Many of you may know the Tumblr blog, "Yo, Is This Racist?" For those of you who aren't Tumblr-savvy, the creator of this blog fields questions from average people who ask if certain aspects of their lives are racist or not.
While I can't give such lively commentary as the creator of the blog does, I can call out the current Republican field on their racism.
You are probably wondering: "Yo, is Newt Gingrich racist for calling Obama the 'food stamp president' and suggesting that poor urban youth do janitorial work in schools?
Yes. Mr. Fig Newton suffers from a classic case of ignorance and white privilege. It is ignorant to suggest Obama is the "food stamp president" when a white guy created the system. That is without mentioning the racial undertones of that statement. While the majority of people who receive public aid are white we all know about the stereotype of the so-called "welfare queen." Besides, it is white privilege to believe that this idea of "hard work" will help people of color out of poverty, simply ignoring other socio-economic factors that play key roles in preventing upward mobility.
"Yo, is it racist for Rick Santorum to say, 'I don't want to make black people's lives better by giving them somebody else's money,' but then later say 'blah people,' not 'black people?'"
Yes. Mr. "we all know what your last name means" needs to own up to his own racism.
Yo, what about Mitt, is he racist?
Well, Richie Rich is kind of a mixed bag. Sure, there was that incident back in the day where he was around young black kids at an MLK event and referred to a toddler's simple gold necklace as "bling-bling." According to the National Black Chamber of Commerce, he broke with tradition by refusing to hand over the gavel to the black guy, his successor, when leaving office as governor. And his religion is predominately white and didn't allow black members 'till 1970. You know what, he's probably racist. Definitely classist.
Yo, What about Ro...
Yes. Yes. Yes. Ron Racist Paul, not to be confused with iconic drag queen RuPaul, is so racist that in an effort to not seem it, he uses MLK as a cloak, and token black people in campaign advertisements to quell white anxiety, as an attempt to delegitimize other black people's opinion of him. Then there are the newsletters and a video of him standing in front of the confederate flag talking about state's rights -- which the pro-confederate Patriot Review has on their Youtube page. Most black people aren't too fond of the whole confederate flag thing or justifying slavery. Paul supporters might as well be voting for David Duke.