You have heard the expression "Uppity Nigger", right?
We cringe and screw up our faces. We turn away, in horror. When we reference the expression we are so disgusted that we have found a host of socially acceptable way to report that "others" have said such demeaning and blantantly racist words. We substitute, "The N Word".
"America has moved beyond that that kind of thing!", we assure ourselves.
"No one I know would say that!", we protest.
Unfortunately, it has been my experience that none of our protestations are accurate.
I just returned from my Monday trip to the "Convenience Center", our local euphemism for the dump. Ever since the local hardware store closed, when the mill was moved to Mexico, the "Guys Who Chew and Spit" have settled at the Convenience Center for the gossip, discussions of the weather, and collections of political insight, that makes life in a dying town tolerable.
Their group has grown over the past 4 years as every white or green plastic lawn chair, destined for that Great Yard in the Sky, was pulled from the trucks lining up to dispose of the things bought, and uncared for, that modern America substitutes for wealth.
They have 16 chairs now, arranged in groups of 3, or 4, that are filled by 10:30 every morning by the unemployed, the elderly, and the bitter. I like them. We talk, laugh, and argue while I'm pulling my trash from the back of my old van, and sorting it into the 'correct piles'. Sometimes they give me something that they found and put aside for me. I frequently set aside things that they might find useful, that have a lot of wear left. Our own blackmarket recycling center. <g>
I drove in this morning, my Obama stickers on front and back bumpers, and one of the younger fellows said to me, "I ain't votin' for that Uppity Nigger - might give the rest of 'em the wrong idea."
"What idea is that?", I inquired politely, pulling up a chair.
"They get to thinkin' they're as good as everybody else, and then what happens?", he said.
"Perhaps, they are.", I answered.
"He's Muslim.", was the rejoiner.
"He's a Christian.", I shot back.
"Well, we can't let that I kind of people take over." he said with finality.
I got up, said "See you later", and left.
I could see no way to fight the 400 years of ingrained racism, developed to deflect a careful examination of another man's humanity, when one owns slaves. This refusal to view African Americans as fully human is still a part of the warp and woof of decision making, and still forms the underlying social consciousness of my neighbors. I had no answer. But, I did have a rush of emptiness, anger, and frustration.
We live an a bubble of Enlightenment. We surround ourselves with friends who share a progressive sensibility, those who have purged blatant racism from their conversation, their daily interactions, and their world view. We know that there are racists out there, but we see little evidence of it in our daily lives, (unless we are African Americans in the 21st century US).
And this is the skunk at the garden party that the Clinton, and McCain campaign are relying on to defeat Barack Obama.
They won't have to dirty their hands, and offend the sensibilities of their more enlightened supporters.
"Elitist"? We fuss, and protest that they are wrong on the facts. They don't care. They have found another way to signal Uppity Nigger to the racists.
"Out of touch with real Americans"? A strong signal that Black Americans have no idea what White America is all about. Leaving out the Hispanics, Asians, and Native American's doesn't seem to bother either campaign. After all, they can be rounded up with fake promises on immigration, jobs, and social programs.
"Not a bowler, but plays a mean game of basket ball." Images of every movie, TV sitcom, and school yard in America pop into the heads of the racists. Sweaty "Black Bucks", bumping and shoving, as they display their athletic power over their white opponents.
There it is. Forming the judgements, and blinding the vision, of millions of rural, empoverished, embittered Americans who seek someone to blame for their plight.
The new code words for racist attacks... And I can't for the life of me figure out how to fight back. They seem so Innocent, so misguided, so manipulative. But we are, I think, not fully appreciating what they are attempting to manipulate.
I value brains, education, and a humanist vision, whatever the wrapping on the package. But then, I'm far enough away from racism to detect the code, and decry the tactics - but not to answer the ignorance, deliberate self-delusion, and outcome of 400 years of fear and need in the authoritarian personality.
It became quite fashionable a decade ago to stop calling "racism" whenever there was a hint of racist code. It was deemed a fey artifact of Liberal Sensibilities. We were beaten back, leaving a clear field for a new crop of political power brokers to revert to the old tools.
And now, they have. And the only thing I can think of is to cry "Racism", as loudly and frequently as I can...
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