A certain fringe element
Sep. 17th, 2009 01:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
effexI watched the news tonight. I don't, usually (GUESS WHY. Hint: It's awful!), but my roommate turned it on while I was making dinner and I'm apparently incapable of walking away.
If you missed it, former President Carter gave a speech tonight in which he said "I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man, that he's African American." It's a response to Sen. Wilson and the recent conservative demonstrations and, predictably, the news sphere has exploded with talking heads and accusations and analysis. My roommate claimed Carter was calling anyone who disagreed with Obama a racist, I pointed out the 'intensely demonstrated animosity' bit, she waved it off as 'implied,' we shut down the conversation to avoidkilling each other heated argument (hey, it's worked so far). But that's beside the point.
My own feelings on race, conservatism, and Obama are complicated (much like the issue!) - I suggest reading Ta-Nehisi Coates and the Tenured Radical if you're interested in thoughts much more intelligent then mine.
One thing that stood out at me, amidst all the discussion, was the line put forth by both sides - that racism is still around, sure, but (white) Americans (the demonstrators in particular) are Good People Making Their Voices heard, it's wrong to call them racist, some are kinda iffy but it's just a fringe element. The extremists.
And just, no.
I know anybody reading this has probably already knows, but it bears repeating - Racism is not found only in a small, crazy minority.
Racism is my grandmother, who lives in a subdivision populated mainly by young Black and Hispanic families and talks about 'those people' with hushed tones and worried glances. Who forwarded me that 'why muslims can't be good americans' email that was going around, in all earnestness. Racism is the guys at work tossing around words like 'towelhead' and 'nigger,' is my most liberal coworker being shocked that the Hispanic kid who works in the warehouse does it to pay for college, to be an architect.
Racism is my brother saying people are getting too worked up over the Airbender casting, that he always saw Aang as white. That he's looking forward to teaching and hopes he gets a job at a 'good' school, not in the inner city.
Racism is me dismissing the whole of South America for a fantasy project, because 'they weren't the right type and all totally bloodthirsty besides, right?' (this is not as long ago as I wish it was).
Racism is 'not seeing color,' erasing total populations from your stories 'to remove the problem,' refusing to ride the bus because 'it might not be safe.' It's 'well, of course the valedictorian's an Asian,' said with a snide smile, it's the emphasis on 'western' civilization in our schools, it's avoiding a Mexican restaurant, or an Indian one, or Thai, or Chinese, because 'it'll probably make you sick (they eat dogs, you know).'
It's every god-damned where; casual, pervasive, systematic. It's in our movies, our music, our books, our heads. It's on our televisions, telling us it doesn't exist.
I am really not looking forward to the national debate these next few weeks.
If you missed it, former President Carter gave a speech tonight in which he said "I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man, that he's African American." It's a response to Sen. Wilson and the recent conservative demonstrations and, predictably, the news sphere has exploded with talking heads and accusations and analysis. My roommate claimed Carter was calling anyone who disagreed with Obama a racist, I pointed out the 'intensely demonstrated animosity' bit, she waved it off as 'implied,' we shut down the conversation to avoid
My own feelings on race, conservatism, and Obama are complicated (much like the issue!) - I suggest reading Ta-Nehisi Coates and the Tenured Radical if you're interested in thoughts much more intelligent then mine.
One thing that stood out at me, amidst all the discussion, was the line put forth by both sides - that racism is still around, sure, but (white) Americans (the demonstrators in particular) are Good People Making Their Voices heard, it's wrong to call them racist, some are kinda iffy but it's just a fringe element. The extremists.
And just, no.
I know anybody reading this has probably already knows, but it bears repeating - Racism is not found only in a small, crazy minority.
Racism is my grandmother, who lives in a subdivision populated mainly by young Black and Hispanic families and talks about 'those people' with hushed tones and worried glances. Who forwarded me that 'why muslims can't be good americans' email that was going around, in all earnestness. Racism is the guys at work tossing around words like 'towelhead' and 'nigger,' is my most liberal coworker being shocked that the Hispanic kid who works in the warehouse does it to pay for college, to be an architect.
Racism is my brother saying people are getting too worked up over the Airbender casting, that he always saw Aang as white. That he's looking forward to teaching and hopes he gets a job at a 'good' school, not in the inner city.
Racism is me dismissing the whole of South America for a fantasy project, because 'they weren't the right type and all totally bloodthirsty besides, right?' (this is not as long ago as I wish it was).
Racism is 'not seeing color,' erasing total populations from your stories 'to remove the problem,' refusing to ride the bus because 'it might not be safe.' It's 'well, of course the valedictorian's an Asian,' said with a snide smile, it's the emphasis on 'western' civilization in our schools, it's avoiding a Mexican restaurant, or an Indian one, or Thai, or Chinese, because 'it'll probably make you sick (they eat dogs, you know).'
It's every god-damned where; casual, pervasive, systematic. It's in our movies, our music, our books, our heads. It's on our televisions, telling us it doesn't exist.
I am really not looking forward to the national debate these next few weeks.
