DATELINE–South California

“It made me proud to know that he was on our side,” beamed a white Republican in Illinois.

He, Colin Powell, African-American, had appeared on prime time television so that our sins against colored folk might be forgiven.

We have reached a familiar turning point: it is only a matter of minutes before race, history and, even, live reality, is transformed into a spectacle of glorious harmony. Leni Riefenstahl would be proud.

Thanks to the awesome power of our not-for-hire television networks, almost all of the 54 black delegates present at the Republican convention were invited to fill our screens for the entire duration of the retired general’s speech.

Amazingly, no digital wizardry was involved in converting a 2.7% black audience into 50% of all audience reaction shots.

Believe it or not, it was the human beings who direct the cameramen who were actually responsible for this feat of fantastical focus.

Rhythm, order, symmetry. Cue, teleprompter, cut. Bring on the dog and pony show. Parade the very people you seek to veil under a mantle of demagoguery and affected sentimentality.

But should you allude to hard-working immigrants in San “No More Wetbacks” Diego, make sure to restrict your allusions to a dead and buried great-grandfather1. The future of our new, common sense American dream must be built on an ancient past.

Let us forget the present for it alone is neither pre-scheduled nor over-produced. Coverage. Coverage. Coverage.