Obama, America and Race

A number of prominent Americans, from former president Jimmy Carter to various news commentators, have charged President Obama's critics with racism. Many of these folks have reacted with anger, claiming that they are nothing of the sort. Few of the president's attackers, for example, have used the "n-word". In a recent New York Times, David Brooks pointed out that next to the latest tea bag rally in Washington was a black family reunion, and folks mingled easily from both events.

This is the result of some failures in communications and analysis by the left. The first is that we have not redefined racism to keep up with a changing face of evil. For most Americans, the term "racist" is frozen in time, a stereotype of a Southern sheriff with a hose, a dog, and aviator sunglasses. We have never replaced Bull Connor in our pantheon of villains.

In the meantime, racism changed. It became more subtle, changing its form, its language, its mode of attack and its targets. For decades Republicans -- from Nixon to Reagan to two Bushes -- appealed to prejudiced whites in various forms of code, and then acted in high dudgeon when we called them out. After all, they didn't sound like Rod Steiger in In The Heat of the Night, but they still ran Willie Horton ads. And they got away with it because Americans hadn't updated, hadn't renewed their notion of what racism is.

The other problem concerns what Barack Obama stands for. Obviously, he is a black man. But he is also a lot of other things that are a threat to some Americans, he is really so much more a danger than just the color of his skin. The hateful reaction to the president is about race, but so many other cultural and social values as well, it is hard to separate out any one strand.

Above all, Barack Obama, as president of the United States, represents a changing America, where whites cannot reign unopposed. Like the former Atlanta Braves pitcher John Rocker, many folks feel the greatest assault on this country comes from the fact that many of its citizens no longer sound like the stereotype of folks at a NASCAR rally. Thus a lot of the gut opposition to Obama is engendered, not by his health care plan, but by the ever-present declaration in the news that whites are already a minority in many places, and destined to become so as part of the nation in a relatively few years.

Obama is a lot of things that are scary, and only one of these is the fact that he is black. He is sophisticated and worldly, a problem for those who think the swine flu vaccine is a plot to emasculate gun owners. He is educated, intellectual and articulate. Americans have always had a love-hate relationship with the smarter members of their society, taking pride in the accomplishments, but often resenting those whose mental gifts stand out. There is even the fact that he is thin in an obese country, and thus reminds folks that they are not eating the things their doctors are nagging them about. The president is clearly not a fan of bacon, the latest fad in some circles. Why is this coming up now, if not as a subconscious rebellion against the changes towards healthy life styles that some folks are trying to get adopted, and others resisting? As Frank Rich noted in his Sunday column, "They need a scapegoat for all that ails them, and there is no one handier" than a modern, sophisticated president "who just happens to be black."

This is not the first time this kind of national culture clash has broken out in hateful ways. The nineteen-twenties, for example, was the heyday of the Ku Klux Klan, an organization that enjoyed a membership in the millions back then. While the Klan is commonly known for its racism, historians now know that this organization was neither exclusively Southern nor poor. The state with the largest Klan population was Indiana, and nationwide, the typical person under the sheets was lower middle class, afraid of losing ground in an era where there were many technological changes affecting jobs. And there were substantial women's auxiliaries, just as females come out to anti-Obama rallies today.

There were other reasons people joined the Klan back then, that mirror some of the stresses America is undergoing today. The 1920 Census showed that for the first time, fifty-one percent of Americans lived in cities, which meant that the home of foreigners, not 100% Americans (as they called themselves in those days -- you could be an American, but not a real, 100% American) would dominate the country. This terrified many Americans, who felt that their way of life was being pushed aside, just as many folks fear the same thing today.

In a similar vein, the latest theories on Prohibition are that it was not just a silly, extremist way of dealing with alcohol, but an attempt by small towns to pass pejorative rules that reigned in big cities. This was actually one gigantic bout of culture wars, in other words.

And all this fear, resentment, anger was being felt and expressed, often with sickening violence against minorities and the foreign-born, at a time when the presidents were old stock Americans like Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge.

We, on the other hand, live in the age of Obama, whether the fear mongers can deal with it or not. Are they threatened because he is a black man? Yes, but by so much more as well.

Progressives need to eschew simple name-calling, and get to the myriad prejudices that are at the root of this hate (including, but not just limited to racism). They must then address all of them in a systematic and comprehensive fashion, in a way that combines sophisticated analysis with popular recognition of the new face of evil.

 

 

Comments

[like-mind]

You're extremely accurate. I just came to comprehend the other day that we presently lack a free press: The Propaganda Channel Presently Known As Fox sets the tone of the day's news with which all other stations come into compliance. Cowed by 'the left-leaning media'-attack, the media actually are locked in a right-lean, because stations fear the wrath of lost viewers if their news were to stand out and say that dissidents who bring loaded guns to presidential events, who label the black president the Anti-Christ, and who refer to themselves as Proud Right-Wing Terrorists = surprise! are actually domestic terrorists. Instead, cheery Fox morning shows make light of it all as good old-fashioned American patriotism.

[S1m0n]

Race is present in varying amounts in the various anti-Obama causes. In my opinion, it is only among birthers that Obama's race is the primary element. There is no way that calling Barack Obama a 'Kenyan' is innocent of race.

[Jorge Al-Subbad]

But OF COURSE it is innocent of race... these are just concerned good Americans who are upset by our nation's lax immigration and public records issues.... uhm....

[ThinkCreeps]

Someone's going to get into trouble at the next faculty meeting.

[ggirl]

All Americans have to do is close your eyes when he is speaking and do not think about color and you can see the hope for this nation that we have not had in 8 years. We gave Bush our trust so why not President Obama. Just listen with your eyes closed .

[TRex86]

Obama and other civilized Americans must speak past the demagogues and constantly reassure the worried white folks. As his time in office increases and nobody is rounded up for the concentration camps, no death panels are convened and the moon doesn't crash into the Pacific Ocean more and more evidence will emerge that having a talented black man in the presidency is no different than any other effective leader of any ethnic group. The Republicans have made the same mistake nationally they made in California 20 years ago, whipping up xenophobic fears for short term political advantage. Within four years they had ceded the state to the Democrats with no chance to recover. They kissed off 50 electoral votes in their efforts to demonize Hispanics. Now they're kissing off young people, minorities and all but the far out fringe. On health care they've made a terrible mistake by conflating it with all manner of villainy. This level of hysteria cannot be sustained. At the end of the day ordinary people will start to recognize that they've been punked for the benefit of a handful of very rich people.

[nk007]

TRex86:

Thanks for your excellent comments.

[cyndeewi]

Why should Obama or any black person reassure the worried white folks? This country is not owned by them. The indians were the first ones here. We should be trying to reassure them. To that end, who opened the doors to all the other races? This was their doing, and now they are afraid? Give me a break!

[TRex86]

It's just politics. The Repugs are stirring up the WWF's, who remain the dominant bloc in much of the country. Recall Hillary's artless reference to white working people during the primaries. Obama needs to soothe them--mostly by continuing to do a steady job.

[Jorge Al-Subbad]

Actually cyndeewi... the county IS owned by them. Blacks owned 16 times more land 100 years ago than we do today. The subprime loan orgy of the last 6 years targeted blacks disproportionately controlled for all income levels and creditworthiness. Loan and Mortgage companies used sophisticated sampling means to direct the worst loan terms towards the black customer base and estimates are that blacks as a group have lost more than 200 billion dollars in wealth from foreclosures, fraud, and high interest loans.

It's also part of why black support for Hillary was so strong early on... we knew he would face mindless obstructionism for years following a period of "reassurance" and "crossing the color barrier" because that is how integration always worked from Jackie Robinson to the Little Rock 9. One had to prove to whites that one was worthy to be recognized as a citizen... then to quote Cleavon Little's character in "Blazing Saddles"(which is less and less a crude comedy than the blueprint of a Presidency).. "then they got to accept ya." I'd also point towards Chris Rock's loud but cogent analysis of why Oprah is popular... Rock joked that all of Oprah's giveaway shows and "gift under the seats" stuff is meant to keep white people calm and that's why she is able to maintain a large and dedicated audience of white women. I think Rock called it. And that's why the Republicans are leaping on entitlements of any kind!

[devadasi]

My feelings exactly. While so many of us feel fortunate to have a sophisticated, well educated, thoughtful, poised, slim and articulate President, so many others are threatened by these characteristics. So sad and pathetic.

I have cousins, who still think it's the 1950-'s, who I no longer speak to as of one year ago, because we got into it over Obama. I campaigend for him and I promised myself I wouldn't get into a political discussion with family members, but when one of them began defending Sarah Palin all hell broke loose. I have no regrets, however...I don't want to hang out with people where I can't be myself or express my views.

I remember growing up in a working class racist neighborhood in Queens while attending a progressive H.S. in Manhattan and being made fun of because I didn't speak with a Queens accent, took ballet classes, and I liked poetry and I liked to draw.....yea, I was so radical!!!?

[mmz]

Wow. That was so well put. Did you mention Obama's amazing smile and the sense that he seems to actually like people without judgment? He's a gift and I'm not sure Americans deserve him yet. He's way better than we are at this point in time.

[Jorge Al-Subbad]

So true... these are rock solid GOOD qualities. And yet there is something about the American mind which calls for and demands that we strive towards being our best, but doesn't TRUST us if we ever get there. Not only are Americans not deserving of him in a sense.. but a lot of these people think we should be embarrassed by him. They are turning logic on his head.. calling the Olympic gambit, where the President tried to help out the effort to attract the 12th Olympics held in the U.S. .. an event which focuses on competing with all one's heart regardless of the sacrifices and effort involved unafraid of winning or losing but being at your personal best with a spirit of sportsmanship.... but to the right it is a club with which to beat him with.. you TRIED and you LOST... some President YOU turned out to be. First they falsely defined him as THE ONE and then when he isn't the invincible ONE they knock down their own strawman.

[birdie2]

How do you address all of their prejudices in a systemic fashion when something like Grey Poupon will set them off?

[nk007]

You ask a good question. May be the place to start is to start calling out their leaders who are pouring gasoline on the fire. People must be reminded that Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, the captains of insurance companies are all about making money and simply exploiting people's fear of change so that they may make even more money. I would like for Beck and Limbaugh to produce proof that the election of "socialist" Obama has diminished their take home pay. I bet you Glenn Beck has made more money the 8 months of Obama presidency than he ever did under the 8 years of George W. Bush. We need to publicize this information to debunk this myth of socialism.

[Jorge Al-Subbad]

Hate to use military metaphors here.. and I don't take all of what I have said from these examples but I think they are very informative. First is Scott Ritter who I have seen has taken some of the speeches he has given to left wing groups and done a book which I didn't know about till now which I think is critical to any political activists who want to move effectively against the organizing on the right http://www.amazon.com/Waging-Peace-Art-Antiwar-Movement/dp/1568583281/ref=sr_1_4/002-0149005-6925654?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180254783&sr=1-4/antiwarbookstore.

A brief quote from a Vietnam history, as I read this I think Obama should be pacifying New Orleans, Eastern Kentucky, and South Carolina i.e. Jindahl, McConnell, and Sanford/Wilson.

"Unlike Westmoreland, who resented interference from U.S. politicians in what he considered purely military problems, Abrams was sensitive to the politics of the war in the US. He also paid attention to the fact that the actions of the United States had alienated many, if not most, South Vietnamese. Abrams practiced a pacification strategy by trying to improve medical care, education, and agriculture at the village level in South Vietnam to undermine the support base of the NLF. He replaced Westmoreland’s large units with small patrols, hoping to use ambushes and other guerrilla tactics to beat the NLF at their own game."

[Jorge Al-Subbad]

What Limbaugh and Hannity do every day for 6 hours has the effect of brainwashing their listenership. One of their major repetitive messages is not to trust anyone who disagrees with them and not to read sources like the New York Times which, whatever one says about it, is an entity which usually uses first hand sources to tell its stories.. extremely dangerous in the context of the kind of spin doctoring right wing talk radio does. The one thing you CAN'T effectively do is call out the brainwasher to his victim because the FIRST thing the brainwasher does is establish that he is infallible and that you mustn't listen to those who do not recognize me as all important. Once you come in and say "Scientology is a hoax" you'll get nowhere with scientologists, Moonies, or politicized evangelicals. And you're trapped if you ask Limbaugh or Beck to produce "proof" because they've just argued not only that the President isn't born here but that the President is part of some decades long conspiracy by unseen and unknown forces to pull the wool over America's eyes.. so any "proof" you provide is FURTHER proof of the thoroughness of the conspiracy. It's not just that the right lies.. it is that they have REPROGRAMMED brains out there and loaded THEIR operating system on it.. and OUR ideas aren't compatible with it.