What’s the worst thing a person can be?
No, no, not that. Way worse than that.
Oh, that? Not even close. Once upon a time, maybe…
What, that??? You’ve got to be kidding. That’s about the best thing you could be, these days. Want to get into college? Want a government job? Want to be a Marine? Right to the front of the line.
No, no, come on… you know the answer… starts with ‘r’…
Yes!! (Took you long enough.) The very worst thing a person can be is a racist.
And hey, guess what.
You’re a racist.
Yep, that’s right, you’re a racist. You heard me. Don’t give me that innocent look.
And you know what else? You’d better be careful, because we’ve got our eye on you. And if you keep it up — and we know you will, because that’s just the sort of person you are — we’re going to make things pretty hot for you and your pals.
(Yes, that’s right, even hotter than they are now, smartass.)
What’s that you say? You’re not a racist? Ha! Don’t be ridiculous. Of course you are. We know you are. (And like I said, you’d better watch out, because we helpless victims are one bunch of people you do not want to piss off.)
What now?? Oh, that’s rich. You’re telling me that if you really were a racist, you wouldn’t have voted for Barack Obama? Nice try. Tell you what: you were a racist then, and you’re a racist now. In fact, your voting for Obama just shows you’re the worst possible kind of racist: one of those sneaky, insidious racists. I mean, you’re thinking of not voting for him next time, right? What’s that? OK, maybe you’ll still vote for him — but nevertheless, you’re kind of disappointed, aren’t you. Right? Don’t deny it.
You see?? That’s racist, in case you didn’t know. Racist, racist, racist.
Racist racist racist racist racist.
Oh — now you want me to prove you’re a racist? Seriously?? Let me get this straight: just because a racist is the very worst thing a person can be, and I’m telling you you’re guilty (that’s right, guilty!) of being one, you expect me to prove it?
Ha! Boy, what a rube.
Well, let me clue you in: I don’t have to prove it. Innocent until proven guilty, you say? Wrong again, chief. Not when it comes to being the very worst thing a person can be: a racist. Like you. And your buddies.
No, you’ve got it backwards, my “friend”: I’m afraid you’re going to have to prove to us that you’re not just a bunch of racists. You’ll never be able to do it, of course — but we like watching you try.
Got it? Good. Now get out of here, and watch your step.
Because we have to put this whole race business behind us, or we’re never going to get anywhere.
14 Comments
The piece in the Nation is one of the silliest things I have read in a long time, and has no place in a fine website such as yours. Not sure what’s in the Salon piece, which is a 404 error.
The author compares Obama with Bill Clinton regarding DADT, when there has been a sea change in public opinion regarding gay rights since then. Ditto for welfare programs. I’m scratching my head to figure out if we are supposed to bring Clinton down to Obama’s level, or raise Obama to Clinton’s level. She then looks at white liberals who are disenchanted with Obama and suggests that it is because they stopped grooving on his blackness, or something like that. Maybe they’re disenchanted because they thought they elected a progressive and got a centrist instead?
Obama gets plenty of heat from the left for its perception that he is a captive of Wall Street, didn’t get a public option, compromises too much with Republicans, and so forth. Right or wrong, these complaints have nothing to do with race. For the author to superimpose the issue of race without even anecdotal evidence leaves her with an unconvincing argument.
Of Obama and race, some things can be said with certainty.
There are plenty of people who are racists and would not vote for Obama because of his race.
There are plenty of people who oppose Obama because of his policies, and race has nothing to do with it. I would put you in this camp, as well as David Brooks, Krauthammer, and so forth.
Obama’s race has been used against him by his opponents in politics and the media. Donald Trump suggests that the only way he could have risen to the pinnacle of Harvard Law School is because, you know, he got extra help because he’s black. It wasn’t Obama’s brain: it was affirmative action. Black guys just aren’t that smart.
Obama is regularly called a thug by political opponents. The right wing media also uses the image of black thuggery against him. A recent example was his fiftieth birthday party, featured on the front page of the Fox News site as “Obama’s Hip Hop Party.” The site had pictures of only four guests, and they just happened to be the only four blacks who attended, and their pictures all suggested that they spent the last week partying with Keith Richards. It turned out that Obama’s Hip Hop Party had precisely one hip hop song, which is probably less than the average bar mitzvah.
The way his wife is treated by some is beneath contempt. For a long time, if you Googled her name, the top spot was a racist image of her with a bone through her nose. I remember plenty of vicious attacks on George Bush, but not a single one on Laura Bush. (God forbid she should go to Target. I thought Rush was going to go into myocardial infarction.)
Every other President has been a white male, and as the Jackie Robinson of American politics, what else would you expect? If we ever get a female, Jewish, or Mormon President, that will also be hard for some. This is not a bad thing. Obama’s election to the Presidency is proof positive of American exceptionalism. Outside of Peru with Alberto Fujimori, I don’t think there has even been another country who chose someone outside the dominant ethnicity as their leader. An achievement like this will never come with everybody rowing the same boat.
One other thing it shows is the exceptionalism of Barack Obama. Despite being handed some of the most difficult and intractable problems any President has ever faced, as well as an opposition which has been strident and unyielding, you have never, ever heard him use racism as an excuse for anything. And that is truly exceptional..
Oops. Should have written “the right wing media use,” not uses.
As penance, I shall add the following quote from Napoleon: in politics, absurdity is not a handicap.
Interesting – the Joan Walsh piece at Salon.com has been taken down. I’ve replaced the link with this cached page.
Guess she didn’t watch her step. Typical racist behavior.
In the interest of brevity I’ll pass over most of your long comment. Glad you agree about the items in The Nation.
There are also plenty of people who are racists and will vote for him because of his race.
I’ll leave further commentary — among other things, about the extent to which this administration, particularly its Justice Department, can fairly be imagined to be as purely “post-racial” as your last paragraph suggests — for another time.
The Salon piece wasn’t taken down after all, it seems; they just changed the link.
“There are also plenty of people who are racists and will vote for him because of his race.”
You beat me to it, Malcolm. The monolithic support of Obama (I think around 96% in the 2008 election) by African American voters was the most striking example of racism in America in recent memory.
As for Mrs. Obama, her strident public bad-mouthing of America during the 2008 campaign was “beneath contempt”, to quote one of her delusional fans.
Al Gore got 90% and John Kerry got 88%, and they both lost. Obama won a landslide victory. Your point is what, exactly?
My point, exactly, is that 96% support is monolithic and racist.
It may be monolithic, but it is not racist.
Let’s review.
1) Gore and Kerry – Henry, have you noticed that they’re both white? – had losing campaigns, while capturing around 90% of the black vote.
2) Obama, who had a record landslide with much higher margins across all ethnic groups than either Gore or Kerry, had a slightly higher margin among blacks than either Gore or Kerry.
The fact, Henry, is that blacks have historically voted Democratic in overwhelming numbers, regardless of whether the candidate is black or white. To posit that a 6% increment for a landslide victor is proof of “the most striking example of racism in America in recent memory” is a truly asinine statement, even by your shockingly low standards.
Yeah, yeah. Next you’ll be telling me that Batshit-crazy Pelosi is a “great public servant”.
The one-eyed Dick Ed is more predictable than Pavlov’s dog. Say anything that contradicts his useful-idiot worldview and he comes barrelling in like an over-pumped seltzer-bottle, spraying words of indignation, ad hominem slurs and spittle in all directions. What a clown.
Quite a statement for one who suffers from coulrophobia.
Henry, you are a tiresome fool with nothing of interest to say. If others want to engage with you, that’s their business.
Don’t forget to take your ball …
I think I was wrong about poor Henry. It’s not coulrophobia which is his main problem.
It’s anatidaephobia.
Back so soon?