I must have missed the memo: Open racism okay in the South again

Submitted by TarGator on

Watch Republican House candidate Tramm Hudson in Florida discuss his personal knowledge of how "Blacks are not good swimmers". He knows because he is from Alabama.
Then watch Republican Senate Candidate George Allen call an American of Indian descent a macaca (or monkey).
Did I miss something, or is 2006 going to be the year of open racism? I guess hating gays lost its appeal, now it is time for harder stuff. Admittedly both apologized after the tape got out, but they were both living it up before.

This reminds me of a conversation between my Dad and my uncle:

Dad: Well, the Republicans have used tacit racism to win the South for decades.
Uncle: The Republicans, racist?
Dad: Yes, that is why you switched parties, remember?
Uncle: Oh yeah.

I think that there was a bit of joking in there, but ridicule is also how our family communicates dissatisfaction, this time with the fact that my uncle had switched party affiliation.

Comments

Racism

Submitted by gregflynn on

Racism is always lying like an alligator just below the surface waiting to snap. In real estate people say they want to sell their property to the "right people" which is code for "white people". In travelling around the state I notice that racists remarks tend to flow more freely when people think because they are they are surrounded by others with the same skin color they hold similar opinions.

Allen's apologies are disingenuous as MediaMatters reports

Summary: In reporting on Sen. George Allen's use of the racially derogatory word "macaca" to refer to one of his opponent's campaign volunteers and his claim not to know what the term means or why he used it, the majority of media outlets left out a fact that might shed light on the claim's veracity -- Allen's mother was born and raised in Tunisia, a former French colony in North Africa, as Allen has repeatedly noted in the past.

beautiful.

Submitted by syntax on

i saw or read something somewhere not too long ago that george allen used to keep a noose in his office as a reminder of the "good ol' days of law & order"...

ScruHoo!

A noose

Submitted by James on

and a Confederate Flag.

At least he used to be honest about it. Now he's a just a two-bit liar on top of being a racist.

Noose loose

Submitted by gregflynn on

New Republic, no less:

But, while Allen may have genuflected in the direction of Gingrich, he also showed a touch of Strom Thurmond. Campaigning for governor in 1993, he admitted to prominently displaying a Confederate flag in his living room. He said it was part of a flag collection -- and had been removed at the start of his gubernatorial bid. When it was learned that he kept a noose hanging on a ficus tree in his law office, he said it was part of a Western memorabilia collection. These explanations may be sincere. But, as a chief executive, he also compiled a controversial record on race. In 1994, he said he would accept an honorary membership at a Richmond social club with a well-known history of discrimination -- an invitation that the three previous governors had refused. After an outcry, Allen rejected the offer. He replaced the only black member of the University of Virginia (UVA) Board of Visitors with a white one. He issued a proclamation drafted by the Sons of Confederate Veterans declaring April Confederate History and Heritage Month. The text celebrated Dixie's "four-year struggle for independence and sovereign rights." There was no mention of slavery. After some of the early flaps, a headline in The Washington Post read, "governor seen leading va. back in time."

GEORGE ALLEN'S RACE PROBLEM.
Pin Prick, by Ryan Lizza
Post date 04.27.06 | Issue date 05.08.06

Only in Google cache, subscription required.

Gay bashing never goes out of style....

Submitted by WillR on

Check out Mark K's response to Rowan County.

CitizenWill
there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must do it because Conscience tells him it is right. MLK,Jr. to SCLC Leadership Class

CitizenWill
there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must do it because Conscience tells him it is right. MLK,Jr. to SCLC Leadership Class

You may as

Submitted by Nancy Miller Martin on

well just go stick your head in the oven right now. LOL

Lovex7

Brown is the new Gay

Submitted by working for change on

Gay bashing is soooo 2004. This is the year to hate Brown people.

Didn't you get the Talking Points Memo?

Bush Economy

Why would

Submitted by Nancy Miller Martin on

anybody care if somebody is gay or not...unless they had ulterior motives and got disappointed. Never have figured that one out.

Lovex7

Fear

Submitted by working for change on

Some people are afraid of things they don't understand.

That's why I fear Religious Fanatics. And Barbara Bush.

Bush Economy

She is a b***

Submitted by Blue South on

Read Al Frankens account of meeting her. Apparently anyone who has ever criticized any Bush is evil in her eyes.

Lyndon Helton for NC Senate

"Keep the Faith"

Ya think?

Submitted by working for change on

And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this - this is working very well for them.

Bush Economy

Fiesta

Submitted by Nancy Miller Martin on

I forgot to tell you that I actually went to a fiesta Saturday night. What a bunch of wonderful people and I had a great time.

Lovex7

Racism stirs the Republican Base

Submitted by Robert P. on

And, that is the fact that most Americans don't want to discuss.

Jesus Swept ticked me off. Too short. I loved the characters and then POOF it was over.
-me

I'm afraid that memo is the same one

Submitted by Leslie H on

that's been continuously circulating in the south for years and years and years. I think you hit a big ol' hidden nail right smack on the head, TarGator.

Someone here at blueNC recommended Blood Done Sign My Name in a reading list thread, I think. Great recommendation. I'm reading that book now and I'm getting quite an edjumacashen. It talks about places and names that I've become familiar with since moving to eastern NC 25 years ago. And I've come to a slightly disturbing realization ... that us progressive southerners younger than ~40 who grew up in tolerant households do not really know how UNremoved and close we are to that legacy of the racially divided south. It runs like creek water under the frozen surface.

I was at my parents home one day about 6-7 years ago -- here in Johnston county -- and an older neighbor woman found it necessary to stand in the street and relate a story to me that she felt illustrated the general laziness of black men. It was just a story about delivering wood to an old man out in the country... until the end, when she added -- "them people is the laziest things on tha earth, ain't they?" My response was just a silent confused stare. That last line was so totally out-of-right-field, I didn't know what to say. All I could do was quit smiling, bluntly excused myself, and walk on. This couple had just moved into a racially mixed neighborhood and the first time she spoke to one of the new people she met in her new neighborhood, that was what she chose to share.

It was just wierd. For several days I tried to think of what I might have done that might have given this lady the idea that I might respond positively to her prejudice. It still upsets me when I think about it.

I have a favorite Cicero quote that makes me smack my forehead when I learn things like I'm learning reading this book: Not to know what happened before one was born is to remain forever a child.

"They took all the trees and put them in a tree museum Then they charged the people a dollar 'n a half just to see 'em. Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got till it's gone? They paved paradise and put up a parking lot."

A generational thing.

Submitted by C. Diane on

A friend of mine (white) married her boyfriend of 9 or 10 years (black), and at the wedding, there was a distinct lack of older white men. Her father and most of his side of the family didn't go. She says her dad's being nicer now and inviting them both for civilized dinners and such, so maybe he's gotten over it? (Why now, though, since they've been together for 10 years?)

I think that the underlying racism is one of those things that people from outside the South just don't get. I related the above story to my managers in Oregon, and they all said, "that's stupid" and just didn't understand any part of the history behind it, even though 2 of them were old enough to have lived through the civil rights era. Why, yes, it is stupid, but that's just the way things are here. That's not to say that things aren't changing, but 200 years of institutionalised racism are hard to overcome.

I'm not so sure....

Submitted by working for change on

that it's generational.

The only time I've ever heard someone use the N word in a sentence came from a college-educated, early 30's, Charlotte native. This was just 3 years ago.

As a native New Yorker, and unabashed Liberal, it goes without saying that I was stunned...not just by the casualness with which the word was used but by the complacency of the others who were present when it was said. I was the only one, out of a group of 6, who protested.

Bush Economy

Andrew Young - What is he Thinking?

Submitted by Citizen_Blue on

Racism is ignorant - even when a Democrat I respect tries to slip it into the conversation... It’s not cool - and it not acceptable.

Story Link at USA Today

In an interview, Young was asked whether he was concerned that Wal-Mart causes smaller, mom-and-pop stores to close.

"Well, I think they should; they ran the 'mom and pop' stores out of my neighborhood," the paper quoted Young as saying. "But you see, those are the people who have been overcharging us, selling us stale bread and bad meat and wilted vegetables. And they sold out and moved to Florida. I think they've ripped off our communities enough. First it was Jews, then it was Koreans and now it's Arabs; very few black people own these stores."

Andrew Young is a storied Democrat - a civil rights hero...His statements wound us all.

I wish the followers would lead... With a voice so strong in would knock me to my knees...

Racism

Submitted by Robert P. on

I've heard it from two places.

1. The elderly. Especially here in the Old South.

2. The country. Even in rural central PA, racial slang was thrown around between moms, dads, kids, and strangers. That, from a place that had no minorities within twenty miles. But, they believed the stereotypes.

Jesus Swept ticked me off. Too short. I loved the characters and then POOF it was over.
-me