Tweet
‘one day, all them bags, gon’ get in your way’ – Erykah Badu
Here is something you likely haven’t heard in the news. Here is something that you may have thought about, and then thought better of, or thought about and then rejected it, put it out of your mind…and dismissed it. Here is something you may have been aware of on an instinctive level, and yet never brought those pangs or feelings up into your conscience thoughts and speech.
As the corporate media dissects, and as many many people in the state of Wisconsin and nation wide commiserate on the fact that even the heroic efforts by folks in the state of Wisconsin and across the country to recall the corrupt, regressive, lying, and possibly criminal governor did not succeed as hoped…..there is something you probably haven’t heard talked about too much as to the ’why?’.
Unlimited monies and negligent, lackluster performance by establishment Dems we have heard shouted from the rooftops. All of which IMHO is true and absolutely part of the answer as to why Scott Walker is still in office.
I don’t want to take up too much of your time so I’ll try to be as brief as possible here. Do you believe that racism played a part in what happened in Wisconsin? Do you believe that racism plays a substantial role in the politics of this nation? I do.
Did you know that Wisconsin is ranked among the top 10 WORST places to BE BLACK in the United States? It is.
Did you know that there is a very robust link between CONservatism and racism & bigotry? There is.
If anyone reading this diary has ready any of my others then you know that I am of the firm and vigorous belief that there are only 3 pillars which prop up the organized crime syndicate known as the GOP. Those pillars IMHO are: Racism, Bigotry, & Religious Intolerance. Without these, the tiny, tiny handful of rich folk who benefit from the GOP would not be able to sustain an organized crime syndicate in the form of a ‘political party’ known as the Republicans. AND. Without the GOP; there would be no political space for the smooth talking, backstabbing Democrats, without which; we would have enough political space for a real party of the people.
I’ve heard the term ‘post racial America’ and I have found the term and the concept wanting. If anything, we are a post OVERTLY racist America. Let us NOT deceive ourselves on this.
My reason for writing this post? Very simple, let us at least acknowledge the problem, in our analysis, in our planning and in our calculations. We do ourselves a disservice if we do not.
And I know that is pitifully inadequate, but I also know that no problem ever got solved or even addressed…..without first being acknowledged.
We’ve come a hell of a long way. We still have a long way to go.
The dirty, bloody, bag of racism is still holding us back. And we have to realize we are carrying it around in order to have enough sense to let it go.
16 Comments
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjnMEbTu1is
Common by way of Gil Scott Heron ‘home’
I couldn’t agree with you more.
The GOP shamelessly leverages racism, no doubt. I’m not sure the GOP deciders really care about race any more than they care about other social issues, which is to say not a whole lot. All they essentially care about are money and power- and power only because it helps get more money. I’m sure there are plenty of racists in the GOP elite, as there probably are more than a few within the Democratic Party but these people in the RNC/DNC are essentially monomanically fixated on money/power alone. If appealing to racism helps them obtain money/power, they will use it; if decrying racism is what is needed, that’s what they’ll do. Just as they do on any other social issue.
IIRC, fourty-eight years ago, George Wallace (governor of Alabama) won the Democratic presidential primary in Wisconsin, and it had everything to do with racism.
Thanks. Good work.
I’ve long known that Conservatives are likely to be Racist. But it’s a sad fact that now many or most people who call themselves “Liberal” have turned into horribly bigoted hateful Racists.
Examples:
When President Obama ordered the Murder of Somali children, calling them “pirates.”
No Liberals speak up against the Slavery in Bahrain, where the US 5th Fleet is parked. After all, the Slaves are of a different race, BUT the Slavers did a favor for our Military.
No Liberal movement to stop the Pogroms in Bahrain. Of course, some of those Pogroms are against people from India with dark skin. Others are against Arabs, whom many Racists already hated.
No Liberal movement against Torture and Murder of pro-democracy activists in Bahrain and Yemen and Egypt.
I used to identify as “Liberal.” Not anymore.
The Republicans have gone so far Right that the “Democrats” seek to Compromise with them by claiming to be slightly less Racist.
I thought the huge-ass elephant in the room you were going to mention….since no one else will….is the electronic, no verification voting machines….but I guess it’s still taboo to talk of our dead “democracy”.
Racism is indeed the ultimate “divide and conquer” which is how the PTB keep control…if we’re fighting amongst ourselves, we ain’t fighting the true oppressors.
Good post. Salient points. Recc’d. This is an old story that just refuses to die. Back in 1964, LBJ said the Democrats would lost the South for a generation when he signed the Voting Rights Act. He was wrong. It’s already been for more than one generation.
I see what you’re talking about almost every day. My wife and I live in Euclid, and my stepson goes to The Euclid High School, as they call it, which is at least 75% African-American. He’s never had any problems with the majority because of his European ethnicity. Ever.
OTOH, because of how I look, lots of(usually older) white people assume that not only that I am as racist as they, but I must be Irish Catholic since I’m obviously not Italian. I am neither Irish nor Italian nor Catholic nor racist, and if I’m in a bad mood they frequently find out about my genetic Norse heritage and my political, in-your-face, Great Society Democrat from Texas heritage. When that happens, they usually retreat into embarrassed silence. After all, they brought it up, not I. I only finished it.
But that common reaction IS cause for longterm optimism, Senator. Publicly expressed racism and bigotry are no longer socially acceptable, at least in the cities and suburbs. Combined with the fact that the majority of young people of all races no longer hold the biases of their ancestors in their hearts, I believe I am correct when I say that racism and bigotry in America are in a state of terminal decline.
About damned time.
Well yes, between the voter suppression campaigns AND the voting machines possibly being rigged there is an awful lot to be concerned about.
I had heard a few murmurings on the subject of voter machine fraud; not too much detail but I have no doubt that if folks can get away with rigging vote machines…they will.
But what I was thinking about before writing this post was how in Wisconsin, about 30% of Union households went for Walker. I went looking around for some info and made this post.
The way it looks to me, they needn’t have bothered rigging voting machines in this election, there was no need to.
Thanks for reading, and thanks for stopping by.
I agree, any issue that CAN be exploited WILL be exploited, no matter what it is.
Bigotry, racism and religious intolerance are wells that seem to never run dry when the pols need folks to vote out of base emotion…and not logical reasoning.
I’ve heard a lot about the jealousy factor playing a part in the recall as well. Trying to stoke jealousy of non union workers against public employees who are unionized. Very effective.
And I think that folks who may be prejudiced or biased Anyway, are more suceptible to this type of baiting than the average person.
Thanks for the info, ( I had forgottn about Wallace), and thanks for stopping by.
Yes, it is very obvious both here at home and abroad.
As a nation, we have a long history of killing ANY group of people who have something we want and do not have the strength do defend themsevles, especially black and brown peoples.
Thanks Ohio Barbarian! I do agree with you wholeheartedly, I sense the desperation in the reactionary ‘take our country back’ TeaBaglicans. They are on their way out and they know it, a dying breed literally and figuratively.
They are going to raise plenty of hell as they fade away (and that IS dangerous), but time and the majority of society are not in their favor.
Please, bring it up, comrade.
Hey, thanks for the fine work.
I suspected that that 1964 incident of Wallace beating Wisc. Gov. John Reynolds, who was running as a “favorite son” candidate, might ring a bell for you.