Racism and the 2012 Presidential Election
There should be no confusion after the 2012 Presidential Election about the use of the word nigger, nigga, nigguh, my nigga, or any other iterations of this racist term. Ignorant, low class Blacks who use these terms and allow their children to use these terms help to perpetuate racism as much as Malcolm X’s racist northern dog or racist southern wolf. Nigger, from its origin, is a race and color defining term. It is not a positive word. It’s not used as a positive word. All across the Deep South, the re-election of Barack Obama was greeted with an assortment of racial slurs, most notably, nigger and monkey.
Moreover, before you attempt to apologize for these racists by claiming these are the reactions from a bygone era, note that many of these epithets are found on Twitter. These are young people, who can expect to live for another fifty to seventy years. Jezebel was able to capture via Twitter many of these young people’s identity and location. Many of them were athletes . These are people who play and compete side by side with Black athletes. No doubt some of them have Black girlfriends and boyfriends. Yet these people harbor virulent anti-Black racism. This is how people can be surprised that a Black can be raped or killed by whites whom seemed to be friends with that particular Black person. They are cursed with racism so close to the surface of their psyche that alcohol wasn’t even needed to lower their inhibitions. All it took was the re-election of a Black man to a position whose impact would have no real practical relevance to their lives on a daily basis.
Furthermore, I don’t agree with those who say to leave these kids alone. These attitudes need to be exposed; otherwise people will deny that racism is as bad as it really is. Anti-Black racism such as collected from social media is uncomfortable for people who want to act like the problem is minor. However it is the reason why they are so surprised by the huge difference between the way Blacks and whites view racism.
It’s hard to believe these young people are incensed about the potential of his election to affect their lives three or four years from now. As usual, young racists such as Zack Miller (@_zackkmillerr) are nothing more than the corrupted progeny of old racists “First thing my mom says this morning: did you hear the bad news? The monkey is staying for another 4 years…” These are children who are twisted and deformed from their innocent origins into hate filled malefactors who echo past infamies. We can only hope that they experience some life changing event that turns them from racist evils before they infect another generation.
The hypocrisy of the republicans would be ludicrous if it weren’t so appalling. An interesting observation is that many of the young racists on Twitter attend Christian schools. A great many of the aforementioned racists that tweeted that people voted for Obama because he is Black are the same people who support Romney because he is white. A simple look at the assessments of the republican drubbing reveals that their plan was to appeal to the so-called ‘white majority’ . Yet guys like Sununu can offer backhanded swipes and complements to Colin Powell for supporting a man of his own race .
Another interesting observation is that the only time the routed republican forces mentioned Black people is when they were discussing why they lost. Either they accused the Blacks of fraud or bribery It wasn’t in the context in which they discuss the Latino vote or the women’s vote. The context for Black people is an accusation of us being one of the shiftless, lazy hand-out seeking groups whose vote was bought with promises of gifts. As the republicans survey the devastation and carnage of their election battlefield, all conversations related to reflecting on the changes they must make in their world view, they never discuss a removal of the anti-black racism that permeates the very core of their existence. These observations point to another feature of this system that indicts it as unworthy of assimilation. The paradigm of racism only works to maintain power in those at the top if the various groups are pitted one against another in effort to gain favor in the system. What makes the system unable to be reformed is the fact that the system offer greater rewards the higher you are on the totem pole. Therefore, any improvements on the bottom lift everyone while improvements in the middle do nothing for those below the middle. There is little incentive for groups higher on the pole (i.e., Latinos and Asians) to support groups lower on the pole (i.e., Native Americans and African Americans). This is why coalitions are of limited value to Blacks. As long as we whole-heartedly embrace this system of socio-economic and political organization, we will actually be supporting this system of racial oppression and exploitation. We will actually be contributing to our own downfall as individuals, and as a people.