As a graduate student in sociology, I’ll admit to having a bit of a sensitive ear around the issue of race and ethnicity in America. But the past few weeks have made just about every American’s ears perk up, not just the sociologically attuned. I’m not just talking about the controversy surrounding reality television, I’m talking about the startling “leadership” on racial equality we’ve seen emanating from Republican elected officials over the past month or so.
The man-made disaster along the Gulf Coast last year showed us how far the Republican Party had led us toward racial inequality up to 2005. How are our Republican elected officials doing in leading us toward Martin Luther King’s dream so far in 2006? Well, let’s go to the public record.
On the issue of racial and ethnic profiling, Representative and Chair of the House Homeland Security Committee Peter King (R) suggested on August 16 that airport security screeners should require all passengers of “Middle Eastern and South Asian” descent to undergo special scrutiny. “If the threat is coming from a particular group, I can understand why it would make sense to single them out for further questioning,” King declared.
Meanwhile, the American-Arab Anti Discrimination Committee and many other civil rights groups have denounced any racial or ethnic based profiling as a clear violation and obvious racism. Furthermore, experts like the Commissioner of the NYPD have said that racial and ethnic profiling is “nuts” and ineffective. That seems obvious, as the biggest terrorists in the US before 9/11 were white Christians. And Richard Reid, the “shoe bomber” was Jamaican and British.
So there’s one big step backward for equality in the US, courtesy Peter King.
Next up is Senator George Allen (R-Virginia). He’s running for reelection, and at a rally on August 11, he pointed to an attendee in the crowd, and encouraged the audience to applaud the young man, saying “Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia!” He then called the man “macaca.” Macaca is a racial slur which means “monkey.” The man Senator Allen pointed out was born and raised in Virginia, but it’s relevant to this discussion to note that he is of South Asian descent.
Rather than immediately apologize for singling out the young man in the predominantly white crowd, and then ridiculing him in a racially insensitive manner, Senator Allen first sent his campaign manager to say that the “macaca” story was “horse shit” and that the Senator had nothing to apologize for. After issuing a token apology under pressure, Senator Allen then went on television to say that people don’t “actually care” about racial equality.
In fact, polls show that a wide majority of Virginians thought that Senator Allen’s remarks were “inappropriate.” And that’s another big step backward for racial equality thanks to a Republican leader.
Coming back to California, we have perhaps the biggest scandal of them all. Governor Schwarzenegger said of a Latina legislator that she’s “hot” (meaning having a fiery personality) because she has “black blood” mixed with “Latino blood.” Although the Republican lawmaker Schwarzenegger refered to, Bonnie Garcia, has said she’s not offended that Governor Schwarzenegger said that “they’re [Latinas] are all very hot.” The governor’s remarks appears to be patently racist, since he insists that all Latinas, no matter their individual background, are all “hot.”
Rather than issue an unconditional apology for his remarks, Schwarzenegger appeared with Garcia by his side to assure the public that what he said isn’t that bad. And Schwarzenegger’s campaign has done its best to turn the story around and say that it’s Phil Angelides’ fault because the campaign found an audio recording of the governor’s statements in a publically available area of the Governor’s website.
These candid and racially insensitive statements, coupled with Schwarzenegger’s very public support for the white-supremacist “Minutemen” group, make it clear that Schwarzenegger is closer to Pat Buchanan on issues of racial equality than he is to Martin Luther King.
And finally, in case these three examples of Republican “leadership” on racial equality weren’t enough, here’s a recent story involving a GOP Presidential hopeful. Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO) was honored at a September 8th reception put on by a neo-Confederate hate organization, League of the South. Tancredo is the head of a House caucus on immigration reform, and he’s very vocal about his proposal to “deport them all,” refering to immigrants. Tancredo addressed the League of the South from a podium that was draped in the Confederate flag, a flagrant symbol of white supremacy. Today, Congressman Tancredo’s website has a gratuitious photo showing the Congressman posing alongside a smiling African-American celebrity.
Of course, it’s not just the insensitive statements and pathetic photo-ops from Republicans like Tancredo, Schwarzenegger, Buchanan, Allen and King that set America’s dream of racial equality back. It’s their misguided policies that are the real problem.
Schwarzenegger, Buchanan, and Tancredo fan the flames of racial animosity for short-term political gain. They could take a leadership role and talk about moving past racial animosity and toward a sensible immigration policy which takes a path to citizenship as an obvious necessity. King could talk about the need to respect Americans of Middle Eastern descent while working to make America safer. Instead, his policies cater to the radical, racist right-wing.
Clearly, the Republican Party isn’t helping move us forward, toward the America Martin Luther King dreamed about. Maybe it’s time to stop voting for them.
Loading ...
8 responses so far ↓
1 Ian // Sep 15, 2006 at 2:52 pm
Hey, Erik. If you’re going to cite other people’s work, you should check to make sure they didn’t get it wrong, too.
Here’s a link to the League of the South’s views on race taken from the FAQ of its own website…
http://leagueofthesouth.net/static/homepage/racism.htm
They may be secessionists, but they’re not explicitly racist. In fact, they sound a lot like the kind of group I would like to join were it not for their ultimate goal of withdrawing from the union.
The confederate flag does not have a single, racist meaning. Three days ago I was chased off a property in Jackson, Michigan by skinheads who followed my car while on foot. Their vehicles were adorned in the confederate flag.
The confederate flag is typically used in the south as a symbol of southern pride, and is occasionally used even by blacks to this end. It was a symbol of the confederate army… the many men who marched primarily over cultural differences between north and south, who never owned nor could have owned slaves in their lives.
500,000 white Americans died during that war, by the way. Now THAT is reparations for slavery.
Anyway, a symbol of southern pride in the south is now patently racist… primarily in the north. It’s like Scots and kilts. They’re worn primarily by Scots in America, or Americans in Scotland. Real Scots don’t wear them because they’ve grown past it and gotten over it.
Yes, Reid is Jamaican and White. He’s also a Muslim who goes by the name of Abdul Ra’uff. No, I’m not suggesting that we should escalate security against Muslims either, but the fact that he’s not Arab does not eliminate the Muslim terror connection.
I really don’t care what Arnold has to say. Granted, he’s revealing himself to be an evolutionary idiot. That still doesn’t mean that I have to become apoplectic over every racially insensitive remark.
In my mind the real racism is affirmative action - the worst of the Republican inventions. I can’t wait for Michigan to bury it in November.
In the meantime, if you want to talk racism:
In 1872 congressional investigations, Democrats admitted beginning the Klan as an effort to stop the spread of the Republican Party and to re-establish Democratic control in Southern states. As PBS’ “American Experience” notes, “In outright defiance of the Republican-led federal government, Southern Democrats formed organizations that violently intimidated blacks and Republicans who tried to win political power. The most prominent of these, the Ku Klux Klan, was formed in Pulaski, Tenn., in 1865.” Blacks, who were all Republican at that time, became the primary targets of violence.
Between 1870 and 1875, the Republican Congress passed many pro-black civil rights laws. But in 1876, Democrats took control of the House, and no further race-based civil rights laws passed until 1957. In 1892, Democrats gained control of the House, the Senate and the White House, and repealed all the Republican-passed civil rights laws. That enabled the Southern Democrats to pass the Jim Crow laws, poll taxes, literacy tests, and so on, in their individual states.
Civil rights in the ’60s? Only 64 percent of Democrats in Congress voted for the 1964 Civil Rights Act (153 for, 91 against in the House; and 46 for, 21 against in the Senate). But 80 percent of Republicans (136 for, 35 against in the House; and 27 for, 6 against in the Senate) voted for the 1964 Act.
I’m glad the Dems have always been so racially sensitive.
2 carlos // Sep 15, 2006 at 6:44 pm
pretty good post erik though your democratic party crush is out of control…and i agree with ian (scary thought) that we can probably find some similar examples of racial insensitivity by the dems if we wanted to–david duke’s early political career immediatley comes to mind.
but i think your overall point of racial inequality in the us combined with a much broader message of “dont be so sensitive” from the likes of ian have really produced an enviroment that is not conducive to radical social change. btw ian, that whole heritage argument about the confederate flag is bs and its funny how you buy into the common misunderstanding that the civil war was just about emancipation, kind of nullifies your ridiculous reparations comment)in short, its ok to not talk about racism even as it lives in front of us because we can always dismiss those who do as cry babies without having to face the structural inequalities produced by those in power.
and ian the whole muslim terror connection you speak about is pretty bogus. is there such a thing as a white terror connection when it comes to school or post office shootings? of course not…or is there?
and while you may not care what arnold says i think its important to hold our leaders accountable for what they especially when its as racist as the shit arnold said…wait let me calm down my spice-o-meter is going up. anyways, i should probably just go back to puerto rico, i mean cuba (same thing)…maybe i’ll see your girl condi stashing more illegal prisoners.
3 Ian // Sep 19, 2006 at 2:04 pm
Here’s a site on blacks affiliating themselves with the confederate flag, and there are a number of articles written primarily by southern blacks - the group you would expect to be most offended - defending the flag. It’s not like I pulled the idea out of the ether.
http://www.thesouthernamerican.org/colour.html
Actually, Carlos, when I first heard about the attack on the WTC, I thought it was white supremists. Seriously. I’m sure we’re both aware that white supremists have their book out that outlines how they’ll gain victory in the US by blowing up several government buildings. I think it included both the WTC and the Pentagon, but I’m not sure.
No, I’m not suggesting that the Civil War had a single cause at all, but I do think a cost was extracted from the generation that perpetuated slavery in this country in the form of the Civil War.
No, I don’t think you should go back to Puerto Rico any more than I should be deported to Nassau.
And perhaps I should have ordered my words a bit better. Rather than “Muslim terror connection” (Note: I did not say “Muslim Terror Connection, or use a compound adjective) I should have stated that Reid’s attempted act of terrorism could be linked toward his religious affiliation, just like the 9/11 bombers actions could be linked to their religious affiliations. I’m not suggesting that Reid was running with the same crew.
4 The M B // Oct 4, 2006 at 9:56 pm
Erik, I think you need to take a break and remember to inhale. The idea that any of these stupid comments from republicans represent “a big step backward for equality in the US” is laughable. You’re attack on Schwarzenegger’s comment is particularly ironic, as I suspect Dr. King would’ve had some empathy for a leader whose private interactions were recorded and used against him.
I agree with Carlos that your Democratic party crush is out of control. Remember that for every horrible Republican in office, there’s a slew of Democrats who were too pathetic to beat them in a general election.
And while I think I agree with Ian’s main point, I (strangely) can’t agree with anything he actually said. Someone explain this paragraph to me from one of Ian’s comments:
“The confederate flag does not have a single, racist meaning. Three days ago I was chased off a property in Jackson, Michigan by skinheads who followed my car while on foot. Their vehicles were adorned in the confederate flag.”
Uhhhhh…….Isn’t that racist? Were they chasing you off because they thought you were from a rival skinhead group trying to infringe on their turf? And now that I mention it, why were you skulking around the property of skinheads anyway?
Props to my home town by the way - can’t believe I ever left.
Erik - good luck with that job interview with Nancy Pelosi.
5 Erik // Oct 4, 2006 at 11:03 pm
OK, would someone please show me where in this post I mention the Democratic party as the path to MLK’s dream? I just read it again, and I don’t see a single mention of the Democrats at all. So, I’m not sure where this “crush” on the Democrats is supposed to come from.
Of course, Ian is right when he points out that Democrats have hardly been perfect on the issue of race. Democrats have not always been part of the solution. But it was a Democrat who signed the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act. Jesse Jackson and many other leaders from the MLK circle have been Democrats. But, again, nowhere did I say that Democrats are flawless on race because clearly, they’re not.
Two wrongs — Republicans and Democrats — dont’ make a right. The point of this post is to make laughable the Republican notion that htey’re somehow good for the country on issues of race because Bush appointed Gonzales, Rice, and Powell. Republican statements — public and private — and their policy positions prove otherwise.
Ian, your point about the confederate flag is shaky at best. Yes, it has different meanings based on context. You might be able to find a non-racist white person in the south who hoists the confederate flag simply as an “eff you” to government. But in the vast, vast majority of situations, the confederate flag is used by white people to say “eff you” to black people, Mexicans, and all other people of color. For a major Republican congressman to speak at a rally of a clearly questionable organziation which has definite racial problems is more proof that Republicans are bad for acheiving MLK’s dream.
Sorry i’m rushed here, but please continue the conversation.
6 Ian // Oct 5, 2006 at 1:34 pm
Hi, MB. Haven’t seen you on the blogs in a while. I hope you’re doing well.
What I was attempting to point out (and apparently did a lousy job of), is that the flag of the confederacy is only automatically considered racist in the north. In the south, many consider it to simply be a southern symbol.
I was knocking on doors out in rural Jackson because I was canvassing (believe it or not) for a democrat.
7 daraka kenric // Jan 21, 2007 at 12:34 am
Don’t be such a wimp, Erik. What path to Dr. King’s dream doesn’t include the Democratic Party? Or are we going to get there one seminar at a time, Carlos?
Let’s be clear: you can go back in time all you want to moments before the great realignment of the 1960’s. And, of course, you can find plenty of racist Democrats around today. These facts are not the point.
Republican strength is drawn from white reaction. Democratic strength is not.
-daraka
8 Only One Republican Bothers To Attend NAACP Convention In Detroit // Jul 12, 2007 at 3:07 pm
[...] to attend. Tancredo is a leader in the virulent anti-immigration movement in the Congress, and he previously posed with homophobic television star Isiah Washington in an attempt to establish his anti-racist [...]
Leave a Comment