By M. Irene Daniel
I have
been working on this story for a while now. Every time I felt ready to write
it, more incidences of GOP dog whistles surfaced. However, I don’t really want
to talk about the comments or antics of the likes of Ann Coulter or Donald, the
clown, Trump. That would be too easy. Pointing out the obviously ugly and
arrogant ignorance of these, and their ilk, is really not challenging, or new.
Going over their comments and pointing out the obvious is not only an odious
task, but is simply a waste of precious time.
I would
like to examine what is behind these dog whistles, and why they are so
effective. I want to talk about the power of an idea, an idea of whiteness, and
what the history of this idea has been. How has this idea evolved, or devolved,
and how does it continue to manifest today in our country?
I was
recently chatting with a friend of mine who grew up in the south. She told me
the story of how one of her white male relatives, a life-long Democrat who
actually agreed with Obama’s policies and intentions, could simply not bring
himself to vote for a black man. Just couldn’t do it. She also shared how
ashamed he was and that he felt powerless to change. Initially, I was angered by this story. This
anger, however, fueled a curiosity, which led to seeking, which led me to
compassion for this man who seemed trapped by an obsolete, yet still powerful idea, of white supremacy. Rather than assign shame or
blame for the racial divide in this country, I find it more productive, as well
as more interesting, to attempt to trace its origin, in an attempt to
understand the largeness of the idea of whiteness.
I recalled a memory of my own, in
which the child of a white conservative friend of mine was telling a story
about a group of people. There was “a black man, and a Mexican, and an
American,” he said. Before he could continue, I asked him what he meant by
“American.” He confirmed that the American in his story was the white person. I
asked him if he thought that only white people could be Americans. He seemed to
have that “deer in the headlights” look on his face, as we both realized that
no one had ever had this kind of conversation with this young man.
I was
not angry with him at all. He was just a kid after all, about 10 years old. But
I was somewhat surprised at how easily these categories came to him. He was not
in any way a mean or insensitive child; in fact, quite the opposite. He was
growing up in a white middle-class conservative Christian family that would in
no way see themselves as racist, nor did I. And yet, somehow, his perception of
a white America indicated a priority, or superiority.
I
recently read an op-ed in the LA Times (October 18, 2012) wherein K.C. Cole, a
professor of journalism at USC, referred to such classification as “default
assumptions.” It is these default assumptions that suggest images and
priorities. For example, when we think of the term CEO, our hard drive conjures
up an image of a white male. It is these default assumptions that suggest to
white Americans that “affirmative action hires” are less worthy and/or
competent than white males. I will more specifically address affirmative action
in another blog post in the interest of brevity and readability. For both of
these issues are more complex than black and white.
I have personally witnessed
countless examples of people being unable to change, or even challenge their
default assumptions about others. I recall my third year in law school at UCLA,
involving the Roscoe Pound Moot Court competition. In the spring of 1990, when
the moot court finalists were announced, there was not one able-bodied white
male among them. There were white males with physical disabilities, a few white
women (one of whom was blind), and several persons of color, male and female,
who successfully argued their way, orally and in writing, to this major law
school victory. This perceived “dumbing down” of moot court motivated one of
the white males in our school to write an opinion in ‘The Docket,’ our law school
newspaper, discounting the esteemed honor earned by these accomplished
finalists. He basically accused the judges of lowering the standards in order
to allow these candidates to prevail, and lamented that this would lead to the
devaluation of his law school diploma from a school that molly-coddles “the
other.” He thought it was very humanitarian to try to give these people a
chance, but it wasn’t worth the devaluation of his degree, and hence, his
future.
This
inaccurate perception of non-white success is often found in the comments of
John Sununu, one of Mitt Romney’s most prominent surrogates, suggesting that President Obama is not a legitimate occupier of the White House, not "American" enough. I have also
witnessed this attitude in my own personal life. I remember hearing
conservative white people expressing outrage at the fact that my brother owned
a home with a pool, and that I had been admitted to the UCLA School of Law; the
perception being that something was amiss here. How could these dirty Mexicans
deserve things like pools and educations? These things were for white people.
These are not imagined or exaggerated examples of how many, not all, white
conservatives perceive ethnic minorities, especially minority women. These are,
but a few, real memories from my life experience. What I know of racial
misperceptions I know, not because I read it about somewhere, even though I
have studied racial issues even beyond college and law school, but because I
have lived the reality of the “default assumption” that white is better,
smarter, more worthy.
When I
was in college I wrote a paper entitled, “How Racism Killed Huey Long,” the
premise of which is, I think, informative here. Although there were no persons
of color directly involved with the assassination of the Louisiana Kingfish,
the idea of whiteness over blackness played a major role in the deaths of Long
and his assassin, both white men of sophistication and stature in their
community.
Huey
Long was assassinated by Carl Austin Weiss, the son-in-law of Judge Benjamin
Pavy, a longtime political rival of the Kingfish. At the time of his murder, Long had made so
many powerful and corrupt enemies that he was always surrounded by several
armed bodyguards. So, any attempt on his life would most assuredly end, not in
arrest, but death by bodyguard. The assassin was a young, and very accomplished, medical doctor with a
wife and baby, and seemingly everything to look forward to in life. So why
would a young man with a beautiful young family and a promising professional
future commit knowing suicide by taking a shot at Huey Long?
A story
had been leaked that Long was about to expose what he said was proof that Judge
Pavy’s family lineage was tainted with negro blood. While this might seem
laughable today, in the 1930’s Louisiana of Jim Crow, having even 1/32 negro
blood meant that you could not drink from white drinking fountains, use white
bathrooms, or enjoy any other privilege of whiteness. And for this young man,
the thought of his little baby drinking out of the same drinking fountains as
negroes, was enough to commit himself to his own death, if it meant preventing
such a dark future for his little white baby. His whiteness was, literally, to
die for.
Even
though there is no more Jim Crow, centuries of legally sanctioned racism, and
the ensuing exploitation of ethnic minorities, cannot be overcome with less than
half a century of trying to correct this festering American cancer of
racism. The residual subliminal racism
affects us all. Even those who have been discriminated against sometimes adopt
a preference for whiteness. Otherwise,
why is it that, in test after test, little black girls prefer white dolls, and
often see whiteness as prettier? We have all been conditioned, on some level of
consciousness to see whiteness as better, more desirable. Much of this societal
norm is not intentional, but, as Robert Frost once said, “Way leads on to way.”
These
residual attitudes need not be viewed as anything but a natural consequence of our racial history. We are now, however, in the 21st century, and it is time to evolve out of this notion of whiteness as superior. For, just as was
the case with Huey Long, this outdated and incorrect attitude, is what is killing
the 90% white GOP. It might not happen in this election cycle, but certainly by
the next presidential election, no group, of any kind, that is 90% white will
be viable for long. This is not ideology. This is math.
The 3 largest growing demographics
in the United States right now are women, youth and Latinos. Accordingly,
whatever you are selling in the USA, be it ideologies, cars or washing
machines, this is your target market. Generally, when one is courting a target
market, the intent is to invite, entice and encourage that market to take a
look at your product, or, as is the case with the GOP, your policies. If I were
trying to encourage someone to join a group, I would try to ensure that they
felt comfortable, and not out of place in said group. Why then, is the
Republican party doing exactly the opposite when it comes to ethnic minorities,
or as I heard one Tea Party member describe us, “the mud races?” He actually
said that, I’m not making any of this up.
The
obvious, and unconstitutional, attempts to disenfranchise blacks and Latinos in
numerous swing states, the inhumane manner in which undocumented Latinos are
maligned, the racial-profiling legislation like Arizona’s SB1070 – the
show-me-your-papers law, the unprecedented rudeness and disrespect for our
first African-American president, the birthers and those who want to see the
president’s report card, and the list could go on forever; are all ideas
promulgated by Republicans and all evidence an assumption regarding the
superiority of whiteness in America. And it is this assumption that seems to
drive much of the opposition to President Obama. This does not mean, of course,
that any criticism of the president is racist. I have some criticisms of my
own. Rather, it is the manner in which this critique is communicated by the
extreme right that is racially derogatory, replete with references to watermelons and images of witch-doctors. Moreover, Mitt Romney’s
condescending manner reinforces this idea that President Obama is not
“American;” kinda like that 10-year old kid I told you about earlier.
The point of all of this for me, is to try to
understand why the idea of whiteness, as well as the default assumption of its supremacy, is still so powerful
today. Who can deny that this is true? And even more confounding, is why people
like Carl Weiss, and institutions like the Republican party, prefer non-existence in whiteness,
to surviving by acknowledging racial equality, and surrending the false notion that being white somehow makes one more credible.
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