you probably never heard of…subtle racism
October 8, 2008 by ksolo
Filed under recipes for life
During last night’s Presidential debate, Senators McCain and Obama fielded several questions posed by audience members at Nashville’s Belmont University. But (surprisingly) only one of John-boy’s responses caused me to raise my eyebrow high enough to give me a permanent face lift.
About 15 minutes into the town-hall style debate, a young African-American man named Oliver asked the Presidential nominees about their plans to bring Americans out of the current economic crisis. McCain’s response began something like this:
“You probably never heard of Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac before this economic crisis…”
{insert raised eyebrow here}
Whoa. What’s that there John-boy? Exactly why would you assume that this young man had never heard of Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac before? Seems a bit condescending to me, my friend. Kinda like something you’d say to someone who you assume is ignorant and uninformed, not something you’d say to a potential supporter or constituent.
But hey, your own Veep candidate never heard of those institutions before the mortgage meltdown, so maybe you were just speaking to this young Black fella as if he were any regular Joe SixPack – just your average, everyday American, right?
As much as the eternal optimist in me wanted to believe that was the probable explanation behind John-boy’s comment, he promptly doused that flicker of hope when he finished his reponse to Oliver’s question with the following:
“…we’re going to have to buy up these bad loans and we’re going to have to stabilize home values, and that way, Americans, like Alan, can realize the American dream and stay in their home.”
“Americans, like Alan”. At which point McCain turned away from the African-AMERICAN man he was addressing and pointed to a White man who’d asked the first audience question of the night.
Soooo…apparently, John-boy only considers certain people to be Americans. Or maybe only certain Americans would get to realize the American dream and stay in their homes should McCain become (shudder) President.
Hey John-boy, your Freudian slip is showing. And frankly, I’ve seen enough.
read the full transcript of the second Presidential debate here.
cheers,
k
debate’s on! now, where to watch?
beyond the headlines and stereotypes: Black in America on CNN
what men aren’t telling women
haramjada on Mon, 20th Oct 2008 12:33 am
Oh, when we white folk ever learn?!!! GEEBUS!! As a white man, let me let you in on something you’ve probably suspected, hell, even believed, but were never privy to because you’re African American; lots of seemingly nice non-offensive white people say the darnedest things about “other races” when the room is full of only white people. It’s easily explained though; when you stereotype others by color you will inevitably stereotype your own kind also. I don’t know how many times I have gotten into “heated discussions” about race and other issues when this happens. I feel like the loan voice of reason when I call people out on saying racist crap. I mean, I won’t lump all white folks into the category of being closeted bigots but there is a predominant, albeit subconscious sense of superiority and hierarchy. I try to get many of my fellow whites who claim not to be racist (because they have “many black friends and don’t hate black people at all”, don’t ya know) to see is that racism isn’t just hate, or even hate at all in many cases, but it is seeing the differences that many of us possess due to our cultures and subcultures and ascribing values to them, values such as better or worse; by ascribing values to certain skin colors, or hair textures or music or anything. I have no problem with anyone being proud of who they are, but you don’t have to do it at the expense of other people and their ways of doing things. So, it’s easy to see why some people say and do some really stupid things like McCain did. Palin is a whole other story in her own right; she is a train wreck and I fear for this country if McCain wins, just because she’s on the ticket.