The New Racism?

One afternoon recently I asked a thoughtful friend, a self-proclaimed Conservative, sympathetic with the “Tea Party” events and energetically opposed to the recent Health Reform Law, if he thought racism played a part in the “spirited” opposition to the Obama Administration. He reflected that pockets of racism will likely always exist, but he emphatically believed it was not part of the current vocal Conservative activism. Further, he felt for sure that (I paraphrase) claims of racism were merely a way for Liberal big government types to undermine the issues addressed by the “Tea Party” and similar Obama opponents. I’m confident his view is typical.

The possibility of racism as a motivation for popular political or social action is difficult to swallow. It cuts at the very heart of a trend over the past 60 years where “Jim Crow” laws were not only eliminated from the books, but overtly discounted as socially acceptable. A byproduct of the election of Obama seemed to be putting a period at the end of that chapter of Americana, suggesting we had turned a new page. Here I’m not wondering that an old chapter has probably ended, but rather what exactly is the new chapter beginning?

Aside from the lunatic fringe of the Christian Conservative Right (a fringe I might add that is notably large and uncomfortably armed), one doesn’t see blatant demonstrations of racism surfacing in public by mainstream Conservative activists, regardless of their own racial uniformity. I haven’t seen it at any rate, and I would accept that for most, like my friend, it doesn’t manifest in private as well. Still, the possibility of prejudice is ever so slightly alluded to by official Administration supporters, a bit like TV weather reporters trying to suggest that a 10% chance of rain is something to be concerned about, and on the street, well… many anti-Tea Party types and African-Americans uniformly see racism as a staple of Conservative protest.

Is it not possible that these Obama Administration supporters in their zeal to discount the issues raised by Conservative activists hang onto the actions of the lunatic fringe (name calling, spitting, voicemail threats & so on) and extrapolate it out to include all Conservatives? After all, the issues raised are real by any centrist (or liberal) standard, primarily focused on the fiscal irresponsibility of lawmakers. It’s hard to see how racism is a motivation in the opposition of red ink.

Still, simple observation makes me irresistibly feel something else is going on. The issues raised by Conservative activists are hardly new to this decade. Sure, given his rhetorical skills, George W. Bush’s elections in 2000 and 2004 were like full employment acts for comedians everywhere (he got his lumps), but the massive literal and shadow debt produced by his reductions of income and unbridled expenses (much of it without Congressional oversight) didn’t spark even an ember of protest from Conservatives. Further, although he and his Lord Vader (Cheney) may have been despised by those few who actually felt the sacrifice of their foreign adventures, Bush was not that I recall vilified in the way Obama has been. An 88 year old grandmother I know, who occasionally can be confused as to the days of the week, is convinced that Obama is the new Hitler, because he “speaks so well”. She reflects the banners that show up everywhere at Conservative rallies. Another otherwise ordinary, college educated public employee shared with me his real suspicions that Obama is the Anti-Christ. I don’t believe these views are atypical.

Where has this come from? Obama’s political pragmatism has been a major disappointment to many of his supporters who had shouted yes we can in 2008 to fiscal and political change, but it should have reverberated as a relief to Conservatives, or at least dampened their vitriolic enthusiasm. Just the opposite seems to have occurred. Not even the renewed stature Obama has brought America internationally (a source of pride for me) has explicitly resonated an iota with Conservatives. The almost junkyard dog attacks on what was essentially a health care insurance reform bill, with an intended benefit for almost everyone except those wealthy enough to be self-insured, was like a beacon shinning on something perhaps new and different.

Isn’t it also possible that Obama by his stature, his position, and his race has touched on something that is difficult for a large portion of white America to accept at a gut level? As human beings we have the challenge of recognizing our humanity while simultaneously engaged in establishing our identities…and mostly we fail. We fail because our identities are usually false, based on constructs that are superficial or illusionary. They include such things as possessions, physical appearance, organizations, intelligence, nationalities, relationships, handicaps, religions, and (oh yeah) race - to name just a few. The need to want or be right as to any of these is a powerful motivator. Identifying with race is a problem for both blacks and whites. It’s almost silly to think that it doesn’t play a role here. However, is it racism as we have known it?

White Americans prior to the middle of the 20th century were comfortable with that aspect of their identities as “white” (which they never thought of as “white”) because historically non-whites were considered inferior by a variety of external standards (including laws). That concept was debunked in the last 60 years, but perhaps only intellectually and legally. Now, however, something new, something undeniably tangible has occurred much sooner than almost anyone might have predicted. Too many white Americans are negatively faced with a realization that a black man is not only more intelligent, more refined, and of higher station than they are, but is also their leader and superior. That reality cannot be rationalized away as it might for any other non-white. It undermines the core of the construct of how they view themselves, even though being white really has nothing to do with who they are or that being black has anything to do with who Obama is. If Obama were just seen as man, not as a black man, it’s hard for me to believe that the rancorous attacks would be the same. It is not that those individuals would necessarily be in agreement with the Obama Administration, they just simply would not feel so personally threatened.

This may not be racism by traditional definitions, but a cancer is a cancer whether the symptoms are obvious or not. I’d call it selfism (for lack of something cleverer) since it exists on a plain where laws or ethics cannot govern, and of which the individual is frankly unaware.