When Racism Masquerades as Something Else

(The following is an excellent commentary from the Philadelphia Inquirer. Carlos Dews puts into focus the current political climate, particularly the Tea Party...calling it what it really is. Dews' commentary is supported by facts from The University of Washington).

Don't let the virulent hatred of Obama's presidency - veiled in "policy differences" - fool you. Just ask someone raised around bigotry.

By Carlos Dews

[Dews is an author, a professor of English literature, and chairman of the Department of English Language and Literature at John Cabot University in Rome]

'The nigger show."

I first heard this expression used to describe the Obama administration during a visit to my hometown in East Texas during the early summer of 2009. I understood what the epithet meant: Our minds are made up, the president lacks legitimacy, and there is nothing he can do that we will support. I was not surprised to hear such a phrase.

I grew up in the 1960s during the ragged end of the Jim Crow era, where many of the books in my school library were stamped Colored School, meaning they had been brought to the white school when the town was forced to integrate the public school system. I recall my parents had instructed me, before my first day of elementary school, not to sit in a chair where a black child had sat. And I remember my sister joked that her yearbook, when it appeared at the end of her first year of integrated high school, was in "black and white."

The outward signs of racism of my home state have now disappeared, but racial hatred remains. My father and his friends still use the word nigger to refer to all black people, and the people of my hometown don't hesitate to spout their racist rhetoric to my face, assuming I agree with them. I hold my tongue for the sake of having continued access to this kind of truth. I learned long ago how not to accept the hatred I was being taught and how to survive not having done so. More recently, I realized that I also learned another lesson: how to recognize racism when it masquerades as something else.

More than 40 years after my first experiences with racism, I am thousands of miles away in Rome, but surrounded by ghosts. Last year, I received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for a community program called the Big Read, which sponsors activities to encourage communities to come together to read and discuss a single book. I chose Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, in part because I thought that some of the most salient issues in the novel - racism, classism, xenophobia, the Jim Crow era - were perhaps relevant to an increasingly diverse, contemporary Italy.

That there is racism in Italy is obvious to anyone who pays attention to current affairs. In fact, during the first week of the Big Read Rome, a story in one of Italy's national newspapers detailed the experience of a Nigerian woman being called sporca nera (essentially, dirty nigger) by two women she asked to stop smoking on a Roman bus.

But I never imagined that consideration of the novel would prove so relevant to a country that had just elected its first black president.

Ironically, until the election of Barack Obama, my discussions of racism in the United States seemed historical. I felt that with the passage of the civil rights legislation of the mid-1960s, the country had turned a corner, that the slow evaporation of overt racism was perhaps inevitable. Now, my personal experience of Southern racism feels current and all too familiar. A news story about the Big Read that appeared in La Repubblica on Sept. 20 (unaware that my grant was awarded during the Bush administration), presciently brought Rome, Obama, To Kill a Mockingbird, and racism together in its headline: "Obama brings antiracist book to Rome."

Jimmy Carter was lambasted for having recently explained that the vehemence with which many Americans resist Obama's presidency is an expression of racism. Carter was accused of fanning the flames of racial misunderstanding by labeling as "racist" what on the surface could be perceived as legitimate policy differences. Like Carter, as a white Southern man, I can see beyond the seemingly legitimate rhetoric to discern what is festering behind much of the opposition to Obama and to his administration's policy initiatives. I also have access, via the racist world from which I came, direct confirmation of the racial hatred toward Obama.

The veiled racism I sense in the United States today is couched, in public discourse at least, in terms that allow for plausible deniability of racist intent. And those who resist any policy initiative from the Obama administration engage in a scorched-earth policy that reminds me of the self-centered white flight, the abandonment of public schools, and the proliferation of private schools, that followed the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision to desegregate public schools. The very people, like my own rural, working-class family back in East Texas, who stand to gain from the efforts of the Obama administration and the Democratic Congress are, because of their racism, willing to oppose policies that would benefit them the most. Their racism outweighs their own self-interest.

Unfortunately, racists in the United States have learned one valuable lesson since the 1960s: They cannot express their racism directly. In public, they must veil their racial hatred behind policy differences. This obfuscation makes direct confrontation difficult. Anyone pointing out their racist motivations runs the risk of unfairly playing "the race card." But I know what members of my family mean when they say - as so many said during the town hall meetings in August - that they "want their country back." They want it back, safely, in the hands of someone like them, a white person. They feel that a black man has no right to be the president of their country.

During a phone conversation a few weeks after Obama's election, my father lamented that he and my mother might have to stop visiting the casinos in Shreveport, La.: Given Obama's election, "the niggers are already walking around like they own the place. They won't even give up their seats for white women anymore. I don't know what we're going to do with 'em."

My students often ask me how I managed to avoid accepting the lesson in racism offered by my family. From the time I was 4 or 5 years old - roughly the same age as Scout Finch, the narrator of To Kill a Mockingbird - I recall knowing that I didn't agree with racism. More important, my paternal grandmother provided me with the encouragement that I could ignore what I was being taught. She provided me with the courage to resist.

My grandmother hoped that my father and his father represented the last generations of the type of Southern man that had shaped her life - virulently racist, prone to violence, proud of their ignorance, and self-defeatingly stubborn. It was a type of Southern man that she hoped and prayed I could avoid becoming.

However, my father and his father were not the last of their kind; their racial hatred has been passed on. My grandmother, if she were alive, would recognize the same tendencies among many of the people who shout down politicians and bring guns to public rallies. She would also see how the only change they have made is to replace overt racist epithets with more euphemistic language.

Rather than seeing my home state and its racist attitudes, slowly, over time, pulled in the direction of more acceptance, the country as a whole has become more like the South, the racial or cultural equivalent of what is called the Walmartization of American retail.

It might be easy to see literature as impotent in the face of the persistence and adaptability of racism. But I continue to believe in the transformative potential of literature and its ability to provide an alternative view of the world. And for children who are not lucky enough to have grandmothers like mine, I believe that books like To Kill a Mockingbird can provide inoculation against the virus that is racism.

by Carlos Dews, author, a professor of English literature, and chairman of the Department of English Language and Literature at John Cabot University in Rome.

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This article originally appeared in the December 2009 issue of Aspenia, the Italian journal published by the Aspen Foundation Italy.

Republican Website Used for Racist Attacks on the Obama Family

Nope... no signs of reform within the Republican Party. In fact, it's becoming more hardcore as the GOP is forced to rally behind the racists who make up the Party's base.

Last week... the Obama family was the target of Right Wing racists on the popular Conservative website The Free Republic. The Free Republic's Founder Jim Robinson defended the comments on his website, calling it freedom of speech...and he even got in a few jabs of his own.

No Signs Yet That Republicans Plan to Give Up Racism

It looks like the next generation of Republican leaders are no less bigoted than the current leadership. Yippeee... I guess we can look forward to 25 more years of this stuff from political "leaders".

I guess the Republican makeover never reached the future leaders of the Party.

More Republican Racism Aimed At Obama

Over the weekend a South Carolina GOP operative was caught disparaging the First Lady... now we have a GOP'er from Tennessee who was caught spreading racist e-mail about President Obama. Tennessee, South Carolina.....add all the other incidents, and a clear pattern emerges. The majority of this lunacy comes from the South, which happens to be the geographical core of the Republican base.

With all the nonsense that we are catching by accident, it begs the question... how much of this isn't being caught? I mean... if we are running across something every week or every few days about the racism that we weren't supposed to see.... then the amount of sickness that goes on behind closed doors...that we aren't seeing has to be pretty damn massive.

Michelle Obama Compared to Gorilla

A Republican Operative in South Carolina was reportedly caught making disparaging remarks against First Lady Michelle Obama, comparing her to a Gorilla. The comments were left on Facebook and were apparently a response to local news reports about an Ape escaping from the local zoo.

According to FITSNews, former State Senate candidate Rusty DePass made a comment on Friday on the Internet site Facebook, describing the escaped gorilla at Riverbanks Zoo as an "ancestor" to First Lady Michelle Obama.

The comment was made after Trey Walker, an advisor to SC Attorney General Henry McMaster, posted a Facebook update about the escaped animal at the zoo. DePass posted a comment stating, "I'm sure it's just one of Michelle's ancestors - probably harmless."

The Facebook entry was quickly removed, but someone supposedly was able to obtain a screen capture:



Will Republican politicians be forced by the media to reject and denounce Mr. DePass?

See full report here

See Daily Kos entry

A Discussion With Dr. John Hope Franklin

Hear a special interview with Dr. John Hope Franklin from 2006. The interview was part of an event at the Los Angeles Public Library, and was conducted by Tavis Smiley.

Hear an additional interview from NPR.


See post on the passing of Dr. Franklin (Thanks to Rikyrah).

New York Post Portrays Obama as An Ape

Then tries to say it's not racist.

I was waiting on the first Post-inaugural story where the President would be portrayed as an animal. We knew this was coming. And I'm sure we can count on seeing a lot more.

The NY Post published the above cartoon from artist Sean Delonas today... and they are now defending his work. They claim that it's no big deal... that the artist didn't mean anything by it. Afterall... we are in a Post-racial America now... so this stuff shouldn't bother you Blacks so much anymore. Grow Up!!! That was the gist of the papers' comments defending the blatantly racist cartoon.

So are we going to have to put up with this kind of sickness for at least the next 4 years... under this kind of reasoning?

If Obama doesn't come out, draw a line, and make it clear that this was inappropriate... then other such cartoons will follow in legitimate newspapers. They are under the false impression that this "post-racial" thing means that there are no boundaries.

As for Delonas... this apparently isn't his first slip up.

What's even more ominous about this cartoon... is that it sends a couple of troubling messages... not just one. Of course the racism is obvious. But it also desensitizes the idea of shooting the President. The shooting of the President in a political cartoon???? Yes, I know this is Amerikkka and all... but I don't recall ever seeing that portrayed in this particular kind of way...not in a cartoon...portrayed as something funny. I definitely don't recall this being done when the Presidents were from the white male club. Not in a legitimate mainstream newspaper. Something like that would usually be seen as patently offensive and wouldn't get passed the editors...and rightfully so.

Ahh... Angry Independent... stop overreacting... the scene in the cartoon refers to the shooting of the pet chimp in Connecticut. Yeah... what a convenient cover.

The fact is... the two stories don't even mesh well together... one has nothing to do with the other...and the cartoon isn't funny by any stretch of the imagination.
This isn't about the editors not seeing the cartoon prior to publication. I think they saw it...and approved it...and had their arguments ready. They simply responded too quick to the criticism. But how they can defend Sean Delonas or themselves, is beyond me. This is an especially strange move for a newspaper considering how the newspaper industry is struggling right now. Hopefully a few companies will pull their ads. Not likely... but it would be nice to see. Since the editors and the management officially want to stand by their racist employees... then they should be prepared to face any economic consequences that might come their way.



UPDATE:

Baratunde Thurston... our neighbor from Jack and Jill Politics, discusses the NY Post fiasco on MSNBC. See video courtesy of Pam Spaulding's blog. Even host David Shuster couldn't hold back on how inappropriate this was.


UPDATE 2:

Hear an interview with Richard Prince from last year regarding the New Yorker Magazine "satire". Some of the issues raised by Prince then also apply in this case. You can also read his comments on this latest fiasco at the New York Post.

A Discussion With Muslim Americans - Now That Election Season Is Over

Thanks Rikyrah for hipping me to this photo a few weeks ago.
NPR's OnPoint offers a great post-election discussion with Muslim Americans. They finally provide their perspective after they were slandered by Politicians and by the American media for the last 18 months. They discuss their disappointment with how Obama handled the fearmongering and the slandering by Republicans. But they also discuss their hopes.

Did Obama do enough to speak out for American Muslims? Could he have done more? Or was he in the best position to speak up? And can Obama help bridge the gap between America's various cultural, ethnic, and religious groups?

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Related Links

Hear about the experiences of a Muslim family living under the U.S. culture of fear after 9/11.

Colin Powell Endorses Barack Obama

More Ignorance From A McCain - Palin Rally

Sometimes I wonder if these people live in caves. Perhaps they live in mental caves that they don't want to come out of. Because listening to their comments, it seems as if they are detached from reality. Part of the problem seems to be that they are likely FAUX News viewers, and FAUX News perpetuates hate, misinformation, rumors, etc. It's not a legitimate News organization. FAUX and its diehard viewers tend to create their own reality. These people (rural White Americans) also tend to move in their own circles, and seldom venture outside of their own echo chamber - Not all of them of course...(Obama has been gaining support in rural America), but a significant portion of rural White Americans seem to fit that mold. Therefore misinformation tends to be reinforced just by default when these people talk to one another. So you end up with a downward spiral of ignorance, hate, and xenophobia in certain parts of the Country.

Does isolation create this problem? 50 years ago (or more) I would say that isolation was a big part of the problem. But it's 2008, and it's a wired world now... people in the most remote corners of the earth should be in tune with what's going on... Satellite TV, Satellite Radio, Cable, Internet, Mobile Phone service (mobile internet)...are all over the place. So something else has to be going on to lead to this problem. I think it has more to do with (as I suggested) people's tendency to stay within their own echo chamber.

See Report from Al Jazeera News

More Sickness From a McCain - Palin Rally

Did anyone catch this one yet?

McCain/Palin Supporter with a makeshift Obama Monkey doll.



This video was recorded outside of a McCain/Palin rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania just a few days ago.

But watch what he does while in the rally. See video from CBS news.

It kills me when the Republicans try to deny that this atmosphere exists at their events, when clearly there is a pattern that proves otherwise. And they don't seem to understand that they offer an endorsement of this behavior by not standing up to condemn it.

Racial Prejudice and the 2008 Election

NPR has just completed the first segment of a series of programs that focus on how race will influence voters in the upcoming election.

In the first program (in two parts) the hosts talk with voters in York Pennsylvania.

This is a must listen....

Hear Part I

Hear Part II

It helps confirm many of the problems that I have been pointing out regarding the aptitude of the American voter, and the impact identity politics may play in this election. This is why Democrats should have cause for concern.

This election, in my view, may likely come down to Race for many voters.

McCain Making Serious Push for Michigan and Pennsylvania

Obama is losing ground in Michigan - A State that should be a Democratic stronghold. See Dave Leip's Michigan Page.

Obama is also beginning to struggle in Pennsylvania. See here.

These tend to be safe States for Democrats, at least that has been the case in recent elections.
The fact that these two States are in play this year may be a sign of trouble for the Democrats. I don't believe that Obama should lose either State, considering the urban vote in Philadelphia and Detroit, but the race should not be this close. It will depend on whether the current trend holds & Obama continues to slip or if he can stop the bleeding and recover....and how soon.

Check Dave Leip's interactive map on the sidebar to check State by State polling.

Of course this has everything to do with Race and xenophobia, and not much else.
This is why running a Black candidate is such a risk. I'm willing to admit and accept that America is sick.... has been sick for most of its history, going back to slavery, and it will most likely always be sick in terms of its racial polarization. I embraced this a long time ago.

I'm willing to accept that there will likely never be a Black President. So much so, that it is not a part of my agenda... never has been. Some folks are more concerned with having a Black President than having a Progressive in the White House. I'd much rather have a "safe" white Progressive candidate who could win (and who would probably be beating McCain by double digits at this point) than the current social experiment, which is flirting with disaster. White and Blue are more important colors to me than Brown when it comes to the Presidential election, especially when Brown has to struggle so hard just to stay afloat. What's more important to me are the issues that are important to a particular candidate and the values that he or she represents.

The idea that Democrats might be headed for another defeat - with all that we know... with all the evidence- is absolutely unthinkable. But here we are... I predicted the current situation, which is turning out to be a trainwreck for Democrats. Bad year for this kind of social experimentation, especially in a Country that is this sick. Terminally ill in fact. In another 50-100 years, you won't recognize this Country. If it stays on its present path (straight down) it will be a profoundly different Country in 50-100 years, perhaps even sooner. It will be a shell of what it used to be.

This wouldn't be so bad if it had a silver lining... if another loss could cause a collapse of the impotent and ineffective Democratic Party. Something new is desperately needed. A smarter, more savvy, Progressive Party that knows how to win. A Party that understands the habits of the American electorate.

Sarah Palin - Is She A Racist?

The Field Negro is having a discussion regarding more revelations about Palin...and her alleged use of racist and sexist slurs.

He has another great posting regarding race in general... titled "Race Matters".

Considering her current religious affiliations and the connections to right wing anti-government fringe groups.... the fact that she may be a bigot wouldn't surprise me at all.


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Related Posts and Articles

Palin Connected to Right Wing anti-American Fringe Group

AIP official mentioned Sarah Palin as a former member on video at Secessionist event last year

If Sarah Palin Where Black....

Sarah Palin's Not So Hidden Extremism

Sarah Palin - She Would Make a Great VP

The Lies Told By Sarah Palin

Hope-fully Change-ing Perceptions

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Bonus

Obama's Uphill Climb To The White House

Despite being ahead of John McCain in most polls, Obama still faces an uphill climb to the White House. Al Gore was ahead of George W. Bush in several polls before the November 2000 (s)election, yet he also faced an uphill climb, failing to win enough of a majority to prevent the fiasco in Florida. But the reasons for Obama’s struggle are more unique to this election, largely due to issues of Race, and America’s general unease with the unfamiliar and the Country’s tendency to be resistant to change, despite the need and the hunger for it. Ironic indeed. This resistance to change was also an issue for John Kerry in 2004, another candidate who polled well against George W. Bush leading up to the General Election, with numbers that were similar to what we are seeing now with Obama.

The numbers for Obama seem troubling to me. Although good across the board - winning support from women, winning young voters, winning large numbers of Black voters, and so on - he has been unable to hold a lead that reflects the nations "Change" sentiment. In National Polls, Obama is so far, averaging a lead of 5 points or so, with some polls showing a lead of less than 5 points, within or very near the MOE. Why is this troubling? Because according to just about every measure that I have seen/heard over the past 6 months, this election should be a transformative one, with very strong numbers in favor of the Democratic Party brand. When voters have been asked which Party they prefer (just generically) without the mention of specific candidates, Democrats have been chosen by margins in the range of 10-15 points. When asked about specific issues, Democrats have in some cases led by an even higher margin. But when John McCain was placed into the role of the GOP Candidate, the Republicans have typically polled better than the generic polls have suggested. This has a lot to do with the fact that McCain is a familiar name, a familiar face and (some) Americans feel comfortable with him.

Obama should be leading by 10 points or more at this stage. The length of the Democratic Primary and all of the negative Obama press it created, has probably had some impact on the current polling numbers. A 5 or 6 point lead may not be enough, considering the fact that the Republican media machine has yet to kick into high gear. Obama’s slim lead could be easily and quickly erased with the next gaffe or smear effort. Keep in mind that Obama had a 10-15 point lead in the State of Indiana, approximately 6 weeks before the Primary vote there, but ended up losing by a few thousand votes. There was a swing in polling numbers of more than 15 points in Indiana in just a few weeks. I watched the numbers every few days and saw them drop like a rock. The culprit? The corporate media’s smearing of Obama with xenophobic propaganda campaigns and the relentless looping of Rev. Wright stories, 24 hours a day, providing no context to the situation at all.

The same problem could happen again in the General Election contest and could make Obama's poll numbers sink. Although we should not place too much trust in National Polls, because what we actually have is 50 separate State-by-State elections for President. The National Polls only provide observers with an idea of which candidate Americans are leaning towards. In the State-by-State races, Obama is doing o.k. at the moment. Not great, but o.k. The most troubling area appears to be Michigan. McCain has managed to put Michigan in play, when it has usually been a more safe State for Democrats in recent elections. I don’t anticipate Democrats losing Michigan- there are tens of thousands of Democratic votes in the Detroit Metro area that are probably hard for Polls to accurately measure. But the situation is worth watching. Obama is putting more Republican States in play than John McCain is with Democratic States.

Obama will also have to do more to reach out to working class white voters. This will continue to be a problem for Obama in the coming weeks and months. There are significant numbers of these voters who will not vote for Barack Obama no matter how much he reaches out. The reasons for this have to do with issues xenophobia & Race. Racism will be an issue in this General Election campaign. In some States, such as Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia for example, as many as 20% of voters indicated that Race had an impact on their vote in the Democratic Primary election. If those were the numbers for the Democratic Primary, it seems to me that the General Election could, in some cases, be worse. This is probably an issue in other States as well, although to a much smaller degree. But in an election where several of the State-by-State races may be extremely close, having Race impact voters by just a few percentage points, could have a big impact on the outcomes. I am especially concerned about States such as Ohio, Virginia, Michigan, Missouri, and Colorado.

Obama will have to run a much smoother election campaign this time as compared to the Primary. His staff will have to be on a shorter leash. And he will have to respond to questions and attacks much quicker than before. The anti-smear website was definitely a good move overall, but it could also have pitfalls if not used effectively. There are issues with the site that the campaign may want to address...simply tweaking the design a little may help.

There are a few issues that should play in Obama’s favor. Two of the biggest issues are:

#1. The War on Terrorism/the attractiveness of a Ronald Reagan or John Wayne gunslinger President may not be as big of an issue among voters in this election as compared to 4 years ago. (Unless Republicans employ a heavy dose of fear, as they did in 2004).

#2. The economy. If the economy continues down its current path and if gas prices remain sky high, winning the election may prove to be very difficult for John McCain. If the Obama campaign plays smart, they will loop commercials 24 hours a day with video footage of McCain stating that he didn’t understand the economy during one of his campaign events a few months ago. The statement was made in response to a voters question. McCain handed his microphone to one of his economic advisors so that she could answer what seemed to be a very simple question that any Business student should have been able to answer.

Obama's Campaign Trail Not Paved With Gold

The Washington Post came out with a story yesterday describing several incidents of racism encountered by Obama campaign staff and volunteers. It's a story that's not being told by the national TV news media. The Washington Post story describes the sickness that I referred to in the post "Obama's Fading Hope". Parts of the WAPO article made me feel like I was reading an old microfilm report from the 1950's or 60's. I have increasing doubts about Obama's safety.

Is this kind of behavior as isolated as the Obama camp wants observers to believe? I really doubt it. It has just been under-reported. White Americans all across the country share similar feelings as the bigots in the report, but they may not be as brutally honest as those folks. Although I will say that the Reverend Wright fiasco has played differently in different parts of the Country. Certain regions are reacting more strongly than others to the media hype.

I believe that Obama was in trouble even before the well orchestrated Rev. Wright propaganda campaign against him, led by Clinton's people, her allies in the corporate media, and by the Conservative news pundits who Clinton has aligned herself with. But it is clear that the Rev. Wright matter has had an impact, despite all the hopeful Obama supporters who say it was no big deal. But then again, I believe that the Rev. Wright propaganda was a convenient excuse for Whites who really didn't want to vote for Obama anyway, because of their bigoted reservations about voting for a Black person. I knew from the outset that there was a certain segment of White Americans who would not vote for Barack Obama no matter what....due to his race. It is this same kind of racist sentiment that is largely behind the reason for so many Clinton supporters saying that they won't vote for Obama if he's the Democratic nominee...they will vote for McCain instead, or they'll stay home. Interesting how Hillary Clinton hasn't come out against this. On the contrary, she attempted to take advantage of it. She understands the racial dynamics that are in her favor.

But the propaganda has been damaging. Obama had been doing quite well with White voters up until a few days before Ohio when the Clinton camp decided to use racist gutter politics. Actually e-mails about Obama's religion had been circulating for some time before that, and there was clearly an attempt by the Clintons to inject race into the campaign long before Ohio. But the really nasty gutter politics began in the week leading up to Ohio, particularly with the ambush at the debate and the release of the photo of Obama in traditional African tribal dress....suggesting he was Muslim, a terrorist, would sympathize with terrorists, etc. From that point on, the racist politics have been relentless...and it is therefore no surprise that his support among certain segments of White voters has suffered ever since.

I have been amused by the corporate media talking points over the last few weeks. Hillary Clinton...along with the same White pundits who participated in the campaign to destroy Obama's character, weaken his electability, and swiftboat his campaign are the same jackasses who have most recently asked... "why can't he close the deal?", "Oh....looks like he's struggling with White voters", etc... NO S__T!!!! Of course he's going to lose some of his support from White voters.

After the swiftboat job that the media has done on Obama, it is an absolute miracle that he is still standing at all. In my opinion the media (and Hillary) have been relatively successful with accomplishing 2 out of 3 of the items I mentioned above... destroying Obama's character, and weakening his electability in the General Election. But they have not been able to completely swiftboat him just yet.... perhaps they are leaving that job for John McCain.

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See the Washington Post Article Below- What impact will this social/political climate have in the General Election....or looking even further ahead (probably too far ahead) what impact will it have on a possible Obama Presidency? Will he be scrutinized more than other Presidents? Will the media and voters look for the slightest mistake as an opportunity to pounce? I say that the double standard will certainly be in order... it always is for us.....no matter what the job is. Life experience has taught me that. And it will be no different for Obama if he reaches the Presidency. It's ironic to think that the media will probably scrutinize Obama more if he makes it...analyzing every little move he makes...yet the reporters & the networks were absent when we needed the media most to be more skeptical, inquisitive, and aggressive over the past 20 years or so....especially over the last 8 years. From Iran-Contra, to Yugoslavia, the war in Iraq, Afghanistan, Oil Prices, etc etc...the list goes on. Where were they then?

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Racist Incidents Give Some Obama Campaigners Pause

By Kevin Merida
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 13, 2008

(for photos see the Washington Post Report via the link at the bottom)

Danielle Ross was alone in an empty room at the Obama campaign headquarters in Kokomo, Ind., a cellphone in one hand, a voter call list in the other. She was stretched out on the carpeted floor wearing laceless sky-blue Converses, stories from the trail on her mind. It was the day before Indiana's primary, and she had just been chased by dogs while canvassing in a Kokomo suburb. But that was not the worst thing to occur since she postponed her sophomore year at Middle Tennessee State University, in part to hopscotch America stumping for Barack Obama.

Here's the worst: In Muncie, a factory town in the east-central part of Indiana, Ross and her cohorts were soliciting support for Obama at malls, on street corners and in a Wal-Mart parking lot, and they ran into "a horrible response," as Ross put it, a level of anti-black sentiment that none of them had anticipated.

"The first person I encountered was like, 'I'll never vote for a black person,' " recalled Ross, who is white and just turned 20. "People just weren't receptive."
For all the hope and excitement Obama's candidacy is generating, some of his field workers, phone-bank volunteers and campaign surrogates are encountering a raw racism and hostility that have gone largely unnoticed -- and unreported -- this election season. Doors have been slammed in their faces. They've been called racially derogatory names (including the white volunteers). And they've endured malicious rants and ugly stereotyping from people who can't fathom that the senator from Illinois could become the first African American president.

The contrast between the large, adoring crowds Obama draws at public events and the gritty street-level work to win votes is stark. The candidate is largely insulated from the mean-spiritedness that some of his foot soldiers deal with away from the media spotlight.

Victoria Switzer, a retired social studies teacher, was on phone-bank duty one night during the Pennsylvania primary campaign. One night was all she could take: "It wasn't pretty." She made 60 calls to prospective voters in Susquehanna County, her home county, which is 98 percent white. The responses were dispiriting. One caller, Switzer remembers, said he couldn't possibly vote for Obama and concluded: "Hang that darky from a tree!"

Documentary filmmaker Rory Kennedy, the daughter of the late Robert F. Kennedy, said she, too, came across "a lot of racism" when campaigning for Obama in Pennsylvania. One Pittsburgh union organizer told her he would not vote for Obama because he is black, and a white voter, she said, offered this frank reason for not backing Obama: "White people look out for white people, and black people look out for black people."

Obama campaign officials say such incidents are isolated, that the experience of most volunteers and staffers has been overwhelmingly positive.
The campaign released this statement in response to questions about encounters with racism: "After campaigning for 15 months in nearly all 50 states, Barack Obama and our entire campaign have been nothing but impressed and encouraged by the core decency, kindness, and generosity of Americans from all walks of life. The last year has only reinforced Senator Obama's view that this country is not as divided as our politics suggest."

Campaign field work can be an exercise in confronting the fears, anxieties and prejudices of voters. Veterans of the civil rights movement know what this feels like, as do those who have been involved in battles over busing, immigration or abortion. But through the Obama campaign, some young people are having their first experience joining a cause and meeting cruel reaction.

On Election Day in Kokomo, a group of black high school students were holding up Obama signs along U.S. 31, a major thoroughfare. As drivers cruised by, a number of them rolled down their windows and yelled out a common racial slur for African Americans, according to Obama campaign staffers.

Frederick Murrell, a black Kokomo High School senior, was not there but heard what happened. He was more disappointed than surprised. During his own canvassing for Obama, Murrell said, he had "a lot of doors slammed" in his face. But taunting teenagers on a busy commercial strip in broad daylight? "I was very shocked at first," Murrell said. "Then again, I wasn't, because we have a lot of racism here."

The bigotry has gone beyond words. In Vincennes, the Obama campaign office was vandalized at 2 a.m. on the eve of the primary, according to police. A large plate-glass window was smashed, an American flag stolen. Other windows were spray-painted with references to Obama's controversial former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and other political messages: "Hamas votes BHO" and "We don't cling to guns or religion. Goddamn Wright."

Ray McCormick was notified of the incident at about 2:45 a.m. A farmer and conservationist, McCormick had erected a giant billboard on a major highway on behalf of Farmers for Obama. He also was housing the Obama campaign worker manning the office. When McCormick arrived at the office, about two hours before he was due out of bed to plant corn, he grabbed his camera and wanted to alert the media. "I thought, this is a big deal." But he was told Obama campaign officials didn't want to make a big deal of the incident. McCormick took photos anyway and distributed some.

"The pictures represent what we are breaking through and overcoming," he said. As McCormick, who is white, sees it, Obama is succeeding despite these incidents. Later, there would be bomb threats to three Obama campaign offices in Indiana, including the one in Vincennes, according to campaign sources.
Obama has not spoken much about racism during this campaign. He has sought to emphasize connections among Americans rather than divisions. He shrugged off safety concerns that led to early Secret Service protection and has told black senior citizens who worry that racists will do him harm: Don't fret. Earlier in the campaign, a 68-year-old woman in Carson City, Nev., voiced concern that the country was not ready to elect an African American president.
"Will there be some folks who probably won't vote for me because I am black? Of course," Obama said, "just like there may be somebody who won't vote for Hillary because she's a woman or wouldn't vote for John Edwards because they don't like his accent. But the question is, 'Can we get a majority of the American people to give us a fair hearing?'"

Obama has won 30 of 50 Democratic contests so far, the kind of nationwide electoral triumph no black candidate has ever realized. That he is on the brink of capturing the Democratic nomination, some say, is a testament to how far the country has progressed in overcoming racism and evidence of Obama's skill at bridging divides.
Obama has won five of 12 primaries in which black voters made up less than 10 percent of the electorate, and caucuses in states such as Idaho and Wyoming that are overwhelmingly white. But exit polls show he has struggled to attract white voters who didn't attend college and earn less than $50,000 a year. Today, he and Hillary Clinton square off in West Virginia, a state where she is favored and where the votes of working-class whites will again be closely watched.

For the most part, Obama campaign workers say, the 2008 election cycle has been exhilarating. On the ground, the Obama campaign is being driven by youngsters, many of whom are imbued with an optimism undeterred by racial intolerance. "We've grown up in a different world," says Danielle Ross. Field offices are staffed by 20-somethings who hold positions -- state director, regional field director, field organizer -- that are typically off limits to newcomers to presidential politics.

Gillian Bergeron, 23, was in charge of a five-county regional operation in northeastern Pennsylvania. The oldest member of her team was 27. At Scranton's annual Saint Patrick's Day parade, some of the green Obama signs distributed by staffers were burned along the parade route. That was the first signal that this wasn't exactly Obama country. There would be others.

In a letter to the editor published in a local paper, Tunkhannock Borough Mayor Norm Ball explained his support of Hillary Clinton this way: "Barack Hussein Obama and all of his talk will do nothing for our country. There is so much that people don't know about his upbringing in the Muslim world. His stepfather was a radical Muslim and the ranting of his minister against the white America, you can't convince me that some of that didn't rub off on him.
"No, I want a president that will salute our flag, and put their hand on the Bible when they take the oath of office."

Obama's campaign workers have grown wearily accustomed to the lies about the candidate's supposed radical Muslim ties and lack of patriotism. But they are sometimes astonished when public officials such as Ball or others representing the campaign of their opponent traffic in these falsehoods.
Karen Seifert, a volunteer from New York, was outside of the largest polling location in Lackawanna County, Pa., on primary day when she was pressed by a Clinton volunteer to explain her backing of Obama. "I trust him," Seifert replied. According to Seifert, the woman pointed to Obama's face on Seifert's T-shirt and said: "He's a half-breed and he's a Muslim. How can you trust that?"

Pollsters have found it difficult to accurately measure racial attitudes, as some voters are unwilling to acknowledge the role that race plays in their thinking. But some are not. Susan Dzimian, a Clinton supporter who owns residential properties, said outside a polling location in Kokomo that race was a factor in how she viewed Obama. "I think if it was somebody other than him, I'd accept it," she said of a black candidate. "If Colin Powell had run, I would be willing to accept him."

The previous evening, Dondra Ewing was driving the neighborhoods of Kokomo, looking to turn around voters like Dzimian. Ewing, 47, is a chain-smoking middle school guidance counselor, a black single mother of two and one of the most fiercely vigilant Obama volunteers in Kokomo, which was once a Ku Klux Klan stronghold. On July 4, 1923, Kokomo hosted the largest Klan gathering in history -- an estimated 200,000 followers flocked to a local park. But these are not the 1920s, and Ewing believes she can persuade anybody to back Obama. Her mother, after all, was the first African American elected at-large to the school board in a community that is 10percent black.

Kokomo, population 46,000, is another hard-hit Midwestern industrial town stung by layoffs. Longtimers wistfully remember the glory years of Continental Steel and speak mournfully about the jobs shipped overseas. Kokomo Sanitary Pottery, which made bathroom sinks and toilets, shut down a couple of months ago and took with it 150 jobs.

Aaron Roe, 23, was mowing lawns at a local cemetery recently, lamenting his $8-an-hour job with no benefits. He had earned a community college degree as an industrial electrician, but learned there was no electrical work to be found for someone with his experience, which is to say none. Politics wasn't on his mind; frustration was. If he were to vote, it would not be for Obama, he said. "I just got a funny feeling about him," Roe said, a feeling he couldn't specify, except to say race wasn't a part of it. "Race ain't nothing," said Roe, who is white. "It's how they're going to help the country."

The Aaron Roes are exactly who Dondra Ewing was after: people with funny feelings.
At the Bradford Run Apartments, she found Robert Cox, a retiree who spent 30 years working for an electronics manufacturer making computer chips. He was in his suspenders, grilling shish kebab, which he had never eaten. "Something new," Cox said, recommended by his son who was visiting from Colorado.

Ewing was selling him hard on Obama. "There are more than two families that can run the United States of America," she said, "and their names aren't Bush and Clinton."
"Yeah, I know, I know," Cox said, remaining noncommittal.

He opened the grill and peeked at the kebabs. "It's not his race, because I got real good friends and all that," Cox continued. "If anything would keep him from getting elected, it would be his name. It might turn off some older people."
Like him?
"No, older than me," said Cox, 66.
Ewing kept talking, until finally Cox said, "Probably Obama," when asked directly how he would vote.
As she walked away, Ewing said: "I think we got him."
But truthfully, she wasn't feeling so sure.

Link to Washington Post report

Report also mentioned on Salon.com

Openly Racist Congressman Smears Obama

Racist U.S. Congressman Steve King proclaimed over the weekend that Al Qaeda and other radical Muslim groups would celebrate if Obama is elected President.

Steve King is part of a cadre of White Supremacists who currently serve (or who have served) in the U.S. Congress. Remember the attack against Muslim Congressman Keith Ellison not long after the mid-term elections? Ellison became the target of Racist Virginia Congressman Virgil Goode.

King has since defended his remarks.

See Commentary from NPR

It looks like Obama has to fight racist attacks from 2 directions- from the Republican Party (as expected), and from the Democratic Party.

Clinton Launches Nasty (racist) Nuclear Attack on Obama

I am unable to type... I'm afraid I will write something that will get me into big trouble. Just follow the link.

But I will say that it's time for Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi, Rahm Emanuel, Harry Reid, Clyburn, Durbin, Hoyer and all the rest, to get off of their butts and intervene to bring this to an end. I can't imagine that they will wait much longer, especially after this.

This is worse than anything that I can recall from even the Republicans.

At least with the NAFTA dispute.... IT WAS A DISPUTE ABOUT THE ISSUES. And Clinton cannot run from the past, when she has been qouted supporting NAFTA. (I will get to that later today). But in response, she turns around and goes outside of the actual issues, and counters with a racist, fear based smear campaign, to attempt to play on fears of White voters in Ohio and Texas...fears based on race and religion.

Pelosi, Reid and others should ask her to step aside. In fact, all of the Superdelegates should show their disapproval by abandoning her right now. By sticking with her after this attack.... Clinton's Superdelegates are indicating that they are co-signing this smear effort.

Should I start making a list of who these people are? The world should know who supports Clinton's Smear tactic.

Related Post

Dog The Bounty Hunter Goes On Racist Tirade

Apparently Duane “The Dog” Chapman doesn’t like the idea of his son dating a Black woman.

“The Dog” has been caught on audio tape telling his son that if he did not break up with the young woman, he would not be able to work in the Family’s Bounty Hunting business. But the more vile part of the story is the way that he told his son how things were going to be. Chapman referred to the girlfriend as the N-word.

Now this is a guy who has been seen on religious programs all over Cable TV praising God… talking about how religious he is and how much he has turned his life around. He is constantly preaching about “doing the right thing” on his TV show. But it turns out that it was a façade. That shouldn’t be a surprise since it is a “Reality Show” and we know how “Real” these programs are. But at times he really did seem to be a decent guy in his good guy role. Even I enjoyed watching his show on occasion.

I know that some Whites speak ill of African Americans and use slurs when they are amongst themselves, confident that no one outside of the family is listening. But it’s always interesting to hear these stories every now and then because it allows us to become flies on the wall in the White dining room (well, for a certain kind of White dining room at least). As a Black male who has had issues with interracial dating, I have always suspected that these kinds of discussions take place all the time in White Households, especially when the subject of discussion is a Black male…particularly in the context of all the negative stereotypes about Black men.

On the audio tape Chapman shows his true colors. I think racism is really hard to get out of people, particularly out of the Souls of people, even when they may have changed their lives in other ways. Chapman (“The Dog”) revealed on the tape that the N-Word is a commonly used term in his household. This is something that he won’t be able to explain away on an apology tour (a tour that has already started…as of yesterday 10-31-07...when the tape was made public). He clearly shows disdain for the Black girlfriend… because of her race. You can literally hear the racism and anger in the audio tape. He goes on to say that if his daughter came home with one…. They would come down hard on her too. Again….a statement that he won’t be able to explain away.

Listen to the audio below (apparently the full tape is nearly 8 minutes long...however, I have been unable to locate that version, which may not have been made public yet). Warning: Strong Language.



A peculiar twist that I found surrounding this story was the fact that Chapman is comparing his comments to the comments of Don Imus. Chapman is clueless. There is no comparison. He doesn’t even understand that his comments are several magnitudes worse than the comments made by Don Imus regarding the Rutgers Women's Basketball team. Chapman thinks that he will just be able to go on a little apology tour like Don Imus and everything will be alright. But Imus didn’t get caught on a phone call that he thought no one would hear. Imus got caught on a national radio/TV show. Imus was clumsy and stupid, but did not come off as a hardcore racist to me. Insensitive, certainly. But not a hardcore racist. Chapman, on the other hand, is a different story. But of course he is now saying that he really didn't mean it...and that he is sorry. Will that be enough? I'm personally tired of the apology tour routine. An apology seems more appropriate for a slip of the tongue....or something that reaches the level of insensitivity, a tasteless joke, etc. But this Chapman episode is something different. His comments go way beyond Imus' level of insensitivity. This is not a case of the offender simply not meaning it... or having a slip of the tongue. This is not a case of a bad, tasteless joke. Chapman's comments were caught during a completely uninhibited moment and are therefore more of a reflection of the real "Dog".

Another peculiar twist is the irony of the phone conversation itself. In the phone call, he expresses concern that a National Tabloid might find out about his true colors and expose him…. And at that moment he was being exposed. Poetic Justice.

A&E didn’t waste time suspending his TV show. Additional report on A&E's response.

This just reinforces the fact that I am (and other African Americans collectively) justified in my caution and skepticism when dealing with certain kinds of people of other ethnic groups. It’s as if we always have to be on guard. There are a few people that I have worked with in the past who I would have loved to hear during their dinner table discussions. It would be interesting to be the fly on the wall to hear what is being said.

But the Dog Chapman’s among us serve a purpose. They serve as a reminder that it’s not safe to let the guard down. Perhaps it will take 100 more years before we can start cutting back our vigilance... I don’t know. I always judge my friends/acquaintances on an individual basis ….and I can usually figure out who the Dog Chapmans are. But it seems as though I always have to be on the lookout. I wish we didn’t have that burden in 2007, but it’s still necessary.

______________________________

Other Sources

Hear audio from TMZ

MP3 Link

Romney Joins Other Bigots In Attacking Obama

Mitt Romney is seen not only standing behind the sign with a supporter, but he is also seen holding the sign himself.

Hat Tip: Talking Points Memo

Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney joins other bigots to attack Barack Obama. Once again, the Republicans are associating Obama's name with a major international terrorist and essentially with Al Qaeda. Fox News started this nonsense (associating Obama with Bin Laden) a few months ago. Now the ignorance is spreading.

I knew that Obama would have to deal with these kinds of ignorant attacks, and that the Conservative media would participate, but I did not expect it to be so vicious, so early....and so obvious. I thought that it would be a little more nuanced. But the Republicans apparently have little shame about what they are doing.

This is just the latest in a string of bigoted incidents involving Republican politicians. More recently (late last year) there was the attack on Congressman Keith Ellison because he is Muslim...(with the ignorant White Congressman assuming Ellison was an immigrant due to his religion). And just a few days ago, a Hindu priest, a guest of the U.S. Senate, was heckled as he gave the official opening prayer. This kind of ignorance just never seems to end.

Do Republicans realize how stupid they look when they engage in the kind of behavior shown above?

(Notice how "Mama" is misspelled)