Racism 6
Now that Senator Obama has secured the nomination, the racists are coming out from under their rocks.
Not that I am surprised. The ugliness is always there. Some folks think it is a card to be played for electoral gain.
It can be, and it has been a card, sometimes by implication, sometimes by blatant appeal.
But it has also been death and lynching and murder and the shame of this Republic.
And I fear we shall see more of it, blatant and disgusting. It’s the last refuge of a bankrupt ideology.
Link to Sadly, No! via Phillybits.
June 8, 2008 at 1:32 pm
"…the racists are coming out from under their rocks…"
As I recall, the racists crawled out from under the rocks a while back. Maybe you missed them the first time around because they were Democrats (Bill and Hillary to be exact). After all, she was the "white folks" candidate.
June 8, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Yeah, I read that first line and about fell over… I thought you’d been watching this campaign, Frank!
June 8, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Oh, come off it.
The "Barack Obama = Jesse Jackson" crap that Bill Clinton tried to pull is not in the same league as the stuff that’s happening now on the Republican side of the house. I remarked on the Clintons’ tactics when they happened.
Bill Clinton was playing political games. Disgusting games, yes, but still games. Lives did not hang in his balance.
These folks, on the other hand, are the kind of folks that cause my pastor to worry that Senator Obama won’t live till November.
And they ain’t Democrats, that’s one thing for sure.
The Republican Party decided, in the 1970s, to replace the Democrats as the Party of Racism. They have done a nice job of fulfilling that legacy.
June 9, 2008 at 6:09 am
You lead by example.Â
Mr. Clinton didn’t help the racial atmosphere in this country with his remarks. But it’s okay to be a little racist as long as he’s your little racist or you can justify it as some sort of political gamesmanship? What a bunch of BS.Â
June 9, 2008 at 12:22 pm
You see, when the Democrats who wanted a liberal like Hillary but don’t want a black man like Barack cross over and vote for McCain, that clearly makes the Republican party a racist one.
Seriously, Frank, battling against racism that only exists safely away from one’s self is not really battling racism at all. As long as we continue to try to identify racism solely with one part of the political spectrum and deny it infects all sides equally, it remains a political football and not a true effort to bring African-Americans fully into our society.
June 13, 2008 at 3:37 pm
There are degrees. That’s why there are first, second, and third degree felonies.
By your arguments, speeding five miles over the speed limit is the same as first degree (get it? degrees?) murder.
Bill Clinton acted like an asshole. Well, maybe it wasn’t an act. But his behavior threatened no one’s life and asked no one else to threaten anyone’s life.
And I have spent most of my life battling against the racism that I grew up with. Thank God my parents taught me to be equally polite to everyone, regardless of race, creed, or whatever. That lesson has served me well.Â
Nevertheless, I catch the Southern racism resurfacing from time to time and try ruthlessly to put it down.
At least I am aware of it; I don’t pretend it’s anything other than what it is.Â
And I will not allow it to affect how I cast my vote.
Then, on the other hand, there’s this.