I read the story and felt sick. I know - intellectually at least - there is still racism in this country, and I know the Republicans have been exploiting it in the South for decades. I wasn't prepared for it to show itself among Democrats.
Naively, I suppose, I thought the worst of racism was behind us. If the worst means slavery and lynching, then the worst hopefully is behind us. But in reading this article and hearing the things people are still willing to do and say to someone who is African American or is promoting an African American candidate, I have come to realize there is still terrible potential for racially motivated violence.
According to the article, doors are slammed in campaign workers' faces, Obama headquarters are vandalized and windows spray painted with racial slurs and references to the false rumors that Obama is a Muslim. A group of young black volunteers holding Obama signs on the side of the road in Kokomo, Indiana were greeted by angry motorists who yelled racial slurs at them. And this…
In a letter to the editor published in a local paper, Tunkhannock Borough Mayor Norm Ball explained his support of Hillary Clinton this way: "Barack Hussein Obama and all of his talk will do nothing for our country. There is so much that people don'tknow about his upbringing in the Muslim world. His stepfather was a radical Muslim and the ranting of his minister against the white America, you can't convince me that some of that didn't rub off on him. "No, I want a president that will salute our flag, and put their hand on the Bible when they take the oath of office."
Here are some other direct quotes from voters, as recounted by campaign volunteers.
I'll never vote for a black person.
Hang that darky from a tree.
White people look out for white people, and black people look out for black people.
He's a half-breed and he's a Muslim. How can you trust that?
How discouraging that, 150 years after the Emancipation Proclamation and forty years after the death of Martin Luther King Jr., there would still be such ignorance, hatred and racism in this country. It's hard to believe, yet there it is.
Furthermore, I never thought I would see a Democratic candidate so willing to use racism to her advantage, and to fuel it with her rhetoric as well as her silence. (What she may not have considered, but ought to, is that some of these anti-Obama voters who say they support her may be only doing so because she is the white candidate. If Obama were white, many of her current male supporters would probably not vote for her because she is female. Racism and sexism go hand in hand, and while Obama is today's victim of discrimination, she could just as easily be tomorrow's.)
When Hillary Clinton criticizes Obama for staying in his church, she is not just questioning his judgment, she is reminding voters of his angry "black" pastor. When she speaks of her supporters being hard working white voters, she is sending a covert message to her supporters that the other guy is not one of them. When her husband dismisses Obama's win in South Carolina by saying "Jesse Jackson won here twice," he is really saying "Well the other black guy won here too, so it's no big deal." When Hillary tells voters of West Virginia to "send them a message," she is channeling segregationist presidential candidate George Wallace, who said the same thing. And when she remains silent in the face of false rumors spread by her campaign and Obama's opponents about who he is and what he stands for, she is using racism to her benefit.
Hillary Clinton is not a racist, but she is an opportunist and an enabler. The spouse or friend who buys the booze for the alcoholic, makes excuses for him, and covertly gives him excuses to drink, is not an alcoholic, but he or she can do just as much damage in enabling the drinker to go on drinking. That is what Hillary did in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and now West Virginia.
So today, I am sending Hillary a message:
Hillary, you are enabling this racism. You are encouraging it. No amount of good intentions or desire to carry the dreams of American women to Washington can possibly excuse your complicity in this travesty. How would you feel if one of those young campaign workers was killed either intentionally or unintentionally as a result of the racism you have enabled, and even manipulated for your own benefit? And even if no one dies, how willing are you to look the other way when racial epithets are hurled, buildings vandalized and doors slammed in the faces of young people, people even younger than your daughter, just because of the color of your opponent's skin?
Is your victory worth this? Does this make you proud? Are you this ambitious, this cynical?
You are not going to win, and at this point your only reason for dishing out false hope to your supporters may be to continue to take in contributions so you can pay off your campaign debt. But is money more important than uniting the country, more important than using this grand opportunity when you are still on the national stage to help the country move beyond its tarnished history?
You could do something important to help people overcome their racism right now. You could stop with the coded language. You could set an example for them by embracing the candidacy of Barack Obama.
You could give a grand concession speech in which you address the issues of sexism and racism and beg your supporters not to fall for the rumors and innuendos about your opponent, and ask them to rise above the legacy of slavery and segregation and Jim Crow and join with all of their fellow Americans, of every race and creed, to vote for a man you know to be a good and decent American, someone more than qualified to be President of the United States.
You have a once in a lifetime opportunity now to help your fellow Americans overcome their fear and ignorance.
But to use the coded words of George Wallace to your supporters in West Virginia?
That is simply inexcusable.
