There was a time when racism prevented people of color from voting or going to school. But now, racism includes the inability to see a person of color as an authority figure. It’s so clear. Huckabee pushes the agenda that our president, who is of mixed race descent, is not an American. He demonizes the grandfather that Obama never knew instead of focusing on the grandparents that he grew up with.
Republicans don’t talk about Obama’s white grandfather who was a war hero in the Pacific. Glenn Beck and Fox News keep pushing “He’s not like us.”
Can you imagine what it would be like if Obama had made any mistakes in his life. If as a kid, he stole a candy bar or got into trouble at college, they would have demonized him like no other. They would turn him into “a bad black man.” What about Newt Gingrich with 3 marriages, ethics issues when he was in congress, who is now trying to run for president. No way a person of color could run with that kind of baggage.
The reality is Obama grew up with a very solid white family and his mother was a woman who traveled the world learning more about people in other parts of the world. Sarah Palin and the racism of the right pushes the agenda that Obama is a bad black man. He is going to sell us out to the Muslim terrorists or the African nations.
Fear of people of color, whether it be brown-skinned people in Arizona or our president, seems to be the real issue. After all, we don’t have one person of color in the senate anymore. We have few people of color who are in positions of power in our government. The sad reality is about 25% of this country is racist. This is what Republicans are counting on for their base. How sick is that?
We need Republicans who have the guts to stand up to Republican racism. Where are they? I know they’re out there. I would vote for such a person if they had forward ideas. So if you see one, tell him to have the guts to put the Right wing wackos in their place so we can get back to having a country that’s about what this country is suppose to be about: content of character and bringing value to the community.
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Hi Larry. I just discovered your blog and have been reading it, and I must say, it is very informative and interesting. Of all the different American groups, one of the least talked about is Native American, so it is interesting to see things from your worldview. As a second-generation Indian (South Asian) immigrant, I am somewhat uncommon (though not unique) in being a conservative. I agree that the modern Republican party is still eradicating vestiges of racism (see: Trent Lott), but I believe the problem facing it now is not so much racism, but religion-ism. There are prominent non-white Republicans (Michael Steele, Herman Cain, Piyush Jindal, and more) and while I do not necessarily approve of their policies, they are nonetheless accepted by mainline Republicans. However, very very few non-Christian prominent Republican politicians exist (in fact, I couldn’t name one, although I hope there are some: I only know of a Sikh mayor who considers himself fiscally conservative but is not officially a Republican mayor). As a conservative but non-white myself, I absolutely abhor racism and other forms of discrimination, and I believe that the religiousness of the Republican Party is what is holding it back. I have nothing against Christians at all, but I do wish the Republican Party would be more open to those of other faiths. Despite my conservatism, I dislike the right wing wackos as much as you do, and I earnestly hope that my party can reform, or I just might switch to being a Democrat, no matter how much I disagree with many Democratic policies. I would like to point out, however, that the “birther” controversy- however ridiculous and childish- may not be so much rooted in racism as a futile and puerile attempt at discrediting Obama to gain political support for Republicans – a movement which the released birth certificate will hopefully crush for good. I say this because Alan Keyes (a black man) was one of the major figures in the movement that said Obama was not a citizen.
The GOP needs its base. I’d love to see some biochemist develop a gene therapy virus that fixes the racism in America – by giving everyone a lot of color. What would the GOP base think if suddenly they had their share of the dark skin? Or, are they even capable of thinking?
You have to understand something. In the fifties and sixties things were somewhat the opposite. The southern Democratic party of Racism and hate. They used the Christian Right as doing gods work. They tried to block equality at every door. Civil rights issues were the politics of the day. I spent my first college years trying to help Robert Kennedy get elected.( He was killed by not Surhan ,Surhan but some political conspiricy we will never know. That’s for another day. The forensic association i belong to has made that an association policy. )
The southern influence of racism has changed but the smell is still the same. Sure they have people of color who would like to feel they are accepted by other republicans but the true is sure as long as we can use them fine, look at what happened to those black republicans who thought they really had respect. They were held out of meeting or not asked to participate in debates.
The racism of the times is not about allowing people of color a place at the table its now about not letting you have any authority. Your not allowed to be seen as good or smart or even an American, or not one of us. I have had that same experience in my own state. Here in Nevada I had a principal tell me That counselors do not have to have to hold confidentiality with students, As some one who is a Diplomat and Fellow with the American Psychotherapy Association and the The member of the American College of Forensic Examiners . She totally dismissed my concern for not having the ethics of the students in mind, I also was a tenured University professor.
We are living in times where we have more people of color and especially blacks who have more power. Native people are among the poorest and least educated. The social programs that the Republicans want to dismantle are so that that power doesn’t translate into people of color having more power. I see it all over the place. Our country was once about equality and we looked for the government to help us with social equality but there are those who are afraid of this. Maybe because as we become more powerful they are afraid we will do to them ,what has been do to us.
Don’t you wish. Its in the spirit of inferiority of some people. Racism of this time is grounded in not seeing a person of color as a authority figure. Look at the disrespect that the president gets. I had a women tell me when i was a young professor,” I never meet someone like you who was smart” .I told her to bad you never meet my dad who never finished high school.