The One About Racism

I've been mentally composing this post for a few days now, since the McCain/Palin campaign first began to take a really ugly turn. Here goes.

After the town-hall thingy the other night, David Gergen acknowledged the elephant in the room: that there are Americans who won't vote for Obama simply because he's black. Gergen estimated that "demographic" could be worth up to 6 points in the final election. But does that number represent people who claim to support Obama when asked, but once they get behind that curtain, will pull the McCain lever? Or is it just people who have never once pretended that they'd vote for Obama? I don't know.

I don't get racism. I mean it. It's hard for me to imagine that someone could really and truly believe that the color of someone's skin has any relationship to that person's intelligence, moral compass, courage, fortitude, decency, whatever. Why not hair color or eye color instead? I really can't figure it out. (And, not for nothing, but Obama graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, whereas McCain finished up 894th out of 899 students at Annapolis. Obama's been married to the same woman for 19 years, whereas McCain cheated on and soon left his first wife for a younger, richer woman. And so on. But I digress.)

The worst thing about racism is that children learn it from their parents. No one is born a racist. Remember this song from "South Pacific"?

You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a different shade,
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught.

My kids really do seem to be "color blind." We talk about physical differences and cultural differences, but it would never occur to them to imagine some kind of difference in intelligence or personality or honesty based on skin color. It's that illogical.

Everyone knows that racism stems from fear—but why do people go out of their way to invent something new to fear when there's already so much real bad stuff out there?

I don't mean to come off as the wide-eyed innocent, but I really have never understood racism. And I'm now seeing displays of such hatred and anger that I am truly frightened.

As I was poring over the electoral maps and charts at 538.com this morning, it suddenly dawned on me that I have never so much as set foot in a red state in my life! I've traveled to many places around the country and around the world, but I've never been to the places where people loudly and proudly proclaim their hatred of and scorn for people of color—not as individuals, but as a group. I am in no hurry to visit these places, but I wonder what it would be like to have a conversation with such a person, to say, "How can you say that you have voted Democrat your whole life but now plan to vote Republican simply becaue the Democratic candidate has a different-colored skin than yours? Does that make all the issues suddenly unimportant? Are all the things you stand for now meaingless?" I'm sure I'd get nowhere, but I always like to imagine there's some logical answer to such puzzles.

The polls are certainly looking good for Obama, and they survey only "likely" voters, which means no college students or inner-city blacks, who historically do not vote but seem mobilized to vote—for Obama—this time around. There's also the cell-phone factor, since most polls don't reach people who aren't associated with a landline—again, the young, urban, likely Obama voters. So the big question is, how many people say "Obama" when the poller calls but won't be able to bring themselves to fill in that little oval next to his name on November 4? We'll find out soon enough.

Comments

[Elena]

I totally agree with you. It really hit home for me when I was teaching about the development of early humans to my western civilization classes. If it's true, as science believes it is, that we all descended from the same lines of humans who first evolved in eastern Africa and eventually migrated throughout the world, how could it possibly make any sense to discriminate against anyone based on their skin color or other features?? But then, I guess everyone doesn't necessarily believe this is true in the first place.

[Margaret]

I don't believe that there is any such thing as "color blind." Every training I've had in ed says that it's what we want to believe(oh, I didn't even notice the color of your skin) but it isn't reality. The best we can do is to respect differences while trying to be fair. My parents are in a bad demographic for Obama since they are old, white folks. When I asked them if they would have any problems voting for a mixed race candidate, they thought I was crazy. However, we do live in a blue state and my parents are life-long Dems.

[dana]

Not only are people upset about his color, their true bigotry shows when they won't vote for him becuause of his middle name. Very SAD!

[Karen]

Margaret, I really do believe my kids are (or at least started off) "color blind." I remember Steph seeing a photo of Sidney Poitier when she was little and saying that he looked like Andy! ;-) It was a long while before it occurred to my kids that the black-as-night nanny down the street wasn't likely the mommy of those two blond, blue-eyed kids. Even now, my kids never describe people as "black" or "white"; instead they'll describe someone as having tan skin, or dark brown skin, or really pale skin, or whatever - and that's usually after the description of height or hair color. I don't think they really "get" race - and with an increasingly blended population, that's just as well.

[Kerri]

"I have never so much as set foot in a red state in my life! I've traveled to many places around the country and around the world, but I've never been to the places where people loudly and proudly proclaim their hatred of and scorn for people of color—not as individuals, but as a group. I am in no hurry to visit these places"

Ack! Please don't condemn entire areas of the country based on their red status! Kansas is pretty! The South has interesting historic sites! I'm sure all those other red states have some redeeming qualities too. And they all have some folks who think like you (like me)! And I just bet that Massachusetts has some less than Democratic people too.

It is certainly difficult to imagine that someone could really hold such prejudice in their hearts and truly judge someone based on their skin color. I know there are people like that out there, but I've never heard anyone here in my red state "loudly and proudly" proclaiming their "hatred and scorn" for people of color. I promise that you would not be greeted at the airport by throngs of racists waiting to convert you.

P.S. I have been loving reading your blog since you started talking so much about the election. I was raised to believe that it was rude to talk about politics (along with religion and money) and I just can't do it myself, so I love to read your opinion and see such frank discussion!

[Karen]

Oh Kerri, I know that there's far more to the red states than racism, but I also know that racism is far more rampant there than here in Mass. I read quotes and watch videos where people come right out and say these hateful things (see http://verbatim.blogs.com/verbatim/2008/05/racism-still-thriving.html for a reminder), and the hair on the back of my neck stands up. I know that racism in the South is not the same as it was in, say, the '50s, but I also know that it is still alive and well across this country. Laws have been passed to combat the overt discrimination, but it's still bubbling under the surface.

I also didn't mean to suggest that I actively avoid going to red states -- it just seems to have turned out that way. (There are plenty of blue states I've never visited too!)

I'm delighted that you're enjoying the political conversation here at Verbatim! Those who've been reading since 2004 might remember that I got a bit keyed up back then too.... ;-)

Thanks for commenting. I appreciate when people keep me on my toes.