You know the line. When accused of being racist, some white people start to list all their friends who are black. That has been the focus of many a comedy routine.
And it's why white Tea Partiers keep looking for people of color at Tea Party rallies:
It's also why anti-Tea Party types, namely the entire mainstream media, do just the opposite, and try to minimize the number of non-whites at Tea Party rallies, so they can say, "Oh no you don't" have lots of black friends:
To which we say, well so are you, so there, and we have photos to prove it:
But there is another version of the black/white head count game, in which white liberals defend accusations of racism not by listing all their black friends, but by invoking their vote for Obama.
Tonight's card game story revolves around a plan to put 600 mostly black and hispanic students in Park Slope, a high priced neighborhood in Brooklyn populated by many investment bankers, lawyers, and Wall Street types (it's a short subway ride to lower Manhattan). The mostly white liberal residents of Park Slope, or at least some of them, were not happy about it.
One woman in particular responded to suggestions that she may be racist by invoking her support for Obama, as reported by The Gothamist , Park Sloper: I'm Not Racist, I Voted for Obama.
The woman insisted that she was concerned only about the menacing behavior of the students, not their race, and to prove it, she played the Obama Vote Card:
"By the way, I am an Obama Democrat. I love Obama. I would want anyone in his family living next door to me. I work mostly with people of color every day..."That leaves me in a bit of predicament.
If accused of racism, I can't say I voted for Obama.
I'm not even sure I can say "some of my best friends voted for Obama." In fact, I'm quite sure I can't say that, at least if my screening methods have worked.
I've got it, here's the best defense I can mount:
"I'm not racist, I know people who voted for Obama, although I try not to talk politics with them because we'll just get into an argument and they'll accuse me of being racist when they're losing in order to end the discussion."That should work like a charm.
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Well, that settles it. I am a white middle-aged male who didn't vote for Obama, so I must be a racist.
ReplyDeleteMy wife is a beautiful black African woman. But now I realize that's no excuse - I didn't vote for Obama.
We have a beautiful son who has his mother's gorgeous eyes and face. But now I realize that's no excuse - I didn't vote for Obama.
I lived and taught mathematics in Tanzania, East Africa for years (that's where I met and married my wife). But now I realize that's no excuse - I didn't vote for Obama.
I have friends and family in Tanzania whom I would trust with my very life. But now I realize that's no excuse - I didn't vote for Obama.
I miss Tanzania, was happiest when I lived there, and would go back in a heartbeat. But now I realize that's no excuse - I didn't vote for Obama.
Kindly direct me to the nearest Southern Poverty Law Center office so that I can turn myself in and receive the punishment I so richly deserve.
"I'm not racist, I know people who voted for Obama, although I try not to talk politics with them because we'll just get into an argument and they'll accuse me of being racist when they're losing in order to end the discussion."
ReplyDeleteNo fair! You overheard me saying that!!! Hahaha......if it wasn't true, it would be even more hilarious. Doesn't work anyway. Meh.
I wonder how many people voted for The One to make themselves feel better about their "white guilt?" I've been reading Dinesh D'Souza's book The Roots of Obama's Rage and he goes into detail about white guilt and Obama's using it in 2008 to his advantage. Good reading.
Good night, and good luck, professor.
A thoughtful post, William. You hit on everything.
ReplyDeleteIt is certainly a huge mistake, not to mention just plain wrong, for white conservatives to start talking about how they know this or that black person (or Muslim) when accused of being racist.
What's amazing is how white liberals have fallen for the same trap by saying (in effect) "I can't be racist because I voted for Obama." Considering how smart they think they are, you'd think they'd figure out how bad this sounds.
Finally, for all practical purposes the definition of racism seems to be "a white conservative who is winning an argument with a libral."
Oh, I can play this game quite well. I voted for Alan Keyes in 2000.
ReplyDeleteNevermind all the black people who obviously are racist because they didn't vote for Obama (i.e. are Uncle Toms) - Clarence Thomas, Thomas Sowell, Walter Williams, etc.
ReplyDeleteApparently a racist is anyone not a knee-jerk liberal, emphasis on the JERK.
I didn't vote for Obama who is HALF WHITE and only a small percentage Black African, and I am not a raaaaacist. I'm anti-Marxist, anti-Socialist, anti-Progressive, anti-left-leaning-looney-liberal. And proud of it.
ReplyDeleteOddly enough, I know flat-out racists who DID vote for Obama. I live in metro Detroit and some of these union guys who wouldn't hang out with a black man, voted for one for president because their union told them hey should.
ReplyDeleteThe hard part anymore is not finding people who voted for Obama, but people who still admit they voted for Obama.
ReplyDeleteRacist? Heck no! I voted for the woman!!!
ReplyDeleteI voted for Obama in 2004. I really didn't like the black guy in the race.
ReplyDeleteYears ago, I read Sammy Davis Jr.'s autobiography. He told of one limosine-liberal type who attempted to demonstrate his color-blindness by telling him "My kid went to school with Ralph Bunche's son." (Ralph Bunche was a black UN dipolmat of the era.) It's ironic that this kind of silliness is still employed for self-congratulation.
ReplyDeleteHey, I DIDN'T vote for Obama in SPITE of the fact that he is black! I evaluated him on the basis of his qualifications, political positions and character rather than his skin color or ancestry! That USED to be the definition of someone who was NOT racist.
I learned, decades ago, to never listen to a white person calling me a racist. They almost never spent as much time working with and socializing with black folks.
ReplyDeleteIt was Limbaugh, years and years ago who said the definition of bigot is someone who is winning an argument with a liberal.
When the leftists feel guilty of what they have done, they use govt. to force other people to pay for the leftists' guilt.
ReplyDeleteE.g. they feel guilty with their carbon footprints flying around in their private jets, so they wanted laws to curb our carbon footprints; they feel guilty for their extravagance, so they wanted to raise our taxes to help the poor. In the meantimes, like Warren Buffett, they would do their darnedest to use the best troop of accountants to save themselves from paying more taxes. To assauage their racist impulse, they accuse the rest of us being racists. Their genius is, in their quest to save the world, they are always able to make a huge bundle for themselves. They are always the targets of the govt's investment of our money.
OOPS, sorry for inducing violence from the unhinged with "targets".