The Cowardice of Their Convictions 0
Tony Norman notices something.
There was a time when racism was this nation’s greatest export. As Richard Pryor once said, immigrants would come to this country and not know a word of English except the “n-word,” which usually made them feel like full-fledged Americans the first time they used it. They at least had black folks to look down on after leaving the old country.
These days, the conservative majority of the U.S. Supreme Court insist that racism is no longer a factor in American life. Sure, that’s incredibly ignorant and racist — but it’s the sneaky kind of racism that’s in vogue today. The justices know better, but they’re interpreting law in these mean and congenitally stupid times.
Even Photoshopped images of the first family as monkeys, or rows of watermelon patches on the White House lawn, are considered more tasteless than racist by the conservative apparatchiks who pass them around in email chain letters. After all, everyone knows racism is dead . . . .
Remember this: When bigots complain about “political correctness,” what they mean is that they can no longer wave their bigot flags without someone calling them out.
