RACISM 101

There was a point of disagreement with my last post about whether Senator Clinton would be able to win the African American vote back if she became the Democratic presidential nominee. I stand by comments and will use the words of Congressman Jim Clyburn of South Carolina to underscore my point. Clyburn was quoted on the record last week as saying that the Clintons are in trouble when it comes to African Americans.

Clyburn, an undeclared delegate and the highest-ranking African-American in Congress, was quoted in a recent Reuters article saying, “There are African-Americans who have reached the decision that the Clintons know that she can’t win this. But they’re hell-bound to make it impossible for Obama to win.” He also made remarks to the New York Times, calling Bill Clinton’s conduct “bizarre.” Clyburn said the former president’s conduct in this campaign had caused what the newspaper described as possibly being an “irreparable breach between Mr. Clinton and an African-American constituency that once revered him.”

The thing is that Hillary Clinton has made this thing personal and there are many in the African American community who are all too well-versed in this racist code that is used to denigrate African Americans and African American males in particular.

It starts with qualifications. Obama has an undergraduate degree from Ivy League Columbia University and a law degree from Harvard. Now granted on paper Hillary’s Yale law degree may trump Obama’s, Columbia is a bona fide Ivy League institution while Wellesley is part of the unofficial “Seven Sisters.” The bottom line here is that Obama’s education is every bit as good as Clinton’s and for that matter as good as GW’s. So, to say Obama is not qualified is just racist code for we do not want you.

As for experience, let us be very clear. Hillary Clinton is where she is in large part because of her husband. Further, it is her husband’s record that she is running on. Obama actually took a job in Chicago that Hillary turned down. She chose the corporate law route instead in the largest firm in Arkansas and used those connections as well as those of her husband to get special stock deals and sit on one corporate board after the other including Walmart whose labor practices are not very exemplary. Obama worked for peanuts out in the hood dealing with the folk and their problems. So, once again, let us discredit the black man and paint his experience as insignificant.

Another favorite racist tactic is to pit African Americans against each other. Since efforts to link Obama with the favorite black boogeymen (Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and Louis Farrakhan) proved futile, some other nemesis had to surface — enter stage left Jeremiah Wright. At best, Rev. Wright is merely a distraction as I wrote in a previous post. Yet, on Monday he was either the lead story or the second story (behind Miley Cyrus’ “racy” Vanity Fair pictures – over 4,000 dead in Iraq and this is what qualifies as big news) on nearly every newscast. And nearly every report left us wondering how Obama would respond/react to all that Wright had said. Yet, we hear nothing about McCain’s association with Rev. Hagee and we look past the fact that McCain went out of his way to speak at Bob Jones University. This is to say nothing about all the unqualified religious quacks in the current Administration who wield way, way too much power. I ask who is the greater threat?? Hint, the answer is not the black man. Here is yet another double standard where when African Americans speak out they are angry, unpatriotic, anti-Semitic and, yes, racist. Whites, on the other hand are merely expressing opinions and they go to reap millions spewing their hate speech. And, heaven help us all if two or more African American men are gathered together. There is no good going to come out of that.

And then there is the whopper that we hear all too often – “he” is not ready yet or “he” has not been tested or “he” is just not there yet. Quite frankly, just being a successful African American male is test enough. But this old line is used to discredit us when the white person knows we cannot be beat on merit. This line is used and then everything under the sun is used to make this stick whether it is relevant or not. What is so funny is that there is never a definition of what it is to be ready or tested or there. It is just that we are not.

Finally, there is this assertion that we as African Americans are only voting for Obama because he is black. Here I should point out that Obama is just as much white as he is black. Quite frankly, the majority of us whose families have been here for generations are more than likely not “pure breeds.” Remember, though, that Bill Clinton was adopted by us and Hillary Clinton started the race as the favorite amongst African Americans. It was Obama who had to prove himself to us and not Hillary. Yet, we are made to feel guilty for voting for Obama even though for decades we have almost blindly thrown our support to white candidate after white candidate after white candidate. We have shown repeatedly that we will vote for white candidate. Yet, the reverse is not as true. There are still probably more whites who will not under any circumstance vote for an African American candidate. In fact, even Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell was quoted as saying that there are whites who will not vote for Obama because he is black. These comments are racist code for calling us ignorant. We vote for the black candidate because he/she is black and not because he/she is the best candidate.

Let me close with more comments by Congressman Clyburn. “If Obama walks off the playing field with Hillary Clinton as the nominee, Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party would be in trouble. We’re in a very critical point in this process and if we’re not careful, we could do irreparable harm. We’re trying to do something that’s never been done in this country before.”