Play the Race Card

[AnglRdr]

Let me say this clearly so there are no misunderstandings: some of the protests against President Obama are howls of rage at the fact that we have an African-American head of state. I'm sick of all the code words used when this subject comes up, so be assured that I am saying exactly what I mean. Oh, and in response to the inevitable complaints that I am playing the race card—race isn't a political parlor game. It is a powerful fault line in a nation that bears the scars of slavery, a civil war, Jim Crow, a mind-numbing number of assassinations, and too many riots to count. It is naive and disingenuous to say otherwise.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/215742

[Silas Sparkhammer]

Fear of being seen as overtly racist has led to a plethora of "code-word" schemata. One ex-co-worker (or cow-orker) of mine spoke of how much nicer it was in New England, as there were fewer Martians there. I had absolutely no clue what she was trying to say, until she coughed a few times and waggled her eyebrows, and suddenly I understood. (I was intensely disgusted, and I'm sure she read that on my face.)

Another ex-co-worker used a very similar code-phrase, in reference to Montana: "There are a lot fewer Klingons here." Again, it took me a moment to get it, and once I did I was disappointed and not a little disgusted.

I suppose we can take some trivial consolation in the fact that both of these women were unwilling to just blurt out what they actually meant, but took at least some measure of shame from it. Still, it points to the continued existence of both racism and "white flight," and shows that there is still a lot of room for future progress.

Silas

[Ms. K]

I just have one thing to say to those disingenuous to say that there is no racist intent in any of the protests....

BULLSHIT.

There's quite a bit of racist intent. And attempting to say there isn't is just crap. I'd be more, hell, I'm not sure of the word I'm looking for, somehow "impressed" and "respectful" aren't it, if they'd just come right out and say they're horrified and disgusted that a n-word is President, and that all the n-words are going to take over the country and kill all the white folk in their beds, blah blah blah.

Because, when you get right down to it, that's the belief. That the n-words are gonna take over, and it's just awful, and all us "good white folk" are in danger.

It's ridiculous. And just enraging.

[E. Q. Taft]

I seem to recall that there were stories some people were using the term "Canadians" as a code-word for blacks, as well.

I'm sort of inclined to Obama's own view: the vast majority of people who oppose him due to his race, wouldn't support a white president with his positions, either. There may be some small contingent for whom this isn't true, who find his politics acceptable but can't support him personally due to racism -- but I think it's a tiny fraction of those opposing him.

For the rest, how much of the resistance is due to racism, and how much is other politics? I suspect that in many cases, even his opponents themselves don't entirely know. For many, it may be that it's not so much that he's black per se, but that he's different. It's not entirely dissimilar from the way Bill Clinton, to many, represented everything that had gone "wrong" with America since the 1960's -- the whole pot-smoking, draft-dodging, hippie kind of image. That Clinton's actual policies were pretty middle-of-the-road (and too pro-business for a lot of liberals) hardly mattered: he was one of them.

So for some it may be more that they're not so much afraid of Obama, but of the future he may represent: a multi-racial, multi-cultural country that doesn't much resemble the days of the "nuclear family" (short lived as those actually were).

Others certainly are more overtly and consciously racist -- but how many of those would vote Democratic these days, anyway? I don't believe for a moment that all Republicans are racists -- but I do believe that the vast majority of (white) American racists vote Republican. (And, more disturbingly to me, that Republican strategists know this and deliberately exploit it.)

[BamaRainbow]

Sorry, but I'm calling bullshit on Ms K's call of bullshit.
Last year, I did NOT support Barack Obama during the primary simply because I did not believe he was sufficiently qualified to be President. Not in 2008, at least. Kucinich was closer to my own political views but I felt Hillary was an equally capable choice.
Surprisingly, I found far more out and out sexism against Hillary during the primary campaign, even from Democratic women than there was any REAL racism against Obama. No, the racism accusations ALL came from the Obama camp against ANY white who refused to support Obama. That, at least, was how I saw the campaign. What I saw and read largely fell along the vein of "well, if you're white and you don't support Obama, you must be a racist because you don't want a black man as President." (YMMV, and all that, but that was MY impression of Team Obama.)
When Hillary was accused of "pimping" Chelsea, where were the howls of outrage, especially from the so-called feminists? If the same accusation had been leveled against Obama for having his daughters campaigning for him, there would have been howls of "racism" and the white journalist who made the statement would've lost his job without hesitation. (As it was, when Hillary demanded an apology, Obama supporters viewed this as a sign of Hillary's being thin-skinned.)
When Olbermann made his infamous comment about someone taking Hillary into a room and only one coming out, again, the silence from the feminist community (and most Obama supporters) was deafening. Had a Hillary supporter made such a comment, well that would've meant the end of that supporter's political connection. (Bear in mind that a number of Hillary's prominent supporters did make completely accurate comments about the Obama camp and they were forced to make apologies. Obama's 20-something speech writer was photographed with a lifesize cutout of Hillary and he was "groping" the cutout. What happened to him? Well, he's still working for Obama now.)
Then, of course, we had all the calls from the DNC and prominent Democrats for Hillary to quit her campaign in FEBRUARY! The longer Hillary continued campaigning, the louder (and more frequent) the calls for her to drop out became. Several of Hillary's African-American supporters, especially in the South, were "warned" that they might face opposition in their upcoming political races if they didn't end their support of Hillary. We heard from several leading Democrats that the superdelegates should back the candidate who won their state; of course, Hillary won Massachusetts and West Virginia, but some of those states most prominent SDs who led the "vote as your state votes" charge--such as Kerry, Kennedy and Byrd--all publicly supported Obama. When the DNC met at the end of May to decide the Michigan and Florida issues, they completely discarded the results from Michigan and gave Obama delegates from that state, not a single one of whom he was entitled (Obama had withdrawn his name from the Michigan ballot in late 2007) and then, to add insult to injury, several of Hillary's delegates were stripped from her and awarded to Obama. What was especially galling about the demand that Hillary drop out was that Sen Kennedy was one of those who was most vocal in the demand; Kennedy, however, felt differently in 1980 when he carried his campaign for the Democratic nomination ALL THE WAY to the convention (and while Carter had a lot of other troubles during the 1980 campaign, certainly the Kennedy challenge didn't help the Democrats that year). I was also incredibly pissed when Michelle Obama said that she didn't think she could support Hillary as the Democratic candidate even as Hillary swore (time and again) that she would offer her FULL support to the Democratic nominee if she didn't win the nomination.
Then, after the Obama coronation in Denver, I just found that I could NOT support the man. As far as I was concerned, he'd largely won the primary campaign on a lot of bullshit and reverse race-baiting. (I've lived in the South for a long time and I've seen plenty of genuine race-baiting in elections; when your supporters are largely saying "you're a racist if you don't support a black man", that is reverse race-baiting.) He'd also bullshitted his way on the issues. The war? Oh, he was "always" against it, and he "would've voted against it". Well, isn't that special? He wasn't in Congress at the time, so we'll never know for sure. All I know is that his record in the Senate from 2005 to 2008 was virtually identical to Hillary's (aside from the Obama vote FOR Bush's FISA "compromise"). Then, when Obama made his VP choice, he actually had the audacity to go with a man who'd been in the Senate since before Obama became a teenager; this was supposed to be some harbinger of "change"? Oh, and Obama's being for the common man? Well, when Congress tried to pass a bill to cap credit card interest rates at 30%, Obama refused to support it because he felt the cap was too high. (Of course, the failure to pass the cap then allowed credit card issuers to set their interest rates at whatever the hell rate they wanted. I don't recall which one of Obama's colleagues had to take him aside and point this out, but I really wish Obama had done something silly at the time, such as offer his own bill that capped interest rates at what he would've considered more acceptable--but he didn't.)
Then, during the Presidential campaign, once again, Team Obama was quick with the "racist" charge. No white person could seemingly utter a word against Obama without being labeled a racist, regardless of context.
I'd had enough. I decided that my support was going to go to the Green Party (even though the party wouldn't be on the November ballot). Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente were the Pres and VP candidates of a party which was most closely in tune with my own views. I guess my decision to support a black woman as President and a Latina for VP still qualified this white boy as a racist among some Obama supporters. I also voted for Democrat Vivian Figures as this state's US Senator against Jeff Sessions. Again, I was able to vote for a black woman (and a Democrat, at that) but that wasn't really enough for some Obama supporters. (And, obviously from the votes, there were some Obama supporters who couldn't support a black woman as US Senator. Obama won more than 813K votes statewide; Figures only got a little over 752K votes. Granted those extra 61K votes wouldn't have made any real difference, but it is interesting that more people voted for the black MAN over a black woman.)
I remain completely dissatisfied with Obama's performance to date. He hasn't done nearly enough despite having a Democratic majority in BOTH the House and Senate. He seems only to want to leave everything to Congress to deliver to him so that he can hold a grand press conference to sign the measure* (and when/if Congress can't deliver the bills, he can't be held accountable for their failure). And, please, don't give me this "well he's only been in office so many months" line. He's hardly accomplished any more than Dubya did in the same span of time, and Dubya was, quite rightly, slammed for HIS inaction.


*From what I've read of Obama's performance in the Illinois legislature, he did much the same thing. He would halfheartedly support a measure but, after the bill would pass, he'd be right there in front, claiming how he personally managed to push the bill through.

[Roy012]

Originally Posted by Ms. K

I just have one thing to say to those disingenuous to say that there is no racist intent in any of the protests....

BULLSHIT.

There's quite a bit of racist intent. And attempting to say there isn't is just crap. I'd be more, hell, I'm not sure of the word I'm looking for, somehow "impressed" and "respectful" aren't it, if they'd just come right out and say they're horrified and disgusted that a n-word is President, and that all the n-words are going to take over the country and kill all the white folk in their beds, blah blah blah.

Because, when you get right down to it, that's the belief. That the n-words are gonna take over, and it's just awful, and all us "good white folk" are in danger.

It's ridiculous. And just enraging.

Some folks that are upset with the current policies are racists. Some of the people that vociferously protested the Patriot Act really did dislike America. However, the some hardly invalidates the the concerns of the rest, who are debating policy. Some people that like Glen Beck, or even read and enjoyed his cringe-inducing "Common Sense" are honestly concerned about policy. I may not agree, and neither may you, but the point at which we decide to corral all or even most people sharing disagreeable beliefs with an ugly, assumed subtext under the same banner as their lowest common denominator (in this case, as n-word hating sh*t kickers who eat applesauce through a straw) is the point at which being racist is simply not that big of a deal.

[Jay Tea]

Originally Posted by Roy012

Some folks that are upset with the current policies are racists. Some of the people that vociferously protested the Patriot Act really did dislike America. However, the some hardly invalidates the the concerns of the rest, who are debating policy. Some people that like Glen Beck, or even read and enjoyed his cringe-inducing "Common Sense" are honestly concerned about policy. I may not agree, and neither may you, but the point at which we decide to corral all or even most people sharing disagreeable beliefs with an ugly, assumed subtext under the same banner as their lowest common denominator (in this case, as n-word hating sh*t kickers who eat applesauce through a straw) is the point at which being racist is simply not that big of a deal.

Interesting. As somebody who has recently been lectured to about how Europeans interpret the US from the sum of it's worst elements, I can taste the mild irony concerning how the citizens of that fine land often do the same.

[starfury]

Originally Posted by E. Q. Taft

I seem to recall that there were stories some people were using the term "Canadians" as a code-word for blacks, as well.

At the moment I think they're using 'socialist', since I really can't figure out how else that one would make sense.

[AnglRdr]

Originally Posted by BamaRainbow

Surprisingly, I found far more out and out sexism against Hillary during the primary campaign, even from Democratic women than there was any REAL racism against Obama. No, the racism accusations ALL came from the Obama camp against ANY white who refused to support Obama. That, at least, was how I saw the campaign. What I saw and read largely fell along the vein of "well, if you're white and you don't support Obama, you must be a racist because you don't want a black man as President." (YMMV, and all that, but that was MY impression of Team Obama.)

While I appreciate your "mileage may vary" disclaimer, do you have any examples of the Obama campaign calling "racism?"

I don't disagree that the sexism against Clinton was deplorable; we had a couple of threads about it during the campaign, in fact.

When Hillary was accused of "pimping" Chelsea, where were the howls of outrage, especially from the so-called feminists?

Who was guilty of this accusation? Was it the Obama campaign? Was it the media?

(As it was, when Hillary demanded an apology, Obama supporters viewed this as a sign of Hillary's being thin-skinned.)

Do you have a cite for this?

When Olbermann made his infamous comment about someone taking Hillary into a room and only one coming out, again, the silence from the feminist community (and most Obama supporters) was deafening. Had a Hillary supporter made such a comment, well that would've meant the end of that supporter's political connection.

I didn't hear this comment; I did hear Olbermann go off on Hillary for not decrying Ferraro's criticism of Obama. But Olbermann is not the Obama campaign.

(Bear in mind that a number of Hillary's prominent supporters did make completely accurate comments about the Obama camp and they were forced to make apologies. Obama's 20-something speech writer was photographed with a lifesize cutout of Hillary and he was "groping" the cutout. What happened to him? Well, he's still working for Obama now.)

Yes, he is. He also apologized to Clinton.

Then, of course, we had all the calls from the DNC and prominent Democrats for Hillary to quit her campaign in FEBRUARY! The longer Hillary continued campaigning, the louder (and more frequent) the calls for her to drop out became.

From the DNC? But, even if the DNC did that, do you understand why that was?

Several of Hillary's African-American supporters, especially in the South, were "warned" that they might face opposition in their upcoming political races if they didn't end their support of Hillary.

Cite please.

We heard from several leading Democrats that the superdelegates should back the candidate who won their state; of course, Hillary won Massachusetts and West Virginia, but some of those states most prominent SDs who led the "vote as your state votes" charge--such as Kerry, Kennedy and Byrd--all publicly supported Obama. When the DNC met at the end of May to decide the Michigan and Florida issues, they completely discarded the results from Michigan and gave Obama delegates from that state, not a single one of whom he was entitled (Obama had withdrawn his name from the Michigan ballot in late 2007) and then, to add insult to injury, several of Hillary's delegates were stripped from her and awarded to Obama. What was especially galling about the demand that Hillary drop out was that Sen Kennedy was one of those who was most vocal in the demand; Kennedy, however, felt differently in 1980 when he carried his campaign for the Democratic nomination ALL THE WAY to the convention (and while Carter had a lot of other troubles during the 1980 campaign, certainly the Kennedy challenge didn't help the Democrats that year). I was also incredibly pissed when Michelle Obama said that she didn't think she could support Hillary as the Democratic candidate even as Hillary swore (time and again) that she would offer her FULL support to the Democratic nominee if she didn't win the nomination.

This is a problem with the nominating process of the Democratic Party. It has nothing to do wth the Obama campaign.

Then, after the Obama coronation in Denver, I just found that I could NOT support the man.

This smacks of coming right out of the PUMA/RNC playbook, particularly your choice of "coronation."

As far as I was concerned, he'd largely won the primary campaign on a lot of bullshit and reverse race-baiting. (I've lived in the South for a long time and I've seen plenty of genuine race-baiting in elections; when your supporters are largely saying "you're a racist if you don't support a black man", that is reverse race-baiting.)

Cites, please.

He'd also bullshitted his way on the issues. The war? Oh, he was "always" against it, and he "would've voted against it". Well, isn't that special? He wasn't in Congress at the time, so we'll never know for sure.

How is that "bullshitting?"

All I know is that his record in the Senate from 2005 to 2008 was virtually identical to Hillary's (aside from the Obama vote FOR Bush's FISA "compromise").

Have you considered that people looked at the whole of Obama's life when making their decision?

Then, when Obama made his VP choice, he actually had the audacity to go with a man who'd been in the Senate since before Obama became a teenager; this was supposed to be some harbinger of "change"?

What does being Vice President have to do with being in the Senate? And if Joe Biden isn't change from Dick Cheney, well...

Oh, and Obama's being for the common man? Well, when Congress tried to pass a bill to cap credit card interest rates at 30%, Obama refused to support it because he felt the cap was too high.

In the end, the bill passed by congress became law.

Then, during the Presidential campaign, once again, Team Obama was quick with the "racist" charge. No white person could seemingly utter a word against Obama without being labeled a racist, regardless of context.

Cite, please.

I'd had enough.

What's sad to me is you seem to 1)have had enough prior to him even being elected, and 2) based your "enough" on nothing actually rooted in fact.

Originally Posted by Roy012

Some folks that are upset with the current policies are racists. Some of the people that vociferously protested the Patriot Act really did dislike America. However, the some hardly invalidates the the concerns of the rest, who are debating policy.

And that is precisely the point the article was making.

but the point at which we decide to corral all or even most people sharing disagreeable beliefs with an ugly, assumed subtext under the same banner as their lowest common denominator (in this case, as n-word hating sh*t kickers who eat applesauce through a straw) is the point at which being racist is simply not that big of a deal.

You didn't read the article then?

[lyra_silvertongue]

Originally Posted by BamaRainbow

When Hillary was accused of "pimping" Chelsea, where were the howls of outrage, especially from the so-called feminists?

Shakesville, who used to number the "Hillary Clinton Sexism Watch" posts, but I think gave up on the numbering around 115
Feministing

I'm sure given the time I could dig up posts about that specific incident on most of the prominent feminist blogs.

When Olbermann made his infamous comment about someone taking Hillary into a room and only one coming out, again, the silence from the feminist community (and most Obama supporters) was deafening.

I'm getting tired of wading through posts calling out Keith Olbermann for sexism to find this particular incident, but I don't think you'll find a lack of criticism of Olbermann in the feminist community. Do you actually know any feminists? Where are you getting your information about what The Feminists are deafeningly silent about?

[wanderwoman]

No, the racism accusations ALL came from the Obama camp against ANY white who refused to support Obama. That, at least, was how I saw the campaign. What I saw and read largely fell along the vein of "well, if you're white and you don't support Obama, you must be a racist because you don't want a black man as President."

BamaRainbow, you have made that charge before and I asked you for examples. You failed to respond. Around here when you assert something it is expected that you will be able to back it up with facts.

Also, I know its been brought up to you before that your lack of formatting makes your posts painful to read. You haven't done anything about that either, but I'm bringing it up again because it is still true.

[Dara bhur gCara]

Originally Posted by wanderwoman

BamaRainbow, you have made that charge before and I asked you for examples. You failed to respond.

This is a fairly noticeable pattern of behaviour with this poster, where he says something controversial, inflammatory and/or unsupported by any evidence, then decides not to respond when challenged on it. There is, of course, no rule that says a poster has to, but it's perfectly legitimate to draw conclusions from this pattern of behaviour.

And, anyway, even if everything that BamaRainbow is saying is demonstrably true, and I don't think it is, wouldn't it merely be illustration that his opposition to and dislike for Obama was not rooted in racism? Which doesn't really count for anything with regard to whether or not the opposition to and dislike for Obama of others is rooted in racism, does it?

I don't live in the US, and it would be improper of me to pontificate on US politics and society when I only really perceive it through the lenses of media and this board. But is there anyone on this board who believes that if, say, Obama was a German-American called "Schmidt," or an Irish-American called "O'Malley," there would be a high-profile political movement forging evidence and seemingly committing perjury to show that he was born in Frankfurt or Dublin?

[I'mNotDedalus]

Originally Posted by Raina Kelley

Let me say this clearly so there are no misunderstandings: some of the protests against President Obama are howls of rage at the fact that we have an African-American head of state.

Obama, today, somewhat disagreed with this (there's some amount of irony, I think, in that both Obama and Kelley want to place some of the blame upon the media). Here's Obama on Meet the Press:

DAVID GREGORY: Just to be clear though. It wasn't just President Carter. There are others in the Congressional Black Caucus. Other thinkers who have said that they agree. That there is racism out there in that opposition to you. I just want to be clear, are you— are you saying to the former president and others, to speak this way is counterproductive?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, look— David, here's what I'm saying. I— I— I think that— the media loves to have a conversation about race. I mean, the— this is— is catnip to— to— the media because it is a running thread in American history that's very powerful. And it invokes some very strong emotions.

I'm not saying that race — never matters in— in any of these— public debates that we have. What I'm saying is this debate that's taking place is not about race, it's about people being worried about— how our government should operate.

[Johnny Slick]

Ugh. I do think race was a huge factor in 2008 but where it was a huge factor is that a large number of people who do not normally vote turned out and took the opportunity to vote the first black President into office. I think that the majority of those people would have voiced support for a white Democrat anyway; the difference is, they wouldn't have been motivated to vote. One site that backs this up:

http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publ...cle_5428.shtml

This was also based on the estimate that the black vote turned at a rate of 95 percent of those registered and 60 percent of those eligible. Nevertheless, we are not able to claim, as before, that the Black vote was the decisive difference in the election, because the increase in voting was elevated by all groups.

When one looks back at this history of Black turnout, the highest level was in 1964, at 58.6 percent, a year before the Voting Rights Act was passed.

Therefore, one must add to the 48 percent of Whites who voted for Barack Obama, the Black vote and the fact that 65 percent of Hispanics, 77 percent of Jews and 55 percent of Asians put him over the top.
The performance of these groups was magnified by the fact that so many of the White voters in the conservative rural areas were not motivated to vote.

Where the high turnout of the Black vote obviously made a difference was in North Carolina and Virginia. Both of these states were firmly in the Republican “red state” column traditionally, but the high turnout of Black voters, together with a coalition of Whites and the youth vote, surprisingly pushed them into Obama’s camp. One could say the same thing about three Northern states of Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

If black and Latino voters continue to turn out at these rates, which I will grant is not likely, the Republicans will need to completely divorce themselves from the Southern Strategy or risk being an opposition party for the next generation. In a sense, it really does seem like much of the birther crap and the concealed racism are the last thrashings of a dying movement.

[AnglRdr]

Originally Posted by I'mNotDedalus

Obama, today, somewhat disagreed with this (there's some amount of irony, I think, in that both Obama and Kelley want to place some of the blame upon the media). Here's Obama on Meet the Press:

In light of Bama Rainbow's analysis, I don't think Obama or his administration really can afford to say that race is a factor--those who already suspect/accuse him/the campaign/the administration of "playing the race card," or, as Ben Stein said on CBS Sunday Morning today of "dismissing the legitimate complaints of ordinary Americans" because of suspected racism, will just point to such and say "see, I told ya so," and then the administration would be stuck in the mire.

It is a wiser move for those supporters who are outside the administration to handle it, IMO.

Originally Posted by Johnny Slick

I think that the majority of those people would have voiced support for a white Democrat anyway; the difference is, they wouldn't have been motivated to vote.


If black and Latino voters continue to turn out at these rates, which I will grant is not likely, the Republicans will need to completely divorce themselves from the Southern Strategy or risk being an opposition party for the next generation.

I think you are absolutely right. I also suspect, and definitely cannot prove, that this is behind many of the anger directed toward ACORN, who has a history of registering typically underrepresented socioeconomic groups.

In a sense, it really does seem like much of the birther crap and the concealed racism are the last thrashings of a dying movement.

From your keyboard to DOYC's ears.

[Ellestar]

Originally Posted by BamaRainbow

When Hillary was accused of "pimping" Chelsea, where were the howls of outrage, especially from the so-called feminists?

I saw howls of outrage on pretty much every feminist website and blog I frequent.

This reminds me of when Bill O'Reilly called out a feminist blogger on his show for not bringing up sexism against Sarah Palin during the campaign. And she was all, I have multiple posts doing exactly that.

It helps to see what feminists (or any group of people, really) actually said before accusing them of not saying it.

[I'mNotDedalus]

Originally Posted by AnglRdr

In light of Bama Rainbow's analysis, I don't think Obama or his administration really can afford to say that race is a factor--those who already suspect/accuse him/the campaign/the administration of "playing the race card," or, as Ben Stein said on CBS Sunday Morning today of "dismissing the legitimate complaints of ordinary Americans" because of suspected racism, will just point to such and say "see, I told ya so," and then the administration would be stuck in the mire.

It is a wiser move for those supporters who are outside the administration to handle it, IMO.

With all due respect, doesn't that amount to just hoping he secretly agrees with you (or Raina Kelley) on this issue?

I think what he said today was fairly succinct. He agrees to a small degree, but he doesn't see much evidence that racism is rampant in his opposition--I wish he would take that a step further and evaluate the evidence that opposition to serious health care reform (namely, the public option) is not that widespread among the population.

[AnglRdr]

Originally Posted by I'mNotDedalus

With all due respect, doesn't that amount to just hoping he secretly agrees with you (or Raina Kelley) on this issue?

Oh sure; I probably should have phrased my statement better to include the "if he or the administration agrees..."

I wish he would take that a step further and evaluate the evidence that opposition to serious health care reform (namely, the public option) is not that widespread among the population.

Oh most definitely. I think there has been far too much coddling by the administration of decidedly minority opinions. But then, I subscribe to the "life sucks, get a helmet" school of consensus-building, so perhaps that might explain why nobody is knocking down my door to assist them in their endeavors.

[rhiandmoi]

Originally Posted by Silas Sparkhammer

Fear of being seen as overtly racist has led to a plethora of "code-word" schemata. One ex-co-worker (or cow-orker) of mine spoke of how much nicer it was in New England, as there were fewer Martians there. I had absolutely no clue what she was trying to say, until she coughed a few times and waggled her eyebrows, and suddenly I understood. (I was intensely disgusted, and I'm sure she read that on my face.)

Another ex-co-worker used a very similar code-phrase, in reference to Montana: "There are a lot fewer Klingons here." Again, it took me a moment to get it, and once I did I was disappointed and not a little disgusted.

I suppose we can take some trivial consolation in the fact that both of these women were unwilling to just blurt out what they actually meant, but took at least some measure of shame from it. Still, it points to the continued existence of both racism and "white flight," and shows that there is still a lot of room for future progress.

Silas

Do these code words mean black people? or Hispanics?

[Johnny Slick]

Originally Posted by rhiandmoi

Do these code words mean black people? or Hispanics?

I think it's minorities in general. Thankfully, although Washington state is not exactly brimming with minorities, the job I work at is disproportionately staffed with non-whites. I say thankfully because, although I am sure there are racists who work there just based on statistics, they don't express themselves in public, even using code words. I've come to the conclusion that between racists not talking and me knowing exactly who my enemies are, I'd rather racists just shut the f up.