Sure Race Is an Issue -- But Not for Me

In the weeks leading up to the Democratic primary in South Carolina the yammering about the race issue started. All seem to agree that race is an issue but ironically enough -- no one seems to think that it is an issue for them.

I am grateful that we have put a gag on our racial prejudices. The way we talk deeply affects the way we walk. But so-called political correctness does render it more difficult for people to detect what they really feel. Indeed, these days it takes a gumshoe to sound out the race consciousness of whites. You have to stand sideways and put your hand to your ear to catch what is really going on inside our psyches.

Much as we could discern it in the race divided reaction to the OJ trials, so can you can hear history whispering at the ballpark, in the disproportionate levels of rage that whites expressed towards Barry Bonds. A few years ago, you could sense the race poison at work in the steam coming out of white men's ears whenever you mentioned Mike Tyson's name. You would have thought that the ear biter was a serial killer.

Sad to say, but I don't need to watch the placard-carrying fans at Bond's baseball games to grasp the rumblings in my own basement. A few years back I was in the parking lot of a bookstore when a middle-aged black man strode by behind me. Before conscience could catch me, I instinctively felt for my wallet. I could have banged my head on the car roof. It literally makes me shudder to think of it now, but when I first started teaching college two decades ago I am sure that I let my students of color know, before I had any reason to think that they needed to know, that I was available for extra help. This was the kind of chronic reality that rippled out when Joe Biden commented that Senator Obama was articulate and clean.

We should know the manhole-cover weight of all of the stereotypes that abide in the underground of the American unconscious. And if all the tales of white privilege are true -- and I think they are -- then surely it must it rattle some nerves and bring the old toxins to life to see a man of that race of once invisible men making a very serious bid to become the President of the United States.

In his recent book, A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Barack Obama and Why He Can't Win, Shelby Steele argues that part of Senator Obama's appeal is that he does not make Caucasians feel guilty about being white. And yet, as the Clintons have started in with their swordplay, the color drift has started. While Obama clobbered Clinton in South Carolina, white South Carolinian men went for their look alike, John Edwards.

No matter how disarming and warm he might be, doesn't Mr. Obama have to come up against the devils and brain washing that those of us over fifty have inherited? The kind of devils that last year had MSNBC analyst Pat Buchanan burbling unselfconsciously, "I thought Amos and Andy was a great show -- didn't you?" Call it the "Bradley effect" but I fear that those demons have to materialize in the polls -- though they will be wearing the masks of rationales that might make it hard for some people to recognize themselves.

Comments

[1will]

Racism....yawn.

[mamacat]

I think that one's life experiences count for a lot. My Mother knew that racism was wrong, but was unable to bring herself to accept blacks socially. She would not dream of doing anything to deny them equal rights, but she could not associate with a black for very long without feeling extremely uncomfortable. It was sad to see. Not for what she did to others, but for what she did to herself. She could not overcome the feelings she grew up with, but chose to direct her disgust at herself.
This country was indeed very lucky to have someone as enlightened as Dr. King as a leader for the civil rights movement. He saw the campaign as something more than just rights for blacks, but a campaign for rights for all people. He also embraced non-violent civil disabediance as a tool, like Gandhi did in the Indian subcontinent. Imagine if someone like Arafat or Bin Laden had rose to lead a movement for black rights. There would have murders and suicide bombings, instead of marches and boycotts. Dr. King deserves his holiday, and much more.

I think the blog is wrong. It is not so much those over 50 with a problem, but those who are old enough to have served in the military when it was segregated. If you are in a very tough situation, and you are depending on each other to stay alive, you learn to respect each other, even if you don't necessarily socialise.

[ljsfolly]

Coming from a family of redneck brothers and tolrerant parents who came from white bread middle america, I have had to struggle with the attitudes within my own family and those outside of it. I saw my first black kid when I was around 8 years old and my dad called him a n word kid. Not being negative but that was the word used to describe blacks when he grew up in Ark and my mother in Okla. The family called themselve negro which just confused me. My parents treated the family as if they were white but still different. I met my first mexican family when I was around 7 and my motehr went to their house with me but I never remember them coming into my house. I have been cognizant all my life to have all peoples being the same after I became friends with many different races in high school. I was not as close a friend with the white kids as a result of my friends and that is when my beliefs became stronger that we are all the same. This is after JFK/MLK and Robert Kennedy were killed and I had read the truth in all created equal. My vote for Barack is not based on the color but the value of who he is and what hope for the future he gives me, as at my age I do not feel the need to vote for someone who looks like me. An over fifty-five year old female.

[brooklyncitizen]

Interesting post, at least there is a level of honesty.

Race is America's Achille's heal . It is the number one filter through which we respond to each other and to issues, when the person in question is "the other".

The white guilt I can't relate too (not white) nor can I say I've seen evidence of it.What I have seen is a lack of comfort on the part of whites with people of color and which I place in the of ignorance. it is as if they cannot get beyond themselves and their white skin and it is peculiar when one comes from a culture that is not burdenned by this history.

As a Dominican we are mixed blood and a diverse bunch. In a conversation with a fellow Dominican who looks "white" and her husband who is a white American we were discussing the elections and the historical significance if either Dem. candidate wins.

my opinion was that an obama win was far more significant. my Dominican friend asked why and I mentioned jim Crow etc...and her response was "oh that's right blacks and whites were separate huh? they couldn't drink from the same fountain..etc."

This may strike Americans as naive but the point is that people OUTSIDE of this country think Ameircans are really messed up for these racial divides...what divides others abroad, i.e.,Latin American is economic class,not race.

It'd be nice though if we can put all this so far behind us that future generations will also be struck by the silliness of racism.

[pfgibbs]

I am a 46 year old Black man voting for Obama. The fact that he is Black is a factor in my choice, but not only because he is Black. The fact that his stance on the issues coincide with mine is the deciding factor. Does this make me racist? I have no problem with women voting for Hillary because she is a woman, but I would have a problem with someone voting for Hillary just because she's a woman.
I would never vote for Alan Keyes or J.C. Watts, Black men who feel they have 'overcome' and refuse to recognize that there are still issues of discrimination to be dealt with, and accuse anyone from the Black community who attempts to address racial problems of dealing in victimhood. They would have us believe MLK's dream has been realized, when in fact we actually have a long way to go. Keyes and Watts are celebrated by those whites who feel uncomfortable and resentful whenever issues of race, affirmative action, or any attempt to right the wrongs of the past are discussed. I won't argue the merits of affirmative action, the levels of racism, or what wounds need healing, but allow me to give some people an idea how many Black people feel by quoting the legendary James Brown: "I Don't Want Nobody To Give Me Nothing, Just Open Up The Door, I'll Get It Myself."

Were Barack Obama not in the race I would most likely support Edwards.

Stop voting based on fear and vote based on hope. We'll all be alot better off.

This whole discussion reminds me of the old joke about why we have not had any significant contact with beings from other planets.
Alien 1: Hey want to visit earth?
Alien 2: Are you nuts. They're too immature to deal with black and white, we're silver what do think they'll do to us?

We'll grow together as brothers and sisters, or perish as fools. Or something like that.

[illinoisan]

My ex-wife's family ran a saloon in a small rural village that was and most likely still is a racist bastion. The patrons didn't fly the stars-n-bars or wear white sheets, but they were very free in their use of the n-word.

It was almost comical to observe them watching the Illini basketball team in the finals a couple of years ago, cheering the team like gods one minute and then hurling the "stupid n#&&@4" epitaph at them the next.

They don't think of themselves as racists and when you challenge them on the use of the n-word, they have this lame spiel of rationalization that there are blacks who are n#&&@4s and some who are not and there are whites who are too.

Some of these people will vote for Obama. Some of them will be eager to be "inoculated" by their vote so that when President Obama makes an adverse decision, they'll be able to shout "stupid N#&&@r" at the TV and tell themselves they are certainly not racist.

[FlatSigned]

Two months before his hateful comments about the Rutgers basketball team, Don Imus said even worse regarding the late President Gerald R. Ford, my company and the book we had worked on together. Why didn't that get equal attention and evoke equal response? The only reason I can think of is that we are both white men and we represent the only minority in the USA where it is still socially acceptable to discriminate against and preach hate towards. Dr. King's vision and teachings were not so much for minority rights as they were for equal treatment. It seems that some, if not most or even all, journalists and minority leaders have forgotten this message.
Warmest Regards,
Tim Miller, President
FlatSigned Press, Inc.

[desmirl]

If you are over fifty and white, to deny your racial prejudice is foolish. What one learns as a child sticks around all through life--and America in the 1940s and 1950s was a racially-charged nation. But what's important is to know your own weaknesses (and bigotry is WAY up there) and overcome them. Learning how to follow Dr. King's message, learning how to judge someone based on the content of their character rather than the color of their skin is what's important.

[itsnotmyfault]

I guess conversely, when do we raise our consciousness to a place where we can choose not to support Obama, and not be accused of responding to the conscious or unconscious issues of racial bias. Maybe some can strive to transcend the issues of race when making critical judgments about our candidates, but that leaves one subject to the presumption that it is impossible to rise above those pervasive issues, and therefor the decision must be race based at some level.

Let me give an analogy from psychiatry. The diagnosis of narcicist, one that can apply aptly to George W Bush is equally insidious. “It is a wicked diagnosis because there is no defense possible. If one protests, the psychologist will say: "Typically narcissistic!". This diagnoses locks people in a paradox.”

It is just such a paradox, that Gordon Marino offers in his essay. And it is a phenomenon that has propelled race front and center in the campaign. Forced to campaign against Obama simply as a result of the credibility of his candidacy, assertions offered by the Clinton campaign all were interpreted with the broad brush of racism. Yet if one looks at the actual statements made, and apply them to say Edwards, the issues of race as a subtext would be nowhere found.

The one exception to this was the Bill Clinton, Obama, Jessie Jackson triangle. But my contention is that a less inflammatory interpretation might simply be that South Carolina, because of its demographics are not a reliable predictor for future primaries. They equally supported Jessie Jackson, in previous primaries, yet Jackson gained no traction in the balance of the campaign. It is no different from identifying the electorate in Iowa as 93% white and yet overwhelmingly supporting Obama.

[NYDamien]

I hate to disillusion everyone, but there will never be an end to racism......nor sexism, nor religionism, nor any other "ism." Once that is understood we can begin to move forward. If, by some magic, a group, identical in every feature and belief, was formed, would there be peace and understanding? No, because they would find something to separate them...hair follicles. Those with over a million, to the right of the island and those with less than a million, on the left. And they would go at each other just as different people go at it today. There is no such thing as a "melting pot." A jar of marbles, yes, a melting pot, never.

[gregjones]

IMPORTANT ISSUE !!!
Hillary's Health Care Plan Would Create 47 Million 'Universal' Law Breakers !

BEWARE !!! Hillary's so-called 'Universal' Health Care Plan is to make it AGAINST THE LAW FOR ANYONE TO NOT BUY THEIR OWN HEALTH INSURANCE (LIKE AUTO INSURANCE)That's not health care....that's just a law (that's what mandate means) !!!!! Under Hillary's health care plan everyone who breaks her law and does not buy their own health coverage (if not offered through their job) would be fined and wages could be garnished. Also, everyone would have to prove that they already have health insurance (show an insurance policy) before they could get a new job if that new job does not offer coverage.If people could afford health care they would have it already! To make it a mandatory law will just make people who are unable to afford the coverage (could be $300-$400 per month/per person) afraid to go to the hospital when seriously ill in fear of getting caught breaking the law (without coverage). Then we'll end up with millions of people simply hiding the fact that they don't have coverage....instead of receiving the true health care they need. TERRIBLE !!! DON'T BE FOOLED AMERICA !!!!!

"All Americans Would be required by law to purchase health insurance" reports CBS News Chief White House correspondent Jim Axelrod.

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PEOPLE ACROSS AMERICA NEED TO KNOW THIS ABOUT HILLARY'S PLAN. THE LAST THING THESE 47 MILLION PEOPLE NEED IS TO BE CALLED LAW BREAKERS BECAUSE THEY'RE TOO POOR TO AFFORD HEALTH CARE. AND A TAX CUT FOR LOW INCOME PEOPLE WILL NEVER COVER THE TRUE COST. PLEASE HELP SPREAD THE FACTS !!!

[foufou]

Thoughtful article...most of us are not in touch with our "inner racism" and the current election will cause many of us to wrestle with our perhaps dormant prejudices.

[VoteforOCD]

You mention OJ, Barry, and Mike Tyson as examples of a racial divide. Perhaps, overreaction on the parts of whites.

Let me counter with Scott Peterson, Mark McGuire, and I don't know... how about the neighbor down the street who is a known rapist, known to kick the living shit out of his wife, and then bites a guy ear off.

These guys are all scum and the shame is that there wasn't enough outcry.

Is it my deep, unconscious racism that hopes that Mike Vick sits in jail for a long time. Have I given a pass to John Mark Karr. He's not guilty of murdering Jon Benet, is he just a victim of my prejudice towards child molesters?

Please, if you question your past, feel free to do so. But please don't accuse me of latent racism if I express my disgust with these scoundrels.

Black, white, or woman. I will vote for whom I feel will make the world a better place for my grandchildren.

[1dogs2]

Speak for yourself, Marino. This well-over-50 year old white person was not brain washed. I grew up in a family of liberal Democrats (hardly a red-diaper baby) and could both recognize racism when I saw or heard it and knew that it was evil by the time I was 4 or 5 -- and not because that was what I was taught, but because it was something I knew in my bones. There is a fascinating piece in today's NYT about Hilary Clinton's extremely delayed (and judging from the performance of her campaign leading up to the S.C. primary, still incomplete) education on the subject of racism. The wide-spread negative reaction to the race-baiting of Hilary's husband and surrogates tells me that you are wrong. I believe that both blacks and whites in this country are ready to finally put this evil behind us because it is destructive to all of us and to our country.

Perhaps Hilary would benefit, even at this late date, by reading "Dreams from My Father," and learning something about the struggle of an extremely gifted biracial young man to overcome the effects of growing up in a racist society. Perhaps she could then understand why third-generation feminists like me support Obama. I have certainly experienced the consequences of the glass ceiling in my life, but I also recognize that the more important issue to be confronted and vanquished is racism. We have an opportunity to drive a stake through its heart. I dare to hope that we will do it in November.

[AnninCA]

I don't see it the same way. Obama is the one who stirred up a false racial issue.

It worked. He won and got his "momentum" going and started working the white guilt trip stuff.

He's back to looking like just another guy. Not relevant.