This Is Why Black Folks'll Probably Stay on the Democratic "Plantation"

:eyeroll:

Ten conservatives who have praised slavery

10. Rep. Loy Mauch. This Arkansas GOP state legislator has found biblical support for his pro-slavery position. He wrote to the Democrat-Gazette to inquire, “If slavery were so God-awful, why didn’t Jesus or Paul condemn it, why was it in the Constitution and why wasn’t there a war before 1861?

And just think, he's only #10. There're 9 more!

You Must Be a Racist If . . .

. . . you're Tea Party Express chairman Mark Williams.

Fox Hunting, Join the Hunt

via colorofchange.org:

FOX is up to its old race-baiting tricks. But this time, CNN is repeating FOX's distortions and taking them mainstream.

FOX is claiming that under President Obama, the Department of Justice (DOJ) is refusing to prosecute voting rights offenses when the victims are White and the perpetrators are Black.[1] It's a bogus story based on the allegations of one former Republican DOJ attorney, and it sidesteps a mountain of facts.[2]

Oh, Yes He Did! (Updated)

Yes, there're other things in the news; and yes, I gotta give big props to the Congressional Black Caucus as black America is officially in an economic depression; and yes, this happened almost a month ago. But there is no excuse for

to be on an 8th grade pre-algebra assignment!

The good news is that some of the kids complained. The bad news is that one child teased the only black student in the class. Personally, I don't know what's more racist: that the teacher decided to use the picture, or that the teacher claims to have seen nothing wrong with it. Trust and believe, he had other options. I had to get to page 6 to find the picture myself.

In trying to find more information on the matter, since it did happen almost a month ago, I came across one blogger who commented that the fact that the mother went to the NAACP hurts her credibility, even though it was the county office. Don't get me wrong, this particular blogger ultimately decides what the teacher did is racist, but he also disagreed with the mother of the only black student in the class keeping her child out of school. So, I think I'm gonna have to do some of my best work.

Now, if you don't find the picture offensive, then I don't know what to say about that. I can hardly stand to look at the picture myself. I'm only displaying it to grab your attention.

But here's the thing. Blacks in Bucks County, PA where this happened make up just 3.2% of the population there, 10 points less than the national average. Now, there's a general feeling of vunerability among black Americans. Being less than the national average can only make things worse. I don't blame the mother for bringing in her county's NAACP office or keeping her child out of school. And this is allegedly one of the best schools in the nations. It's not about fear of physical danger. It's about the psychic toll such an assault can have on the child. It's not an emotionally safe place to learn. As someone who's had to learn under similar circumstances, I can tell you it takes extra mental juice to overlook something like that and learn. Think of it the same way you think of sexual harrasment. Would you have your daughter in class with a teacher who plastered Pamela Anderson on a homework assignment?

Listen. We're not going to solve race by colorblindly acting like it doesn't matter any more. So stop denying that it exists. And if it shows up in an 8th grade math teacher, it's probably down at those tea party rallies, too.

That's my first point.

Here's my second. Studies have shown that allowing someone to tell a sexist joke leads to an environment where sexism is tolerated and women are discriminated against. Other forms of "disparagement humor," whether they're about racial minorities or a lower socioeconomic class, also have the "potential to be a powerful and widespread force that can legitimize prejudice in our society."

And so this teacher gave us a perfect example of how this operates. He pastes this picture on a math worksheet. He probably really didn't see the problem with this disparagement humor. (Hint to white people and men, if your "joke" puts someone down, it's offensive. Don't get me wrong, I can understand how white people would find jokes about smelling like wet dogs offensive. But, first, I feel quite safe in saying you don't know our white jokes because you haven't heard very many. After all, Bernie Mac and the man from 227 went through a list of "nicknames" for white people, but Ashton Kutcher told 4 jokes. And if your anti-black jokes work the same way our yor-mama jokes do, then I know there are hundreds of other jokes, maybe more; and, the ones Ashton told have are probably no longer in fad.) White people rarely do, even if the only way to get the "joke" is to already be familiar with the historic racist stereotype of black people and watermelons. (If you're not, I mean really not, please watch this mockumentary.) I guess that's because if you tell the same joke dozens of times around white people, it may never occur to you that others would be offended.

Wow. That's privilege.

So, there are some students who protest the picture, but the teacher hands out the worksheets still. Then, one classmate turns to the only black child and asks if that's his daddy, cause we all know most black kids don't know who their father is.

This teacher doesn't mean a class on tolerance or sensitivity. He needs a history class and an, pardon my languagne, ass-whooping.

Keep It Up Folks!

Dear friends,

As you may know, right-wing talk show hosts have been bringing race-based fear mongering into the mainstream, but FOX's Glenn Beck has taken it to another level.

I signed ColorOfChange.org's petition to stop Glenn Beck's lies and distortions, and so far, 62 major companies have stopped their ads from running on his show. These companies have decided they don't want to be associated with Beck's race-baiting.

But Beck is only stepping up his fear-mongering, so we can't stop now. We have to make sure advertisers keep leaving, and stay away from his show.

Will you take a stand and be counted, and invite your friends and family to do the same? It takes just a moment:

http://www.colorofchange.org/beck/hold/?id=1756-227036

This summer, Beck said:

This president has exposed himself as a guy over and over and over again who has a deep-seated hatred for white people... this guy is, I believe, a racist.

That statement fits into a pattern of rhetoric from Beck designed to stoke racial paranoia and fear. He has claimed that President Obama has a "reparation appetite" and a desire to use his policies to settle old racial scores. Beck's overall plan is to create an atmosphere in which the White House can accomplish nothing, and he's carrying it out by preying on race-based fears and mobilizing hate. Beck relies on dishonesty, distortion and exaggeration, and he is embarking on character assassinations of Obama administration officials with whom he disagrees.

FOX has a horrible track record on pushing racist propaganda, but Glenn Beck appears to be taking the network to an even lower standard. He's trying to divide and distract America when we should be coming together and talking about issues that really matter--like health care and the economy.

The good news is that we have the power to stop this. Over 200,000 people have joined this campaign, and 62 advertisers have already stopped their ads from being run during Beck's show. Please help keep the momentum building.

http://www.colorofchange.org/beck/hold/?id=1756-227036

Thanks.

Here are some links to more info:

"Beck: Obama has 'exposed himself as a guy' with 'a deep seated hatred for white people'"
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200907280008

"Glenn Beck: Obama agenda driven by 'reparations' and desire to 'settle old racial scores'"
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200907230040

She Blamed the Black Guy(s)

Typical. Sorry I didn't look into this until now. I had read a few news headlines, but not the actual story. I hope posting this from racismreview.com/blog will make up for it. ~ No1KState

It Lives: The Image of Me Constructed by You

Posted by Dr. Terence Fitzgerald on May 28th, 2009

“Come on boy; you know the routine. Assume the position.”

Yes, unfortunately in these here United States of America, my skin is my sin. The luck of possessing a hue associated with Africa and the ownership of a Y chromosome carries a heavy burden. The burden was front and center this week within the story of Bonnie Sweeten of Feasterville, Pennsylvania . Ms. Sweeten made a frantic phone call to 911 from Philadelphia, on May 26th from the trunk of a car where she told authorities that she and her 9 year old daughter were, after being rear ended earlier. She went on to say that after the accident, after exiting her SUV, she and her daughter were then kidnapped. The story caught national attention from NBC to Fox news. The police, the amber alert system, and the FBI all pulled their efforts together to save them damsels in distress from the “evil doorers.”

You might ask yourself, who would commit such a disreputable deed? Well it was “two Black men” of course! And of course they were driving, of all cars, “a Cadillac.”

Well today, we found out it was all a disgusting hoax. In fact, the two were bound for Disney World. After taking out thousands of dollars from her family account and buying two tickets to Florida, mother, with her child, were later spotted boarding a plane in Tampa which led the local police to their hideout with Mickey at the Grand Floridian Hotel in Orlando. On Thursday, May 28th, the Today Show discussed the issue of Michelle Henry; District Attorney for Bucks County Pennsylvania, who was asked by the newscaster whether this was a case of racial profiling. Ms. Henry avoided the question raised.

My frustration observed in writing this entry is not without merit. For this country has a long history of feeding a stereotype of Black males as dangerous, oversexed, with out a moral compass [See the book, The Assassination of the Black Male Image by Earl Ofari Hutchinson]. Where again you might ask?

• Examples can be traced from the stereotypical, controversial, and influential 1915 film, Birth of a Nation,
• March 25, 1931, Alabama with the death of what the media called the Scottsboro Boys.
• October 24, 1989, Boston—Pregnant Carol DiMaiti Stewart, 30 years old died, from a gun shot to the head. Her husband, Charles, 29 years old reported to police that a Black man claiming to be an undercover policeman pulled their vehicle over and shot he and his wife; killing his wife and later after two weeks of survival, their eight week premature unborn child. Later the police discovered that the husband actually killed his wife and unborn child.
• October 24, 1994, Union, South Carolina—In order to win the affection of a man with whom she had been having an affair, Susan Smith placed her three year and 14 month old children into the safety devises in her car and rolled the car into John D. Long Lake. She claimed to the police that she and her children were carjacked by a Black man. During the nine days before she had confessed her merciless crime, a number of Black males were harassed and seen as possible perpetrators in the crime.
• July 11, 2007, Tituville, Florida—Bob Allen, a Senior Republican, and former co-chairman of the campaign of Senator John McCain arrested for attempting to solicit oral sex for 20 dollars from an undercover police officer in a men’s toilets facility. Mr. Allen has a long record of being a proponent of ant-gay legislation in Florida. When arrested, he attempted to avoid prosecution by declaring that the undercover police officer, who happened to be a large black man, intimidated him and Allen felt he had to do whatever it took to survive.

Within the 21st century there is an effort to still demonize the Black male and depict them as a threat to society. Black males have been historically and presently seen as a sexual, physical, and emotional threat to Whites. Some Blacks and other people of color have also helped to feed the stereotype. It is time for us all to bash this image when it is presented.

Catch Racism Every Night, Primetime on the CW

I actually meant to say this earlier and it slipped my mind. This whole pattern from the CW/UPN just goes to show why African Americans maybe need to develop more TV networks dedicated to the African American community. TVOne can't do it all alone. And BET is now more or less minstrel shows.20. So when you think of black empowerment in terms of black businesses, or my dreams, a black Wall Steet (or at least a collection of companies on the level of the DOW Jones), you have to remember to include black-owned and operated media for a black audience.


You know what really pisses me off about this? The CW, and before that, UPN, built itself on black comedy. First, In the House, LL Cool J/Todd Smith's initial sitcom. UPN bought the rights to it from NBC. But at least In the House ended with some sense of closure. But Half and Half, Girlfriends, and now Everybody Hates Chris and The Game are being ended abruptly in the middle of a plot line. I mean, does Lynn ever get it together? And Joan married? Maya adopting? And the Toni-replacement a mother? "Yes, more please." Sorry. Not a regular viewer of Everybody Hates Chris, but the last episode I saw had him taking the GED because his teacher wanted to hold him back a year for all his tarties. Whatever becomes of him? And, so okay. Melanie and Derwin get married. I'm almost sure of it. Rick Fox and Tasha get back together. But what about Jason and Kellie Pitts, huh? What? The white girl can't get no love? (Okay, so I'm not as open to interracial dating as popular culture kind of demands, but that's neither here nor there.)

I know what you're thinking, right? Aliens in America was cut after 2 seasons and it was a white sitcom. Tell you the truth, I actually liked the show. But, come on. One "counter-example" to a demonstrated pattern? What's The CW gonna do when it loses viewers en masse? I'll tell you. It's gonna turn right back to urban comedy. And I hope this time, nobody watches.

We should all be reading and working in our communities, anyway.

And for the love of all that's good and holy, will somebody please tell me who Mona (half of Half and Half) ended up with! ~ No1KState

The Game: Officially Not Returning To The CW
By Karu F. Daniels on May 22nd 2009 8:08PM

"In just three years, The CW has become TV to talk about, with culturally current, quality programming," Ostroff said in a statement. "We have a full slate of great programming to keep our viewers watching, chatting, texting and tweeting all next season."

Maybe some viewers.

The other African American-targeted sitcom 'Everybody Hates Chris' won't be returning in the fall either.

You're Not Racist, but You're a Racism-Tolerator!

And that's equally as bad!

Plus, you're probably just plain ol' racist. ~ No1KState

"What we found was that students were more likely to choose the white
confederate as a partner (63 per cent), despite the fact that the white person
had made a racist comment about the black person," said Kawakami. "And the
racist comments ranged from moderate to one of the most powerful anti-black
slurs in the English language."

Surprisingly High Tolerance For Racism Revealed

ScienceDaily (Jan. 9, 2009) — One reason racism persists is that many people imagine they would respond strongly to a racist act but actually respond with indifference, a new study led by York University shows.

The research examines why acts of blatant racism against blacks still occur with alarming regularity, even though being labeled as a racist in modern society has become a powerful stigma.

"People do not think of themselves as prejudiced, and they predict that they would be very upset by a racist act and would take action," said lead author Kerry Kawakami, a psychology professor in York's Faculty of Health. "However, we found that their responses are much more muted than they expect when they are actually faced with an overtly racist comment."

Kawakami led the study at York with graduate student Francine Karmali. University of British Columbia professor Elizabeth Dunn, an expert on people's ability to predict their future emotional responses, and Yale University professor John Dovidio, an expert on prejudice, are co-authors.

In the study, students who think they are waiting for an experiment to begin are exposed to racism. Specifically, a white confederate makes a racist comment about a black confederate when he briefly leaves the room. When he returns, the actual participant is asked to choose a partner to work with on a subsequent exercise.

The researchers studied 120 non-black participants who volunteered for the experiment and either directly experienced a racial incident or had the incident described to them. The first group watched a black man, posing as a fellow participant, slightly bump a white confederate also posing as a participant. After the black man left the room, the white confederate either said nothing, or "I hate it when black people do that," or said, "clumsy n____." Other groups did not directly experience the event but either read about it or watched it on videotape and were asked to predict their responses to the events.

The subjects who didn't experience the event were much more likely to report that they were upset at the white worker's slurs and to say they would not work with such a person. Those who actually experienced the event were less distressed and were as willing to work with the person who made racist comments as someone who did not.

Dovidio argues that participants who witness racism were much less willing to pay the emotional cost of confronting a racist than they thought they would be. That in turn means the racist pays less of a cost in social ostracism by expressing bias, he said.

"What we found was that students were more likely to choose the white confederate as a partner (63 per cent), despite the fact that the white person had made a racist comment about the black person," said Kawakami. "And the racist comments ranged from moderate to one of the most powerful anti-black slurs in the English language."

The findings may seem surprising at a time when America is about to inaugurate its first black president, but the election of one black man does not mean that racism is dead or that people will no longer tolerate acts of racism, Kawakami said.

Notably, there has been little research done on how people respond to prejudice toward others. However, University of British Columbia professor Elizabeth Dunn, one of the authors of the Science article, studies people's ability to predict their own affective and behavioural reactions.

"People often make inaccurate forecasts about how they would respond emotionally to negative events. They vastly overestimate how upset they would feel in bad situations such as hearing a racial slur," said Dunn. "One of the ways that people may stem the tide of negative emotions related to witnessing a racial slur is to re-construe the comment as a joke or as a harmless remark."

Further studies currently being conducted by these researchers are investigating how characteristics related to the racists and the target of prejudice increases or decreases emotional, behavioral, and physiological reactions to racial slurs. Examining people's perceptions of both the white and black confederate may provide important clues as to when people do and do not stand up against racism.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Journal reference:

. Mispredicting Affective and Behavioral Responses to Racism. Science, January 9, 2009

McCain's View Are Racist

I'll take time to explain. Not to give any hype or pub to the guy who published these two videos on youtube.com, but it's the material I need.

Here's the thing to keep in mind when considering wealth redistribution and the Black Freedom Movement. A form of slavery, on author Douglass Blackmon calls neo-slavery, continued well into the 1950s. That's not to take into account the how little money was spent on black education, the educational pursuits blacks were prevented from attempting, the unequal pay for more work given to blacks and so forth. Not to mention the redlining, the FHA loans and GI Bills that benefited and grew predominantly the white middle class. Let's not pretend that the "ghettos" just popped out of nowhere and consider the money spent on highways to help the new white middle class along with new jobs move to suburbs.

Yes, we're starting to talking about reparations. Barack Obama is correct in saying that's something the BFM missed out on. In fact, if you remember, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr was in Memphis marching with striking black union workers for better pay when he died. There are many companies and businesses even now that at some point was involved in slavery and neo-slavery.

And there is no doubt that while the income gap had been closing, the wealth accumulation gap has been increasing.

See, what you have to consider is a number of things. First of all, slaves were never given in reparations and after maybe a sip of freedom, found themselves again drowning under white male control. Thousands of black men were lynched. Probably thousands, if not tens of thousands, of black women and children were raped. No reparations. Finally, the Civil Rights Acts of the 1960s were passed, and no reparations were paid.

And before open housing laws even passed, white Chicagoans were demanding the right to sell their homes to whomever they chose.

So, let's then add the discrimination and inequality that occurs today. The poor schools in poor majority black neighborhoods. The job discrimination, pay discrimination, the discrimination in the justice, so forth and so on, McCain's views, are in short, either ignorant, racist, or both.

John McCain 10/27



Now, let's walk through this. If your parents own their home and have more money to help with college or buying your own home, as most whites did and do by comparison to most African Americans - then you don't have to take out as high a college loan, if you have to take one out at all. You have help with a mortgage down payment. In short, you have a head start in accumulating your own wealth.

And while those who propagate racist ideas and notions would lead you to believe that blacks are fiscally irresponsible, facts show that blacks are as responsible if not more than white Americans. One large difference is that blacks do spend more money trying to help out more family, but that again points out to a gap in wealth accumulation that started decades and centuries earlier.

The radio interview.


So McCain and the guy who posted this videos need to learn more about American history. And McCain cannot be trust to stand up for equal rights for all. Period.

And we haven't even gotten into the discrimination in health care or sub-prime lending. Or even all the, "Kill him!" cheers and neo-nazi plans of assassination, or the fact that I guess McCain remains proud of all his supporters.

Oh, and by the way racially resentful white person who believes affirmative action is reverse-racism - black people don't have your money; rich white people do. (That's why Rev. Jeremiah Wright wasn't talking about all of you and is not an anti-white racist.)

Obama Knew It Was Coming All Along

Obama wasn't the only one who knew this was coming! - No1KState



I actually have more I want to blog about, like Elisabeth Hasselbeck's racism towards Sherri Shepherd - telling her to calm down. You know, the ol' racist nation that white people can remain calm and collected while nonwhites often become overly emotional, that's what Elisabeth was acting out with Sherri.


It come as about 2:15. I mean, not that Sherri wasn't upset. But after all the whining Elisabeth has done, she's calling someone out about being overly emotional, making it personal? Which reminds me of another racist notion white folks have, "Beware the angry black woman."

Well, okay. You actually should be afraid of an angry black woman. Just as you should be careful around anyone who's angry. But, let's kill the lie that "angry" black woman are just "angry" for some unknown, amorphours reason. Maybe she's had a bad day at work. Maybe her kids have just defied her. Or, and this one is just really crazy, some white person has done or said something racist to her, like, oh, I don't know, "Rev. Wright is a hate-mongerer."

Yeah, more on that - the racist lie that Rev. Jeremiah Wright is a hate-mongerer - later.

How Dare the Republicans Suggest They Love America

Cause the truth is, the love power. Cause power gets them money. And if the result of their de-regulated greed is millions of homes being foreclosed on and millions of people having no place to live, so be it.

But that's not enough for the. Oh, no. They dare not waste this opportunity to keep people from voting. I haven't looked at McCain's plan, but I don't trust his plan as anything more than an election gimmick. I don't trust Republicans, and most especially when they claim to care for the disadvantaged. If McCain wanted to do something about this, he could have been prevented even before Obama entered Congress*. But McCain is a de-regulator. Period. He's part of the problem. He is not the solution. He can take a look at his website and see how he plans to do American taxpayer's dirt, but of course, I won't.

But I digress. Back to the spineless and abhorrent Republicans. John Conyers is demanding they stop. Good for him. And what's even sweeter to my poo' little soul is that a sheriff in Illinois's Cook County has refused to throw any more people out of their homes. He's refusing to the these multi-billion dollar banks dirty work for them and kudos to him!

And let's top this whole voting, or not, debacle off with a report now showing that at least 6 states have illegally purged eligible voters from their roles. Right now, there seems to be no one and no particular party at fault. But . . . I mean really. We are the US of A. We are a country that has the audacity to topple democratically elected officials of other countries . . . you know, come to think of it, forget that thought. It makes since that the US would have trouble letting people vote.

Now, about blaming this whole mess on Democrats pushing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into subprime loans. First of all, the idea was to help more people get into homes. But since it's essentially banks who transact the loans, not Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, who, by the way, I had heard of before all this, no one knew what the banks were doing. AlterNet.org lists at least racist lies Republicans are telling about this whole mess. And I'll add the continuing and continual racial inequality in income and wealth accumulation.

There's more. Many people saw this coming years ago. The discrimination of offering people of color subprime loans even when the qualified for prime loans was found as early as 2002. Over 50% of subprime loans somehow just ended up in the black community, income and credit rating notwithstanding.

And just in case it's lost upon you, African Americans and other people of color have the most to lose with this whole ignorant crisis.

With billions of taxpayer dollars being used to bail out banks and big
corporations, the public must focus on the question, What do the people get from
the investment of our tax money into these bailouts? They must be included in
the benefits. Two-thirds of US economic activity is driven by consumers.
When working Americans suffer, everyone suffers.

How did we get here? Borrowers were steered into predatory mortgage loans
with grossly escalating interest rates that they could not afford. They still
can't. The pain of homeowners has now spread throughout the economy.

We must challenge plans that bail out the rich, put out the poor and
put down the middle class. We can't just bail out Wall Street and ignore Main
Street. The bailout must be bottom up, not just top down. The poor--the
unemployed poor, the working poor and the fixed-income poor--must benefit from
the investment of their tax dollars. Any "solution" or remedy must be judged by
how it affects "the least of these."

Like that? That's the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr.

And to top all that off, Sarah Palin has the unmitigated audacity to suggest that after 8 years of W, Obama would diminish “the prestige of the United States presidency.”

See why I'm trying to avoid politics? But, I guess I better stay informed. For my own sake.

* I haven't read the entire article, but the first page underlies my point.

Racism Without Racists.

Very informative article. Well . . . not so much for me because I already know this stuff. But, it's information white Americans need to stop running from. - No1KState

October 5, 2008

Op-Ed Columnist
Racism Without Racists
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

One of the fallacies this election season is that if Barack Obama is paying an electoral price for his skin tone, it must be because of racists.

On the contrary, the evidence is that Senator Obama is facing what scholars have dubbed “racism without racists.”

The racism is difficult to measure, but a careful survey completed last month by Stanford University, with The Associated Press and Yahoo, suggested that Mr. Obama’s support would be about six percentage points higher if he were white. That’s significant but surmountable.

Most of the lost votes aren’t those of dyed-in-the-wool racists. Such racists account for perhaps 10 percent of the electorate and, polling suggests, are mostly conservatives who would not vote for any Democratic presidential candidate.

Rather, most of the votes that Mr. Obama actually loses belong to well-meaning whites who believe in racial equality and have no objection to electing a black person as president — yet who discriminate unconsciously.

“When we fixate on the racist individual, we’re focused on the least interesting way that race works,” said Phillip Goff, a social psychologist at U.C.L.A. who focuses his research on “racism without racists.” “Most of the way race functions is without the need for racial animus.”

For decades, experiments have shown that even many whites who earnestly believe in equal rights will recommend hiring a white job candidate more often than a person with identical credentials who is black. In the experiments, the applicant’s folder sometimes presents the person as white, sometimes as black, but everything else is the same. The white person thinks that he or she is selecting on the basis of nonracial factors like experience.

Research suggests that whites are particularly likely to discriminate against blacks when choices are not clear-cut and competing arguments are flying about — in other words, in ambiguous circumstances rather like an electoral campaign.

For example, when the black job candidate is highly qualified, there is no discrimination. Yet in a more muddled gray area where reasonable people could disagree, unconscious discrimination plays a major role.

White participants recommend hiring a white applicant with borderline qualifications 76 percent of the time, while recommending an identically qualified black applicant only 45 percent of the time.

John Dovidio, a psychologist at Yale University who has conducted this study over many years, noted that conscious prejudice as measured in surveys has declined over time. But unconscious discrimination — what psychologists call aversive racism — has stayed fairly constant.

“In the U.S., there’s a small percentage of people who in nationwide surveys say they won’t vote for a qualified black presidential candidate,” Professor Dovidio said. “But a bigger factor is the aversive racists, those who don’t think that they’re racist.”

Faced with a complex decision, he said, aversive racists feel doubts about a black person that they don’t feel about an identical white. “These doubts tend to be attributed not to the person’s race — because that would be racism — but deflected to other areas that can be talked about, such as lack of experience,” he added.

Of course, there are perfectly legitimate reasons to be against a particular black candidate, Mr. Obama included. Opposition to Mr. Obama is no more evidence of racism than opposition to Mr. McCain is evidence of discrimination against the elderly or against war veterans. And at times, Mr. Obama’s race helps him: it underscores his message of change, it appeals to some whites as a demonstration of their open-mindedness, and it wins him overwhelming black votes and turnout.

Still, a huge array of research suggests that 50 percent or more of whites have unconscious biases that sometimes lead to racial discrimination. (Blacks have their own unconscious biases, surprisingly often against blacks as well.)

One set of experiments conducted since the 1970s involves subjects who believe that they are witnessing an emergency (like an epileptic seizure). When there is no other witness, a white bystander will call for help whether the victim is white or black, and there is very little discrimination.

But when there are other bystanders, so the individual responsibility to summon help may feel less obvious, whites will still summon help 75 percent of the time if the victim is white but only 38 percent of the time if the victim is black.

One lesson from this research is that racial biases are deeply embedded within us, more so than many whites believe. But another lesson, a historical one, is that we can overcome unconscious bias. That’s what happened with the decline in prejudice against Catholics after the candidacy of John F. Kennedy in 1960.

It just might happen again, this time with race.

"The Language of Race"

September 22, 2008
Editorial Observer

Barack Obama, John McCain and the Language of Race

By Brent Staples

It was not that long ago that black people in the Deep South could be beaten or killed for seeking the right to vote, talking back to the wrong white man or failing to give way on the sidewalk. People of color who violated these and other proscriptions could be designated “uppity niggers” and subjected to acts of violence and intimidation that were meant to dissuade others from following their examples.

The term “uppity” was applied to affluent black people, who sometimes paid a horrific price for owning nicer homes, cars or more successful businesses than whites. Race-based wealth envy was a common trigger for burnings, lynchings and cataclysmic episodes of violence like the Tulsa race riot of 1921, in which a white mob nearly eradicated the prosperous black community of Greenwood.

Forms of eloquence and assertiveness that were viewed as laudable among whites were seen as positively mutinous when practiced by people of color. As such, black men and women who looked white people squarely in the eye — and argued with them about things that mattered — were declared a threat to the racial order and persecuted whenever possible.

This obsession with black subservience was based in nostalgia for slavery. No sane person would openly express such a sentiment today. But the discomfort with certain forms of black assertiveness is too deeply rooted in the national psyche — and the national language — to just disappear. It has been a persistent theme in the public discourse since Barack Obama became a plausible candidate for the presidency.

A blatant example surfaced earlier this month, when a Georgia Republican, Representative Lynn Westmoreland, described the Obamas as “uppity” in response to a reporter’s question. Mr. Westmoreland, who actually stood by the term when given a chance to retreat, later tried to excuse himself by saying that the dictionary definition carried no racial meaning. That seems implausible. Mr. Westmoreland is from the South, where the vernacular meaning of the word has always been clear.

The Jim Crow South institutionalized racial paternalism in its newspapers, which typically denied black adults the courtesy titles of Mr. and Mrs. — and reduced them to children by calling them by first names only. Representative Geoff Davis, Republican of Kentucky, succumbed to the old language earlier this year when describing what he viewed as Mr. Obama’s lack of preparedness to handle nuclear policy. “That boy’s finger does not need to be on the button,” he said.

In the Old South, black men and women who were competent, confident speakers on matters of importance were termed “disrespectful,” the implication being that all good Negroes bowed, scraped, grinned and deferred to their white betters.

In what is probably a harbinger of things to come, the McCain campaign has already run a commercial that carries a similar intimation, accusing Mr. Obama of being “disrespectful” to Sarah Palin. The argument is muted, but its racial antecedents are very clear.

The throwback references that have surfaced in the campaign suggest that Republicans are fighting on racial grounds, even when express references to race are not evident. In a replay of elections past, the G.O.P. will try to leverage racial ghosts and fears without getting its hands visibly dirty. The Democrats try to parry in customary ways.

Mr. Obama seems to understand that he is always an utterance away from a statement — or a phrase — that could transform him in a campaign ad from the affable, rational and racially ambiguous candidate into the archetypical angry black man who scares off the white vote. His caution is evident from the way he sifts and searches the language as he speaks, stepping around words that might push him into the danger zone.

These maneuvers are often painful to watch. The troubling part is that they are necessary.


Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company