The Politics of Racism

In the past week or so, the American public has had their collective face shoved into the ugliness of racism in America.  Last Week, John McCain's campaign went hip deep into the muck of some of the worst things about this country and took all of us with him.

With Senator McCain's thinly veiled attempts to paint Barack Obama as somehow different from the rest of America.  His attempts to paint him as some sort of scary, foreign terrorist sympathizer.  His running mate going even further with her characterizations, hoping to hold on to the shrinking number of people who will vote for them.

For most, it was disgusting.

Before you get the feeling that I am suggesting that racism is only to be found on the Republican side of American political discourse, let me assure that such is not the case.  This isn't a Republican issue in the Presidential race... a certain Democratic Presidential aspirant was no less guilty of racist code-speech during her primary campaign... and guess what?  no small number of so-called white "liberals" pooh-poohed, and tush-tushed about it, as if it was only a means to an end, and well, she was was right about what she said about "hardworking white people" wasn't she?  It seems that the current polling data gives the lie to that, doesn't it?

For some, it was enlightening.

It wasn't enlightening for me.  Not at all.  Part of being black in America, whether you are poor, or the struggling working class, or the growing middle class, means sifting through the things people say, mining for coded speech, feeling the sting of covert racism.

I've talked about some of these things before, but I tend not to spend too much time on it, as I believe that talking things to death, especially when they aren't bloody likely to change, is usually a waste of time... but I must speak today.  Not because of the in-your-face racism that still exists.  Not because of code-speech and covert racism. 

No. 

Today I want to talk about what happens when white people actually see the racism that many Americans regularly see, but they have never noticed before.

Guess what, friends?  I have a lot of friends who are white.  Most of the people I work with are white.  The majority of the people in the congregation at my church are white.  Most of the people who read my blog are white.  In the past week, many of those people began to express rage, anger, shock, sadness, and disappointment at seeing that racism is still part of our national character.

Some of my blogging pals have found themselves confronted, when discussing politics, with people who openly said "I'm not voting for that nigger... are YOU?"  Some have found the antics of Senator McCain's hate-filled supporters "horrifying", some have lamented about their having to come to grips with the fact that this country hasn't moved forward as much as they would like to believe.

Well, there it is folks.  The face of racism doesn't look like this anymore.  The face of racism isn't under a hood, or a mask, or wearing a brown shirt and swastika.  The face of racism is no longer only to be found under the shaven pate of a semi-educated, drunken lout.

The face of racism, dear friends, is in the face of your neighbor.  It's in the face of the parents on your child's soccer team.  It's in the face that many of you see in the mirror every day.  It's in the face of the person who listens to racist comments from their friends and colleagues and relatives, but remains silent, rather than stand up and object.  The face of racism in America is most at home, in the face of the people who are responsible for it's perpetuation.

Is it your face?