Racism

by

No, it isn’t; it’s the flag of the Ku Klux Klan

I’m not going to waste space here today trying to convince people that the Confederate flag you see flying all over the place is the flag of treason and slavery — you know it is, and the people who fly it know it is. That’s why they fly it. Oh, they may say it’s about “southern heritage” but I never see southern liberals or blacks flying that flag, only racists or people who are are so clueless that they have been misled by racists.  It’s no more a flag of southern pride than the swastika is a symbol of German pride.

But the real fact is that the flag — which only came into being during the treasonous rebellion — isn’t even the real flag that flew over the Confederacy.

flagsNo, indeed. This Tennessee flag was the one adopted by the Ku Klux Klan after the war to support their attempts to keep the purpose of the war alive — the subjugation (and murder) of fellow Americans. It’s the flag of racist, treasonous, evil people who, I might add, also fought against anyone who wasn’t a Christian.

When you display that flag today, you are saying you agree with them. You are showing your support for slavery, prejudice, and hatred.

No, no, no. You don’t get to decide what that flag means. You don’t get to say “Yeah, for everyone else it means hatred but for me it means something else.”  If you have that argument, then allow me to shoot you the middle finger. Oh, sorry, were you insulted? Well, for me, the middle finger means something entirely different. What do you mean, I don’t get to define what it means?

Just kidding of course. My middle finger to you means exactly what you think it does.

by

Blaming Alcohol for your Bigotry

I didn’t have a sip of alcohol until I was way into my 20s. Even today, I’m not sure I’ve ever been “drunk” (although with legal alcohol levels so low for drunk drivers, I may have been). I’ve certainly never had a hangover. Mostly, when I drink, I fall asleep.

One of the reasons I didn’t drink when I was younger was because I saw people drunk and I was not impressed. They’d say things they’d later regret, they’d get into arguments, they’d become difficult, and then they’d throw up on the front lawn. I couldn’t see what was appealing about any of that. (Mind you, I was also a nerd who didn’t swear, either, so I guess that makes sense.)*  frat10n-3-web

From what I can see, alcohol doesn’t turn you into Mr. Hyde, with a completely new personality. Alcohol releases your inhibitions, and the part of your brain that says “Hey, maybe this isn’t a good idea” goes to sleep while you decide that skateboarding down the stairs nude would be a wonderful experience.

I bring this up because I’m tired of people saying terrible things and then blaming the alcohol. The latest involves those frat boys who were caught singing a racist song on the bus. Yeah, they’re sorry now — sorry they got caught doing it. And of course, they’re blaming the alcohol. If it hadn’t have been for the alcohol, they never would have done that!

Yeah, they just would have thought it, instead.

I am absolutely positive that if you got me drunk, you would never in a million years hear me say something racist. Oh, I’m sure I’d say other stupid things, because that’s what alcohol does, but I won’t all-of-a-sudden turn into someone I’m not. You won’t hear me insulting gays and minorities and women, but you will probably hear me insult conservatives, bigots, and religious leaders because hey, I do that now sober.  I’ll just be louder and more obnoxious about it.

I mean, I’ve seen my friends get really drunk and curse and scream at racists, because that’s who they are. The alcohol allows them to say things they might have never said otherwise.

So to those kids on the bus: We should all thank the alcohol for allowing us to see you as you really are, you racist fratholes.

 

*Here’s where people say “What do you mean “was a nerd”?

by

It’s not always racism

Yesterday, I wrote about how we should not listen to white people when they say it’s not about racism, because they’re not the “experts” who really experience it.

However, we should also beware of going too far in the other direction:  sometimes it really is not about racism.

I have often had discussions like this with my clients:

“That cop is a racist!”

“Why do you say that?”

“He treated me terribly and gave me no respect!”

“I know this particular cop very well.  Trust me, he treats everyone like that.”

Sometimes people are a jerk to you not because of your race, but because they’re jerks.  Or maybe it’s because of your dress or attitude.  A white guy dressed as a thug and acting like a gang member also doesn’t get a ton of respect.resized_mlk1-meme-generator-pew-pew-pew-take-that-racism-e177f6

But there really is racism.  Obama talked about how, when he was a Constitutional Law Professor dressed in a suit, he still couldn’t get a taxi.  Black business leaders find themselves being followed in stores despite looking like professional CEOs in all respects.  The fact that blacks get arrested for drug offenses in bigger numbers than whites despite drug use among whites and blacks being pretty equal is another good sign.  There are plenty of other examples.

All I’m saying is: Racism absolutely exists and it is something people deal with every day.  Just don’t automatically assume every time you’re treated bad it’s because of racism.  I have friends who hate Obama but it’s not because they’re racist.  They hated Clinton too.  They hate all liberal politicians.   If Obama was 100% white, they’d still hate him.

For that matter, I can’t stand Al Sharpton, Clarence Thomas, and Herman Cain, but not because of their race.  (And if you think I supported Obama because of his race, well, you might want to ask if you are the racist, unable to see anything but a candidate’s race to determine why anyone  would vote for him.)

However, if your main criticism of Obama is that he’s a Kenyan Muslim who doesn’t look like a “real American” — well, I think that’s a pretty good sign it isn’t just his politics that have you angry.  And if your protest includes a Confederate flag, you might as well stop pretending.

by

OK, so this Donald Sterling apparently exists …

I know nothing about professional sports, and had never heard of Donald Sterling until this weekend.  Seems he said some blatantly racist (and sexist) remarks that were recorded and now everyone is demanding that he resign.  He’s losing sponsors and otherwise feeling the heat.

So, of course, the first thing the right wing does when faced with a racist in their midst is to run away and disown him.   They tried to do that with last week’s racist, Clive Bundy, and now they’re doing the same with Donald Sterling, except this time they’re using the old technique of lying through their teeth.   donald-sterling

“He’s a Democrat!” claimed the right wing blogosphere, pointing out that he had donated some money to former Basketball player Bill Bradley’s campaign many years ago.

That’s it.  That’s basically the evidence.

Which is contradicted by the easily verifiable search of voter registration records showing him as a long-time registered Republican.

Am I implying that all racists are Republicans?  Of course not, and don’t try to put words into my mouth.  And I know that most Republicans are not liars.

But I’m damned tired of loudmouths on the right spreading lies, while responsible Republicans remain silent and refuse to call them out on it.

 

by

How to hide your racism

Clive Bundy hasn’t said anything different than what many popular politicians have said on the right;  he just didn’t say it according to the modern rules on how to pretend you’re not racist.  clive_bundy-504x320

(In case you haven’t paid attention, here’s what the lawbreaking rancher said:  “I want to tell you one more thing I know about the Negro … They abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick cotton. And I’ve often wondered, are they better off as slaves, picking cotton and having a family life and doing things, or are they better off under government subsidy? They didn’t get no more freedom. They got less freedom.”)

Now even racists on the right are distancing themselves from the man they had previously called a patriotic hero.  Here’s what Bundy didn’t know that they do:

Lesson one:  Use code terms.  Don’t say “black” or “negro”.  The proper term these days is “thug.”  Warning:  Make sure you never refer to an actual white criminal as a thug so as not to confuse your listeners.  If talking about welfare, you can also use “inner city” — that seems to have worked well for Paul Ryan (see Lesson two).

Lesson two:  Equate welfare with slavery, but in a good way (not like Bundy did).  Ignore the fact that most people on welfare are white and predominately in the south.  For some amazing reason, racist whites on welfare know they need it and deserve it, and so any comment about welfare cheats never seems to apply to them.  So don’t worry about offending your base.  (Freedomworks, a major Tea Party group, has promoted this idea through its promotional movies and blogs a lot.)  This is what Paul Ryan did a few weeks ago, and he’s still a darling of the right!

Lesson three:  Like any racist, assume that the example you see represents that entire race.  Forget all the black scientists, lawyers, judges, business leaders, preachers, and Presidents of the United States who prove you completely wrong and concentrate instead on the small percentage who fulfill your stereotypes.  Never mention the good examples!  (Bundy has this part down pretty well, actually.)

Bundy is merely repeating the things he hears constantly from some of the leaders of the Republican party.  He just rephrased it in the wrong way.

 

 

 

 

by

“He only won because he’s black”

Michelle Bachmann said Americans voted for Obama because he was black and they felt guilty. Yep! That’s why I supported Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Carol Mosley-Braun and Herman Cain. s-michele-bachmann-large300

No. Wait. I remember now. I didn’t support any of those people.

Dammit! Why can’t the world be as simple as Michelle Bachmann, where there is black and white and nothing inbetween — where the color of someone’s skin is the determining factor instead of complicated things like their experience, stand on the issues, and education?

But no, that’s just too subtle for her. The fact that the majority of Americans supported a Senator who graduated at the top of his class from both Columbia and Harvard Law, whose positions on the issues most matched theirs, and who belonged to the party that had won more votes in three of the last four Presidential races is completely meaningless to her, because the only thing she sees is the color of Obama’s skin.

Let’s see … there is a word for someone like that, isn’t there?

by

The decline of the male WASP

I wonder how much of the anger over the Obama administration is because of the decline of the male WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant)?

Much of the debate against immigration seems to center around the “problem” of America not being the province of WASPs any more. And much of the “war on women” seems to decry the decline of the male in power. Conservative commentators like Pat Buchanan have written books about how terrible this is for our country, claiming that the U.S. “won’t look like the U.S.” in the future.

For those people who think that having a ruling class of the male WASP is what America is all about, the Obama administration must have seemed like Hell when it first came into office. We had:

  • A (half) black President
  • A Catholic Vice President
  • A Mormon Senate Majority Leader
  • A Catholic woman Speaker of the House
  • A woman Secretary of State
  • A black Attorney General

    • … not a male WASP among the most powerful people in the United States. And then he goes and appoints two women to the Supreme Court — a Catholic one and a Jewish one.

    Then, by his second term, he’s letting women and gays into our military front lines!

    So is this why there is such a radical movement by the right to fight immigration and to push back against women and gays? Is it because they fear losing their male WASP hierarchy?

    I think in the long run, the Obama administration’s greatest legacy may be the breaking down of so many of these barriers. The acceptance of women and gays in the military is as important as when Truman desegregated the army in the 50s.

    And those male WASPs will just have to learn to share.