I Disagree With AG Holder (I Would Not Say it That Way), But I Disagree With Racist Republicans Even More. Much Much More.
And for obvious reasons. (And before I go any further with this post, I better put the kettle to boil. I think I am going on a full roll here.)
As a point of departure, let me quote AG Holder's hot button remark, and the gist of what he seemed to be saying. He said that the U.S. was 'a nation of cowards' on matters of race, with most Americans avoiding candid discussions of racial issues.
Discussion of Racial Issues.
I see his point, but I don't think his point really is the critical point. People do talk about race, in America. They do, I am guessing here, talk differently when among intimate company, and with like minded people than they would with others, in greater numbers, than those who seemingly let it all out no matter the audience. But they do talk about it. And what they, and by that I mean the Racist Republicans, say, is very disturbing, to my mind. Never mind the fact that lots of these Racist Republicans particularly of the gun nut insane variety are doing the "Stockpile arms and ammo thing," which is their thing when ever the Dems take over the White House, but that paranoid violent fetish is taking on a new and more insidious flavor, with the barely covert, and sometimes overt racism that is directed at President Obama. Of course the most ironic part of that insanity is the often observed tendency of these gun loving, often ignorant folk is the fact they are calling Obama the racist. How queer is that?
But I am going to put aside the worst of the worst (who have not committed a felony yet. Make that a racist hate crime felony yet.) Even what some of the Republicans who sorta mean well say is scary to me. And to explain, I don't mean scary like a bunch of racist rednecks looking to use some nigras for target practice, scary, but shit, how do seemingly intelligent people not see that they are missing the point, scary.
For example (and I know some folk are sincere-ish and some are full of shit, fully) when I see or hear people say,"I don't see race," I want to groan. Honestly I do, and here is why. I know some people really mean that is how they think they should think, and that might be their goal, but they are sorta gilding the lily, at least when we remember what is one of the core human traits. Humans are judgmental by nature. That is the hard-wired part. And then there is the socializing, and the data gathering, and personality forming, and associating, and filter construction, and the absorption of ideas, and points of views from one's family and surrounding community, and from all media.
Given the reality of all that, the likelihood that any properly sentient human can not see race is not even a remote chance, if they were born blind. The real, as in realistic, goal if not state, is to (and I am going for caps here, as this is something I wish I could psychically shout into every human's brain, for hopefully quick absorption)
SEE RACE FOR THE SUPERFICIAL SHIT THAT IT IS, AND THEN, JUDGE PEOPLE BY THE CONTENT OF THEIR CHARACTER, AND THEIR ACTIONS, AND OTHER IMPORTANT FACTORS LIKE THAT.
Again, I know lots of folk mean well, but if there is ever going to be a time when the human race, not even to the last man, woman and child, but only a simple majority of them actually truly sees other humans as only humans, first, foremost, we are no where near that, yet. Pretending we are is not helpful. Pretending an infection is gone when it is only presenting to a lesser degree, is not going to help cure the patient. Ya still need to treat the infection, right?
Well, that is point one. Moving on to point two, let me restate the thing some seemingly well meaning people say, and that is,"I don't see color." Again, that is bullshit. Of course people see color, and different ethnic features, and hear very foreign accents and languages, and manners of dress, and ways of worshiping the invisible deity or deities of their choice. Let's not pretend. Remember what I just said about infections that are still there but not as obviously so? But in the narrowest of strictest American Neurosis black/white race relations, those words that on one level derive from the outward appearance of skin tone, miss the point. Here is my facetious way of explaining that. If one thinks it is merely a matter of skin color (no matter how technically inaccurate the words white and black are at describing the actual humans in question), they are so totally without a clue they should be sent to the back row of the class, shut up, and let the adults talk, instead.
Ok, I guess I had a little snark in there that wanted out, but the point is (and I have said this over and over and over in this life) the words white and black in reference to race in America are not just about skin color. It always has been (regardless of which actual color-feature-describing terms are used) about status. And even if the election of President Obama is a watershed moment in the history of America, there still are legacy status meanings attached to the words.
Don't believe me? Than ask yourself why is the Republican Party 90% white? And no matter the why of it, doesn't an imbalance of membership of such an extreme based on 'race' sorta lend itself to an us vs them context, since, if you are a white Republican, and at all enmeshed with that as part of your identity, don't you know not so deep down, mind you, that at least 9 out ten blacks is a double them? Blacks are a them by default, but since over 90% of blacks who participate in the political process are Democrats, isn't that a clear double them scenario?
And the preceeding paragaph would not make any point in this discussion if we did not state the obvious truth; even if the GOP is not 100% hostile, as an entity, to blacks, it is far more so than the Democratic Party. And if you doubt it, I can tell you this much; 9 out of 10 randomly selected blacks would say that, and before anyone suggest it is the blacks who are more so hostile to whites, remember -- the Democratic Party is over 60% white. So something is going on over on the GOP side, that is powerfully unfriendly to blacks. No doubt, there.
Again, don't pretend, don't ignore the core facts on the ground.
And I though I might go much longer, but I routinely deal with the really awful (non felonious variety) of Republican Racists, I can well bear to not go off on that tangent today. But before I end, I have to make a prediction about Mr. Steele, the first African American GOP Chair. Now I am not saying I want him to fail (beyond the fact I sorta want the GOP to self destruct no matter who is at the helm, actually), but I am beginning to think that when it is all said and done, Mr. Steele is more likely to aggravate the more racist racists in the GOP than not. His 15 year old hip hop references are not gong to cut it, I guess. But accuse me of going after the low hanging fruit there. Hey. For all we know this shit about the actual payments from campaign coffers to his sister's then phantom catering company, might lead to Steele having a very short stay as captain of the SS GOP.
We will see.
As a point of departure, let me quote AG Holder's hot button remark, and the gist of what he seemed to be saying. He said that the U.S. was 'a nation of cowards' on matters of race, with most Americans avoiding candid discussions of racial issues.
Discussion of Racial Issues.
I see his point, but I don't think his point really is the critical point. People do talk about race, in America. They do, I am guessing here, talk differently when among intimate company, and with like minded people than they would with others, in greater numbers, than those who seemingly let it all out no matter the audience. But they do talk about it. And what they, and by that I mean the Racist Republicans, say, is very disturbing, to my mind. Never mind the fact that lots of these Racist Republicans particularly of the gun nut insane variety are doing the "Stockpile arms and ammo thing," which is their thing when ever the Dems take over the White House, but that paranoid violent fetish is taking on a new and more insidious flavor, with the barely covert, and sometimes overt racism that is directed at President Obama. Of course the most ironic part of that insanity is the often observed tendency of these gun loving, often ignorant folk is the fact they are calling Obama the racist. How queer is that?
But I am going to put aside the worst of the worst (who have not committed a felony yet. Make that a racist hate crime felony yet.) Even what some of the Republicans who sorta mean well say is scary to me. And to explain, I don't mean scary like a bunch of racist rednecks looking to use some nigras for target practice, scary, but shit, how do seemingly intelligent people not see that they are missing the point, scary.
For example (and I know some folk are sincere-ish and some are full of shit, fully) when I see or hear people say,"I don't see race," I want to groan. Honestly I do, and here is why. I know some people really mean that is how they think they should think, and that might be their goal, but they are sorta gilding the lily, at least when we remember what is one of the core human traits. Humans are judgmental by nature. That is the hard-wired part. And then there is the socializing, and the data gathering, and personality forming, and associating, and filter construction, and the absorption of ideas, and points of views from one's family and surrounding community, and from all media.
Given the reality of all that, the likelihood that any properly sentient human can not see race is not even a remote chance, if they were born blind. The real, as in realistic, goal if not state, is to (and I am going for caps here, as this is something I wish I could psychically shout into every human's brain, for hopefully quick absorption)
SEE RACE FOR THE SUPERFICIAL SHIT THAT IT IS, AND THEN, JUDGE PEOPLE BY THE CONTENT OF THEIR CHARACTER, AND THEIR ACTIONS, AND OTHER IMPORTANT FACTORS LIKE THAT.
Again, I know lots of folk mean well, but if there is ever going to be a time when the human race, not even to the last man, woman and child, but only a simple majority of them actually truly sees other humans as only humans, first, foremost, we are no where near that, yet. Pretending we are is not helpful. Pretending an infection is gone when it is only presenting to a lesser degree, is not going to help cure the patient. Ya still need to treat the infection, right?
Well, that is point one. Moving on to point two, let me restate the thing some seemingly well meaning people say, and that is,"I don't see color." Again, that is bullshit. Of course people see color, and different ethnic features, and hear very foreign accents and languages, and manners of dress, and ways of worshiping the invisible deity or deities of their choice. Let's not pretend. Remember what I just said about infections that are still there but not as obviously so? But in the narrowest of strictest American Neurosis black/white race relations, those words that on one level derive from the outward appearance of skin tone, miss the point. Here is my facetious way of explaining that. If one thinks it is merely a matter of skin color (no matter how technically inaccurate the words white and black are at describing the actual humans in question), they are so totally without a clue they should be sent to the back row of the class, shut up, and let the adults talk, instead.
Ok, I guess I had a little snark in there that wanted out, but the point is (and I have said this over and over and over in this life) the words white and black in reference to race in America are not just about skin color. It always has been (regardless of which actual color-feature-describing terms are used) about status. And even if the election of President Obama is a watershed moment in the history of America, there still are legacy status meanings attached to the words.
Don't believe me? Than ask yourself why is the Republican Party 90% white? And no matter the why of it, doesn't an imbalance of membership of such an extreme based on 'race' sorta lend itself to an us vs them context, since, if you are a white Republican, and at all enmeshed with that as part of your identity, don't you know not so deep down, mind you, that at least 9 out ten blacks is a double them? Blacks are a them by default, but since over 90% of blacks who participate in the political process are Democrats, isn't that a clear double them scenario?
And the preceeding paragaph would not make any point in this discussion if we did not state the obvious truth; even if the GOP is not 100% hostile, as an entity, to blacks, it is far more so than the Democratic Party. And if you doubt it, I can tell you this much; 9 out of 10 randomly selected blacks would say that, and before anyone suggest it is the blacks who are more so hostile to whites, remember -- the Democratic Party is over 60% white. So something is going on over on the GOP side, that is powerfully unfriendly to blacks. No doubt, there.
Again, don't pretend, don't ignore the core facts on the ground.
And I though I might go much longer, but I routinely deal with the really awful (non felonious variety) of Republican Racists, I can well bear to not go off on that tangent today. But before I end, I have to make a prediction about Mr. Steele, the first African American GOP Chair. Now I am not saying I want him to fail (beyond the fact I sorta want the GOP to self destruct no matter who is at the helm, actually), but I am beginning to think that when it is all said and done, Mr. Steele is more likely to aggravate the more racist racists in the GOP than not. His 15 year old hip hop references are not gong to cut it, I guess. But accuse me of going after the low hanging fruit there. Hey. For all we know this shit about the actual payments from campaign coffers to his sister's then phantom catering company, might lead to Steele having a very short stay as captain of the SS GOP.
We will see.
posted by Abstentus at 11:30 AM
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