The Presidential Race 0

No, not the horse race.

It seems to me that the incidence of overt racist conduct and comments has increased in the past two years; I don’t have the resources to do a valid study, but I do believe that a cursory reading of the news during that period supports my impression.

The election of President Obama, rather than signaling an America transcending racism, has shown how deeply invested are some folks in perpetuating and propagating bigotry.

Chancey de Vega explores this in a long article. I’ve excerpted his descriptions of two of the concepts he uses in his analysis, because I think many white folks just don’t want to look at the evidence.

If they don’t see white sheets and burning crosses, they don’t see racism.

There are two concepts that students of race and politics find particularly useful as they work through how race and power intersect in American life. The more recent of the two is Joe Feagin’s “white racial frame.” This is really a foundational concept for understanding the many ways that whiteness is legitimated, and in turn quite literally frames how White America understands social reality and the very idea of what “normal” is.

The second concept is symbolic racism. Because racism has evolved over time from the classic slavery, hood and sheets type known as dominative racism, to the more contemporary “colorblind” variety, the language and theory has had to shift as well. These types of White racism often overlap, and one does not necessarily preclude the other. I would suggest that as we unpack the hostility of the White Right and the Tea Party GOP to President Obama, symbolic racism, and its auxiliary white racial resentment, remain the most revealing and useful frameworks for making sense of the foolishness we are witnessing.

Racism is much more than white sheets and burning crosses.

I recommend that you click to read the rest.

Later:

I wrote this yesterday for posting today. After I wrote it, I stumbled on a marvelous post from the Booman discussing the advertisements he sees on the telly vision, with their rosy images of multicultural harmony.

Heck, I saw one last night for some insurance company–the white guy and the black guy were side by side commenting on the misfortunes of their neighbor Dwayne, whose belongings were being destroyed by the alien robot. Be honest: how many of you live in neighborhoods where the demography makes that possible (and I’m not referring to the alien robot part)?

There’s much more at the link below, but this gets to the heart of the Booman’s post:

When you go around asking where the president’s birth certificate is, you are nothing better than a champion of racism.

As for the post-racial Eden that the advertisers are selling us? The counterprogramming is available 24 hours a day on talk radio and Fox News.

If you cannot see the politics of hate, open your eyes.