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Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 7318
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, June 11, 2008 - 02:41 pm: | 
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Commentary: Think the Racism Facing Obama is Bad Now? Like the Song Says, You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet
Date: Wednesday, June 11, 2008
By: Tonyaa Weathersbee, BlackAmericaWeb.com
Right now, I’m happy to see so many black people overjoyed about Barack Obama’s triumph at becoming this nation’s first black presidential nominee.
I just fear that by the time this election is over, a lot of us will be more pessimistic about the future of race relations than we were before it all started.
I don’t think this pessimism will necessarily come if Obama loses. We understand that there can only be one winner here. I believe the pessimism, and for that matter anger, will turn on how he loses.
And if Obama loses because the largely white electorate decides to yield to irrational, race-baiting fears that will invariably come from the right-wing, Southern strategy playbook, it will show that racism is still a potent dismantler of black hopes and dreams; that a strategy developed nearly 40 years ago as a way to tap into white disillusionment over integration and fears of having to share privileges still works.
It’s starting already.
In a recent Associated Press story, Democratic voters in Pennsylvania talked about why they didn’t plan to vote for Obama in the fall. Some reached for the easy yet phony reason -- his lack of experience. That’s to be expected.
But even that reason is grounded in more rationality than many of the other reasons they gave. One person cited Obama’s middle name, Hussein, as the reason for not voting for him -- even though the man is clearly not Muslim. Others said that America isn’t ready for a black president -- as if to blame their own reluctance to support Obama as part of some group decision that they have no control over.
And some operatives are already gearing up for a long, racially-coded campaign.
The man who made the face of Willie Horton -- a black Massachusetts felon who raped a woman while out on a weekend prison furlough -- the face of the failed Michael Dukakis 1988 presidential campaign is already looking to make a comeback. According to the Los Angeles Times that man, Floyd G. Brown, is raising money for a series of ads that he claims will show that Obama is out of touch when it comes to violent crime.
He’s already circulating Internet spots attacking Obama’s decision, as a state legislator, to oppose a bill that would have extended the death penalty to gang-related murders.
No matter that governors and mayors, not presidents, deal with issues of crime. No matter that study after study shows that the death penalty doesn’t deter violent crime. No matter that even though black people commit a disproportionate number of violent crimes against each other, a white person is far more likely to be victimized by a white criminal than a black one.
For those who harbor irrational fears when it comes to crime and race, perceptions count more than facts. And here’s Obama; a black man who Brown will invariably try to paint as being in league with what some whites will see as his black criminal ilk.
If that’s not race-baiting, I don’t what is.
There’s also the rumor about Obama’s wife, Michelle, starring in some infamous video that has her saying derogatory things about white people. No one has been able to verify whether the video exists, but the mere idea that it may be out there is causing some white people to be reluctant to support Obama.
Again -- and especially when it comes to black people -- fear matters more than truth.
I expect there will be more to come.
Obama is, after all, campaigning during a time when George W. Bush’s utter failure as a president has deeply wounded the right-wing cause. The terrorism card that led the country into a costly, unnecessary war has been played out. So has the tax-cutting card. Americans are beset with rising gas prices and falling home values. And polls show that many aren’t up to supporting John McCain -- a Republican whose ideas parrot those of his predecessor.
So for GOP operatives like Brown, there’s no card left to play except the race card. Or rather, the fear card. And if it works, I fear it will leave many of us more cynical about our real chances of ever being full participants in American life.
We’ll feel that way because as far as black candidates go, Obama is about as mainstream as they come. We’ll also feel that way because most of us -- whose ancestors and relatives fought in America’s wars in the hope of finally being accepted as full-blooded Americans -- want to believe that this country will finally see us as builders of this country.
We’ll be mighty disillusioned if Obama loses because white people still see us as its destroyers.
http://www.blackamericaweb.com/site.aspx/sayitloud/weathersbee611 |
Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 6934
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, June 11, 2008 - 03:02 pm: |
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The man who made the face of Willie Horton -- a black Massachusetts felon who raped a woman while out on a weekend prison furlough -- the face of the failed Michael Dukakis 1988 presidential campaign is already looking to make a comeback. According to the Los Angeles Times that man, Floyd G. Brown, is raising money for a series of ads that he claims will show that Obama is out of touch when it comes to violent crime.
(Dukakis' Democratic opponents brought up Willie Horton during the primary. They opened up the door)
So for GOP operatives like Brown, there’s no card left to play except the race card. Or rather, the fear card. And if it works, I fear it will leave many of us more cynical about our real chances of ever being full participants in American life.
(Hillary Clinton has, like Dukakis' opponents, opened the door to this already. Just think, if it ALMOST worked with Democrats, what chance does it have with Republicans.
Unlike this writer, I think when the floodgates of racism will really open is if he WINS
What the Limbaughs and others did to Slick Willie 1992-2000 is going to be like a picnic.
We may not have to worry about it, though. I was listening to Michael Baisden yesterday afternoon and he was urging all his listeners to make their hotel reservations for next January and get ready to "get their party on".
The idea of millions of crazed Negroes descending on the nations capitol to party (or their own public squares) is going to send the vote theft machine into overdrive) |
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 7320
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, June 11, 2008 - 03:18 pm: |
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She seems too pie-in-the-sky-niggerr from the start, so I can understand why she'd be utterly disillusioned. However, I agree, that if Obama loses, it'll be the clearest modern act of racism this country's seen outside of Katrina. McCain is very very senile. The media's shoddy attempt to cover this up is a conspiracy. |
Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 6936
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, June 11, 2008 - 03:22 pm: |
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It was Al Gore who brought up Willie Horton in the primary.
He got his-- |
Nels
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Nels
Post Number: 1163
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 13, 2008 - 12:32 am: |
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You think the kitchen sink was something, huh? Well, the whole damn house is coming this time around. We all know that white folks like to hide behind anonymity, so the shield of the Internet combined with the bias of the white and Jewish-run media will be in full focus very soon. Hold on to your hats folks, the word "Fear" is about to take on a whole new meaning. |
Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 6952
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, June 14, 2008 - 11:43 am: |
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You think the kitchen sink was something, huh? Well, the whole damn house is coming this time around. We all know that white folks like to hide behind anonymity, so the shield of the Internet combined with the bias of the white and Jewish-run media will be in full focus very soon. Hold on to your hats folks, the word "Fear" is about to take on a whole new meaning.
(I wish you were wrong.
Fasten your seatbelts, Black folks.
Its going to be a rough ride) |
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