Ain't No Racists Here

Here's a bit from Eugene Robinson in the Washington Post on the latent racism behind the protests against Obama:

This whole discussion was kicked off by Rep. Joe Wilson's "You lie!" outburst during Obama's address to a joint session of Congress. As the House members who voted to rebuke Wilson -- including seven fellow Republicans -- understand, calling the head of state a liar in such an official setting is way out of bounds. Grumbling and even booing come with the territory, but a flat accusation of mendacity is an impermissible sign of disrespect. Nobody ever called Bush a liar when he was speaking in the House chamber.

Why would Wilson think he was entitled to insult the president this way? Why would he refuse to offer a formal apology on the House floor, which would have ended the matter? I have no idea. Friends and colleagues say he is no racist, and they know the man a lot better than I do. But he does have a history.

Before he was elected to Congress, Wilson was one of a handful of South Carolina state senators to vote to keep the Confederate flag flying above the State House in Columbia. This was after a long, bitter battle over the flag had distilled the issue, at least in the minds of most South Carolinians, into a proxy fight over race: Was the state going to move forward, or would it cling to its shameful past? Most politicians in the state, including most conservatives, had decided it was time to move on. Wilson was one of the last diehards.

That, of course, was his right. But now that he has committed a singular act of disrespect toward the first African American president, it's my right to ask whether his motivation was racial.

I look forward to the day when we can look past race. But before we can do so, we need to look at race and see it clearly. Jimmy Carter did us a favor.

I think it is funny to watch all the talking heads on the Sunday morning political shows all gravely saying "well, there might be a touch of racism in America, but these angry protests are just part of the grand tradition of American populism". Yeah, like those famous "populists" of the Deep South, the KKK. They would gather the white folk to picnic beneath the tree that that had strung up some hapless back fellow from. These fine white folks would then mug for the camera. Sort of like the "tea party" folk jostling to get in front of the cameras to show off their "populism".

This pretense that the protests have only a touch of racism and are something very different is a disgusting joke. As the Robinson article points out. People like Joe Wilson have all the bona fides of a racist. But people want to pretend that his outburst was just an understandable "slip up" as if he might have done the same during a George Bush speech if the speech touched on a hot button topic. Oh yeah. That is really believable!

And here is some more thoughts from Ta-Nehisi Coates at the Atlantic:

I don't think anyone who's paid close attention to Bill Cosby over the years should be the least bit surprised by this:

I agree with President Carter that racism is playing a role in recent outbursts against President Obama.

Or this:

During President Obama's speech on the status of health care reform, some members of congress engaged in a public display of disrespect. While one Representative hurled the now infamous "you lie" insult at the President, others made their lack of interest known by exhibiting rude behavior such as deliberately yawning and sending text messages.

Various polls prior to the election indicated that between five and ten percent of Americans would never vote for an African American president. That number, of course, only includes those who actually admitted to their prejudice. How many others harbored such feelings but did not respond honestly when asked the question? And how many people oppose Obama's plan because the President is African American?

In "Birth of a Nation," D.W. Griffith used white actors in black face to portray black legislators as having low intelligence and acting like fools. Today, we have a band of real life congressional fools seemingly bent on blocking any meaningful reform of the health care system. But if we allow even one American to die simply because he or she cannot afford treatment, we are creating a shameful scenario that could aptly be called "Death of a Nation."

People like to forget that this is the dude that rolls with Randall Robinson, protested against apartheid, gave a gazillion dollars to Spelman, supported Jesse Jackson for president, and quotes the rhetoric of the Nation of Islam (to be fair, with caveats.) I think it goes too far to call Cosby a nationalist.--but he's much closer to the conservatism of black nationalism, than to the conservatism of Shelby Steele. But don't take my word for it. Actually, please take my word for it.