Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Pitts to speak as part of Flagler Ideas and Images series

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Leonard Pitts, Jr.

ST. AUGUSTINE, FL (03/15/2014)(readMedia)-- Twice a week, millions of newspaper readers around the country seek out the voice of Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Leonard Pitts, Jr.

On March 25, they can find him at Flagler College.

Pitts will be on campus as part of the Ideas and Images lecture series and will survey the South's complicated and torturous racial history in his talk "Chains, Roots and Wings."

Formerly a pop music critic, Pitts was hired by The Miami Herald in 1991. By 1994 he was writing about race and current affairs in his own column. In 2004, his column was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for commentary.

In addition to his column, Pitts has also been a college professor, a radio producer and the author of several critically acclaimed novels including his latest, "Freeman."

We had a chance to chat with Pitts about his upcoming lecture.

The title of your lecture is "Chains, Roots and Wings." Can you explain that a bit?

It really reflects three important things in connection with African Americans in the South. Chains are obvious but they don't just represent the physical chains of slavery but also the metaphorical chains such as Jim Crow and the discriminations that came after that. As for Roots, the South is where most of us as African Americans came from. Now I don't have any statistics to back this up but I would bet most of us as African Americans are probably only a generation or two removed from the South. And Wings, that is a hope for the future that perhaps we can pick out the ugliness of the past and forge something better.

It's easy to think of the Civil Rights Movement as a thing of the past but how far have we come really?

It's an interesting question. White Americans tend to look at how far we have traveled. African Americans tend to look at how much further we have to go. The thing is, both those things are true. It's like if your mission was to drive from California to New York and you get St. Louis. You can say well, we've come a very long way. You have. But the idea of being satisfied with that would be silly because you still have a long way to go. So I say great, we've come a long way, we've put a lot of miles behind us but we aren't there yet and people don't seem to want to deal with that.

You always hear comments like "I don't see color." Do you think that style of political correctness gets in the way of dealing with race?

I love that one. People think they are so enlightened and they are well intentioned but they are missing the point. If I have to make a show of not seeing an aspect of your identity, what I'm saying is that aspect of your identity is troublesome to me or is problematic in some way. I'm 6'1" and brown, if you don't see me as a black man, it doesn't say your color blind, it says your blind. The question isn't do you see me as black. The question is once you see me as black, what does that mean to you.

Does that false enlightenment get in the way of having a real conversation about racial issues?

It does. Talking about race in this country has become harder and harder for a number of reasons. One of the reasons is when you talk about our history, there is a tendency for African Americans to get angry or to feel humiliation and there's a tendency for white people to feel guilty or feel like you're trying to make them feel guilty. Neither of those are very productive. I think another problem is too many African Americans are playing this game of gotcha. If a white person says something that maybe is a little questionable but not meant as racist, they're more interested in roasting you on a spit than correcting the issue and moving on to the larger point. But also, we go back to the "Oh, we've come such a long way" sentiment. We have a problem where many people tend to think that's enough. Obama is president. Oprah is queen. We don't have to talk about this anymore. In the meantime we have things like record numbers of incarcerated African Americans and employment discrimination.

The Civil Rights fight is growing much larger than just in the African American community. What is your take on the similarities between that battle and the fight for gay rights?

The arguments that are being made now for laws like the one that Arizona just tried to pass are identical, not similar, to the arguments that were made to the Voting Rights Act in the 1960s. If you're African American and have any sense of your history, you're saying, "Hey, wait a minute" and making common cause with the gays. I'm kind of frustrated with the lack of vigilance on the part of African Americans and others who believe in social justice. Progress is being stolen right out from under our noses and we aren't paying attention.

Pitts' lecture, "Chains, Roots and Wings," will take place at 7 p.m. in the Lewis Auditorium at Flagler College, 14 Granada St., St. Augustine.

"Ideas and Images: Visiting Scholars and Artists Program" features an international composition of artists and authors, introducing a fresh and creative component to the greater St. Augustine community.

Each event is free and open to the public. Call (904) 819-6282 or visit flagler.edu/our-community for more information.

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Flagler College is an independent, four-year, comprehensive baccalaureate college located in St. Augustine, Fla. The college offers 29 majors, 34 minors and two pre-professional programs, the largest majors being business, education and communication. Small by intent, Flagler College has an enrollment of about 2,500 students, as well as a satellite campus at Tallahassee Community College in Tallahassee, Fla. A Flagler education is less than half the cost of similar private colleges, and competitive with many state universities. A relatively young institution (founded in 1968), Flagler College is also noted for its historic beauty. The centerpiece of the campus is the former Hotel Ponce de Leon, a grand resort built in 1888 by Henry M. Flagler, industrialist, railroad pioneer and co-founder of Standard Oil. The Ponce has been designated as a National Historic Landmark. For more on Flagler College, visit www.flagler.edu.