September 18, 2009

• Actually it really IS based on race

  One incident does not a pattern make and it can be difficult to prove that anyone is a racist or carries any racial prejudices because of a particular outburst at a particular time. Nevertheless events have context. And it is not really so hard to imagine that in the context of the events of this past summer that some of and perhaps a great deal of the anger being directed at this President has a racial component.

  This is what former President Jimmy Carter stressed here:

  He clarified his beliefs further here:
  

  Now this produced a firestorm of controversy. In the media out of all that President Carter stated the only thing they heard was “Jimmy Carter is calling Joe Wilson a racist because he shouted ‘You Lie’”  And they reacted in shock and abhorrence. But if you listen to his words, and I mean really listen, that isn’t the bulk of what he is saying. It isn’t even the important part of what he’s saying.  The former President is suggesting, and speaking from his own personal experience, that there are a great many people in this country who will not ever accept a Black Man as President. He is saying critiques of the President, like Joe Wilson’s comments are fueled by Racism. That’s very different. That’s a much stronger statement.

  This is not a unique perspective. I can tell you from experience that most of Black America was shocked and awed that Obama won the election. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve spoken to people and had them tell me how amazed they were. 

  Hint. It’s not because they didn’t think a black man was capable of being President.

  They never thought that a black man could be accepted enough to be elected President.  They knew, from experience, from encounters, from their own lives that there were people out there who have racists thoughts and inclinations. That they can be loud and they can be dangerous and that they have an influence on the debate in the society. And they thought, that because of that, because these people would put voice to irrational fears and stoke the fires of hatred and they would be listened to, that it would prevent any black man from collecting enough of the vote to become the President of the United States. Not this soon after the civil rights movement, they thought.  Not this fast.

  They were wrong. And they were ecstatic to be wrong. Many did have tears in their eyes when President Obama was elected. That emotion was not feigned.  They hoped against hope that this was a sign and a symbol of a better future yet to come.

  But many of those same people who were shocked to see a Black Man win the Presidency are not so shocked to see what’s happening now. Oh no. Of that they are not surprised at all. It conforms with and connects with the very fears that made them doubt in the first place. The fear that America is not ready. The fear that race and the color of your skin still matters way too much. The fear that, as President Carter suggests, many will never accept black people as their equals.

  President Obama made it a point to disagree with the former President through a spokesman:

  
  I think he’s wrong. And I think it’s sad that, it took a former President, a white man to give voice to what many black people across the country are feeling every day, the sense that they are being attacked, made into outcasts and scapegoats. Treated as if they are the enemy. As dangerous as “Al quaeda”. As scary as “Hitler”. For daring to have the audacity to want a better life for themselves.

  So we turn on the TV and watch the news and again and again we are appalled at the things that are said and suggested about Obama. We’re shocked that anyone can say these things about anyone, let alone a sitting President. As one of my family members said to me the other day “I just don’t understand. How can people just stand up there and make up all these lies day after day? Why doesn’t anyone stop them?” 

  And there’s that confusion and doubt. Why isn’t anyone stopping them? Why IS it not only acceptable to make these proclamations suggesting that Obama is part of some secret Kenyan conspiracy to implement a racist nazi regime, but they’ll be repeated again and again and again. Reported as if it were all “he said, she said” and the character or content of the words don’t have meaning. The false and fake “reporting” perpetrated by Fox News and others makes the most vile whack job racist’s opinion seem as meaningful and as worthy of reporting as that of the President.

  We hear it all the time. See it all the time. Words and phrases and language and insinuations. It seems motivated by race to us. Very much so. This is how we feel. And it is not just a figment of our imaginations.

  And when we hear and see all this, one of our own, denigrated for promoting policies not substantially different from what previously presidents have done before, is it any surprise that it promotes fear and anger especially in the very young and idealistic?

  And that anger when acted upon of course fuels even more racism. It creates an even more racially charged environment. It feeds on itself.

  And in an environment where, often forgotten Black people are suffering to a vastly disproportionate extent from the economic collapse than white people, I often wonder how it is that things haven’t boiled over into chaos.

  Many people don’t understand that. They don’t see how extreme the difference is. They think “we’re all suffering” in this recession but they’ve never really looked at the statistics.

  The Black Unemployment rate sits at 15.1% in contrast to that of whites which sits at 8.9%, Hispanics at 13%. Asians 7.5%.  Remember unemployment rates don’t count people who have given up looking or people who for whatever reason can’t work. And it also excludes people who are working way below their old salary at reduces hours or only for parts of the year. Economists estimate the underemployed or unemployed rate for blacks is as high as 27%. So nearly three in every ten Black people you meet is struggling to find work to support themselves.  link1  link2

  This is on top of the continuing incarceration problem. 3% of black males are in prison compared to just 0.5% of white males. The probability of a black male spending time in prison during their life time was put at 16% versus 2% for white males and 9% for Hispanics. One in every four black males you meet has or will be in prison during some time in their life time.

  On top of that there’s the black foreclosure rate which is decimating what remains of the black middle class. A disproportionate number of black home owners have subprime mortgages. And that’s not by accident. Many companies deliberately targeted Black neighborhoods and black families for these known to be dangerous loans. They even used Black Churches, a trusted institution amongst most black communities to push these ideas.

  This is on top of pre-existing wealth gap. In 2007, that’s before the recession. For every one dollar a white family had in overall wealth, an African American family only had 10 cents. That’s not insignificant. When you have a few paychecks saved and lose your job it’s bad but not the end of the world. When you’re living from paycheck to paycheck it can be devastating. Given this it doesn’t seem so unreasonable to assert as some writers have asserted that Black America has moved beyond recession. Now we’re facing a full blown depression.

  But you don’t hear discussion of these facts when it comes to race very often. We’re supposed to talk about economics as if it is neither impacted nor impacts racial attitudes. Just like we’re supposed to talk about politics as if it never EVER has anything to do with race. Oh no. Not in this so called “post racial” America.

  It must have taken enormous courage for the ex President to stand up there and say what he said. And look how quickly and how rapidly he is being vilified for it. Crazy President Carter the Right Wing media immediately proclaimed. At first they called him an Anti-semite for daring to suggest that it might be a good idea to try to give the Palestinians a degree of peace and security.  Now he’s denounced as a self hating Racist. And we see call after call for President Carter to just “shut up” and stop talking about Race.

  IS it any wonder that Eric Holder proclaimed Americans to be a nation of cowards?

  I think he’s right. He tells us we have to talk with each other frankly about Race. No surprise, he was also crucified for this comment.

  Jimmy Carter dared to try and open up a discussion about race. Eric Holder tried to open up a discussion about race.  Might it not be the case that this is important?

  Yet again and again we are told race is not an issue. None of the criticisms are based on race. Not even a tiny bit. It’s all principled opposition.  It’s suggesting that we’re only bringing up race as an attempt to distract from the issues, or to avoid answering claims we supposedly “can’t” answer. We just ought not talk about it. And by bringing it up. By daring to discuss it. It is twisted around and suggested that we, and only we, the black population and the liberals, are the ones that have the real race problem. How DARE we play the RACE Card! All the rest of America has supposedly moved beyond it.

  So when Racial Profiling comes to the fore in the Henry Louis Gates incident we are told “eh, it was just a little misunderstanding”. All those other incidents of racial profiling people have reported must just be overreactions or misunderstandings or delusions too. (Nevermind the implicit suggestion there that the higher black incarceration rate must then be because black people are just more criminally inclined than others) When Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh call President Obama a Racist or heavily suggest it and imply it on a nearly daily basis we are told they are just aberrations and don’t reflect anything, never mind their massive audiences.

  And of course, none of THIS matters at all:

  As Keith Olbermann shows in his amazing piece, the history of racially charged opposition to President Obama is not new. It’s not small. It’s not insignificant. And it’s certainly not so trivial as to make anyone who suggests it an outcast.

  Race is a deep and overriding component of the events that have been happening in this country over the last few months and longer. It’s insinuated its way into virtually every news story, from the trivial to the most profound.

  It’s not just about Black vs White too. There was definitely a negative racial under current sitting beneath the criticisms of Sonia Sotomayor. The primary critiques of her, indeed the only real critiques of her, were an innocuous statement about race, and a single decision having to do with an alleged case of “reverse discrimination”. All the rest of her many years of distinguished service were invalidated in the eyes of many because of those two events.

  There’s  certainly a persistent and perpetual racial undercurrent in the critiques of illegal aliens. People accuse those “others” of stealing their jobs and their livelihoods. How dare they get treated in emergency rooms! How dare they be given jobs so they can buy food! That’s coming both from black and white America, especially the poorest amongst both communities looking for someone to blame for the hardships they are facing. And much of it too is fueled by racism. The deep seeded fear of a nation on the verge of being overwhelmed by a Hispanic invasion.

  It cuts to even more trivial events too. How racial were the discussions of Michael Jackson’s death? The questions of whether or not he deserved praise past his Death and whether his Death was accidental? How racial is the discussion of the recent Serena Williams incident during the US Open or that of Kanye West’s experiences during the Video Music Awards?  It’s no surprise that District 9 and Star Trek both have racial elements. Race is everywhere.

  For a society striving to move “beyond race” as now President then candidate Obama suggested we seem AWFULLY preoccupied with race. It keeps coming up again and again and again. The country is virtually boiling over with race concerns. You can even see it around Xanga. Post after post after post devoted to race especially in the last few weeks.  This too isn’t sheer chance. It’s a symptom of a deeper phenomenon.

  For those conservatives amongst you, please don’t get me wrong. Although a lot of us, myself included, do perceive that there are racial elements to the attacks upon the President, that does not mean I am calling all conservatives, all republicans, or all white people racist. Far from it. I’m not even saying that all of the criticisms are inherently racial. I’m not saying they all count as racial slurs, though some of them clearly do.

  What I am saying is that there is race behind them. I’m saying that there are racists amongst you. And they have a disproportionate amount of sway and influence on the direction and the tone of the debate. They are preying on fears and insecurities and deep seated emotional biases to serve their own interests and they are in the position to have the power to do so. They shouldn’t.

  And until you cast them out, discredit them, or stop listening to them, you should not be surprised at all if much of Black America begins to perceive what you are calling peaceful grassroots protests as racists attacks on them and their society and their way of life personally. They are as much entitled to righteous anger at their predicament as you are. Don’t be surprised if you begin to see them act accordingly.

  This absolutely is a dangerous environment. Nancy Pelosi was right to suggest it. Things have a feel of spiraling out of control. The administrations tendency to pretend the problem isn’t there doesn’t help.

  But it could be worse. We should all be glad that most of the people who lived through the civil rights movements and the dark times that preceded them are now older. Because the idea of mobs holding signs denigrating their race even if it is targeted toward but one high powered representative of that race would for many be very reminiscent of signs held aloft during KKK rally’s and indeed, during lynchings.

  Perhaps my favorite response to Jimmy Carter’s words and President Obama’s response was made by Grace Lee Boggs this morning. She’s an asian woman who married a black man, a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Bryn Mawr College, and who fought for civil rights and democracy for most of her 94 year life. And she’s one of my favorite people.

  She praised President Carter’s courage. And of the Obama administration’s response? She called it pitiful.

  I would not be surprised if I too will be singled out for writing this as someone who is “playing the race card” an expression which itself inherently suggests that references to race and discussion are disingenuous attempts to obtain advantage. That is obviously not my intent. Undoubtedly it would be more in my interest to play along and pretend that there aren’t any racial fears or racial biases in me or that race doesn’t matter to me at all or to anybody I know or care about.  It is certainly a lot EASIER to just counter the content literal content of these critiques since they are so often so very easily shown to be false and just pretend there’s no race question here.

  But that would be a lie.

  I don’t think everything is based on race. I don’t think everybody is a racist or everyone from any particular race is racist. I don’t think every racist statement or racially charged comment ought to make someone into an enemy or cause them to be dismissed or drummed out of public discourse. I don’t even think being a racist disqualifies you from your opinion or discredits you from the society.  There were generations of very racist people who did a lot of Good for this country.

  “I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in anyway the social and political equality of the white and black races – that I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race. I say upon this occasion I do not perceive that because the white man is to have the superior position the negro should be denied everything.”

  THAT was said by  none other than Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln was unquestionably a racist. Does the fact that he had these clearly racist beliefs make him a monster?  Does it mean we should hate an despise his memory? No! Of course not. There is a tendency to think that if someone calls something you said racist that it is an indictment on your whole being and that it invalidates all that you’ve done or ever will do. It doesn’t. But by the same token it’s still vitally important that we TALK about how very RACIST such statements are. We can’t just ignore them lest people think that it’s okay to hold such beliefs.

  But I do think there’s too much unchallenged and unremarked racism about right here and right now in this society. I think that in the drive to fight against excessive “political correctness” we’ve gone too far the other way and excused and tolerated and accepted obviously racially charged attacks without calling them out, without denouncing them loudly and forcefully enough for what they are.

  And what they are is wrong.

  • 7:31 pm
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