetime. And we do appreciate what a heartfelt firestorm this talk of revamping our nation's health care has fueled.
It truly is astounding. While we're thrilled to see thousands of people showing up at meetings, expressing their views and engaging in our democracy, the ways in which many people are going about it are deplorable.
Cunningham's outburst is the first we've heard of from an elected public representative, but several federal representatives have shamefully hidden from the topic. That is bad. So is the behavior of citizens who show up at gatherings that have been hosted publicly by our members of Congress only to shout and drown out those who disagree with them.
We all must listen to each other. And we all must learn to disagree without being disagreeable; without tearing each other down.
It's time, on every level and in every venue, to tone down the volume in the health care talk. We'll all hear much more clearly.