How Racism Works

[rikibeth]

courtesy of whiskey_poptart

How racism works

What if John McCain were a former president of the Harvard Law Review? What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class? What if McCain were still married to the first woman he said “I do” to? What if Obama were the candidate who left his first wife after she no longer measured up to his standards?

What if Michelle Obama were a wife who not only became addicted to pain killers, but acquired them illegally through her charitable organization? What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard? What if Obama were a member of the “Keating 5”? What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?

If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?

This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference.

— Kelvin LaFond, Fort Worth

Comments

[pnkrokhockeymom.livejournal.com]

That's awesome.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Spread it around!

[cad-red-ducati.livejournal.com]

I'm going to post this in my LJ. it's awesome, but sad.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

I know, that's why I reposted it! And why I used a Marvin icon.

[feste-sylvain.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure that racism is the (main) reason for the numbers being as close as they are.

A typical Red State voter looks at things like "loyalty", "down-to-earth", and "patriotism" (which itself is defined as alignment with a very particular set of values). In such a set, things like "Harvard educated" work against a candidate. The magic word they trot out is "elitism".

Of course, this does feed back into racism: a "down-to-earth" African American would probably come off as "scary".

The way to flip this back on Red State voters is to play to their notions of "character": McCain has shown over and over again that he doesn't have any, and is parroting his experience as a P.O.W. to show that he had some. By trotting out his recent record, the Democrats (not Obama) have to show that he has sacrificed whatever Brownie points he ever earned.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

For the most part, I agree with you about the red-state priorities vs. the blue-state ones, and I don't think that racism per se is what's making the numbers so close.

I do think that if the races of the candidates were flipped, a black man with John McCain's personal history would be a pariah, and a white man with Barack Obama's would be held up as a paragon -- even if that same paragon would still lose the red-state vote for the reasons you've outlined. And THAT is DEFINITELY racism at work.

[kebbykate.livejournal.com]

The way it's always worked is that the _first_ black man/white woman/Jew/Catholic/ethnic minority/homosexual has to be "ideal" and unobjectionable in every possible way in order to achieve something that would just come to a white man.

I agree about the "Red" vs. "Blue" state priorities in general, but I don't see how ditching your first wife who waited for you while you were a POW equates with LOYALTY...

[gentlyepigrams]

So glad this is one of the brethren from Ft. Worth who calls this shit for what it is. Just like I'm so glad some of our people from the South call the McCain surrogates on their dog whistling. "Uppity doesn't have racial overtones" my ass!

What people don't understand about red-state values (and I'll thank you to remember that Texas was yellow-dog Democrat for decades up until I was in college!) is that someone like McCain is of the party and he's defined because of that as being "good", so the fact that he does all the bad things that show he doesn't have good virtues like honor and honesty and loyalty doesn't matter as much. It's like political antinomianism. Bizarre.

[quezz.livejournal.com]

It is. Even the Republicans are talking about the "Bubba vote," or voters who will not vote for a black man regardless of his credentials. About 1 in 4 voters in West Virginia in a recent poll admitted they would not vote for a black candidate -- in Michigan, 1 in 10.

Race is playing a pretty heavy role in this vote -- the media is downplaying it, and many voters are in denial about it too. If you look at Obama's biography compared to McCain's, this would be no contest, even on personal qualities.

My department chair's family lives in eastern Kentucky, and his mother said to him the other day, "Well, I know McCain's not a terribly good choice but...there's just something I don't trust about Obama." Further in the discussion, it became clear she had deep-seeded concerns about his race, as many people in this country do.

I think we need to start acknowledging that tag words are being used in this campaign, and that many whites in this country do not believe a black person can be "loyal," "patriotic," or "down-to-earth." If we started to have that discussion on race, we may be able to convince some voters they are making a big mistake by failing to acknowledge their own prejudices or fears of believing that race is playing a role. "Liberals" and "conservatives" alike are facing these issues, and failing to address them.

[quezz.livejournal.com]

It doesn't...but Bubba's done that shit before, so he doesn't mind if McCain did.

That is...if he even knew McCain had left his wife to bag a rich blonde.

[feste-sylvain.livejournal.com]

I hear and agree with most of what you say.

But I'm not certain about this:

If you look at Obama's biography compared to McCain's, this would be no contest, even on personal qualities.

If it were just biography, Gore should have trounced Bush; it shouldn't even have been close. For that matter, so should have Kerry. And Goldwater should have blown LBJ off the map, instead of the other way around.

There are many things wrong with how the average voter votes. Racism is certainly one of them, and may well be the dominant one in this election (for obvious reasons).

I do worry about the polls, which showed Obama with a comfortable electoral lead (until recently; I do hope the Palin Bump blows up in their faces). Several "black" candidates have seen excellent poll numbers not translate into actual votes.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

What people don't understand about red-state values (and I'll thank you to remember that Texas was yellow-dog Democrat for decades up until I was in college!) is that someone like McCain is of the party and he's defined because of that as being "good", so the fact that he does all the bad things that show he doesn't have good virtues like honor and honesty and loyalty doesn't matter as much. It's like political antinomianism. Bizarre.

I remember yellow-dog Democrat Texas! I remember Ann Richards, and miss her. And how else would there have been a Molly Ivins? Miss her too.

But yeah. The "of the party" -- it's like JKR letting Gryffindors get away with what, looked at objectively, is pretty damned close to sociopathic behavior. I love the Weasley twins, but their ethics don't hold up to close scrutiny at ALL.

(edited to use a more suitable icon)

Two words...

[panzerschrek.livejournal.com]

"Marion Barry."

lifestyles of the rich and famous

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Do you know if you were caught and you were smoking crack
McDonald's wouldn't even wanna take you back
You could always just run for mayor of D.C.

Yeah.

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

That's it exactly.

Thanks so much for posting this.

Re: Two words...

[kitwench.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Racism is a problem, and so is ignoring crimes when they're committed by a member of a community targeted by racism.
The real problem in this country lies in being able to tell the difference between racism and victim culture.
Most can't, and many of the Obama voters I speak to are voting for him *because* he is black.
I find that as appalling as the idea of voting for McCain because he's white.

[kitwench.livejournal.com]

Imagine that the resume of each were swapped along with those negative traits. Imagine that the voting records of each were swapped, along with those negative traits.
This is what victim culture does.
It covers up, rationalizes, and minimizes just as does racism.
If these questions reflected reality, Would a 47 yo John McCain with Obama's resume even be considered for this Presidential race ?
Racism isn't the only factor here.

[kitwench.livejournal.com]

I haven't been able to figure out why Lance Armstrong gets the superhero tag there, either...
*puzzled face*

[flewellyn.livejournal.com]

Damn that's good.

[flewellyn.livejournal.com]

What is this "victim culture" business? I hear the phrase often, but no definition.

Re: Two words...

[panzerschrek.livejournal.com]

Add to that the astro-turfing (in some quarters) of the notion that not voting for Obama (regardless of reason) is prima facie evidence of racism and you got a 55 gallon drum of industrial-strength societal trouble.

[quezz.livejournal.com]

"Several "black" candidates have seen excellent poll numbers not translate into actual votes."

That's racism -- many voters will not admit to racial bias, but will instead vote at the polls base don race without telling a pollster.

I agree on your point on Gore's biography...with some of our demographic. Anti-intellectualism is what got Gore in trouble (in addition to poor campaign tactics) and Bush utilized the same fears with intellectualism that McCain is with race. Identity politics is really killing us -- we've always practiced it, but not to this extent.

[quezz.livejournal.com]

Lance Armstrong makes me want to vomit, so I'm with you there. :)

Unsung heroes are usually unsung because well...they are decent people who don't profit off of their accomplishments. Sad but true.

[ghilledhu.livejournal.com]

"The Man is keeping me down! I can't succeed at anything because I'm black/female/short/left-handed and the Man won't let me succeed! It has nothing to do with how hard I'm working - it's the Man keeping me down!"

[flewellyn.livejournal.com]

Hm. Well, I can't argue that that attitude does show up sometimes. But, when the Man is, in fact, known to be keeping people of one's race, sex, or other minority group down, and even hard-working and capable members of that group find it hard to succeed...surely, you can't deny it's a reasonable suspicion, nu?

I mean, yes, hard work is usually necessary for success, but in our world it's not sufficient.