"The 'socialist' label that Sen. John McCain and his GOP presidential
running mate Sarah Palin are trying to attach to Sen. Barack Obama actually has
long and very ugly historical roots. "J. Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI from
1924 to 1972, used the term liberally to describe African Americans who spent
their lives fighting for equality. Those freedom fighters included the Rev.
Martin Luther King Jr., who led the Civil Rights Movement; W.E.B. Du Bois, who
in 1909 helped found the NAACP which is still the nation's oldest and largest
civil rights organization; Paul Robeson, a famous singer, actor and political
activist who in the 1930s became involved in national and international
movements for better labor relations, peace and racial justice; and A. Philip
Randolph, who founded and was the longtime head of the Brotherhood of Sleeping
Car Porters and a leading advocate for civil rights for African Americans.
"McCain and Palin have simply reached back in history to use an old code
word for black. It set whites apart from those deemed unAmerican and those who
could not be trusted during the communism scare.
"Shame on McCain and Palin."
Now, this writer - in reading some of his other columns - is 'all about' race. He's a black man, which matters not at all to me, but tells you a bit about where he's coming from as regards his opinion. My problem is with this absurd, insane notion that everything anyone says in any negative way about Barack Obama must be linked to the speaker's inherent racism.
Huh????
Another line from the same writer in a different column:
"I support Barack Obama and his plans for America, but I also know this
country’s burning fires of racism. The discrimination blacks face isn’t as
bad as it once was. But the hatred is strong enough that the majority is
unlikely to elect an African-American leader."
Is this deliberate provocation - either of blacks, to rouse their anger; or of whites, to get them to 'prove' that they're not racist by voting for Obama?
OR
Is this writer - and the others like him - being honest, feeling that everyone who is against, or simply disagrees with, Obama must be a racist?
I suppose a third option would be simply that this is political correctness gone absolutely over the edge - not just this writer's commentary, but all of the similar commentary we've all seen and heard during the last 18 months.
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1 comment:
I define myself as an extreme liberal, however I could not agree with you more. Frequent political positioning on the racist (or feminist) point of view is, for lack of a better way of saying it, undemocratic. By using these accusations of discrimination (if one chooses to vote right or left) the accuser is only trying to manipulate the public, insinuating that voters have no other political opinion than stereotypical bias.
Well said.
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