the race card
It's a term you hear alot. You bring up race, someone will tell you..."you're playing the race card."
People get huffy, they get defensive.
Calling an argument "playing the race card" implies, right out of the box, that either that argument trumps everything (the defensive side)....or that the argument should be dismissed entirely on its face (the huffy side).
That's a pretty narrow view of the world. It doesn't leave any middle ground to actually have a discussion about...let's say: why the folks at Bush's Alabama press meet up were all white men, or why the folks at the Superdome were, on the whole, women, children and older people largely of African-American descent. It means we won't ever talk about race, even when it matters. Folks who "tut tut"...who use the "don't play the race card" rhetoric are basically saying...."Shut up about that. I don't want to talk or think about it. Not again."
Of course, telling folks to shut up, even when done nicely, is an endorsement of the status quo. It means that politicians who want to talk about something that's real: redlining, poverty, our increasingly segregated public schools, gun violence, AIDS, prison reform...end up using generic language like: "the Two Americas."
I understand that there are folks of all backgrounds and politics who don't want to ever talk about race in their life again. They are sick of it. They don't want to think about it, and don't think talking about race is productive. I see it. I don't think all these folks are "racist"; no one does. There's a lot of people like that. It's just true, and I admit that justice rhetoric has lost some appeal in America. (right wing radio and cynical lefty snark are so much....sexier.)
George Bush has tailored his message for just this climate. He's "nice" on the outside, but his policies paint a different picture. With George Bush, as long as you accept, or don't pay too much attention to, what he actually does or doesn't do you won't have to trouble yourself talking about race at all.
Of course, in my view, if you want to talk about GOP politics and policies, you've GOT to talk about the race card, because they've been dealing it since 1968:
Ken Mehlman was right to go to the NAACP and to apologize for his party's "playing the race card" for three and a half decades. But talk is cheap. It should have been George W. Bush at that meeting. He is, after all, the President of all of us. If Bush had once met with the NAACP in his time as President, maybe he would have found someone, a leader, who would be the right person to help those evacuated from New Orleans and Gulf Coast right now. Maybe the President would have earned some hard-won trust.
Trust is a lot harder to earn when you're asking for it in a crisis. It's a lot harder to earn when you've failed people. George Bush didn't cause Hurricane Katrina. The mess we're going to have clean up wasn't all caused by Katrina either. That's the point.
Let's come together. But let's get real. Like Ken Mehlman said, it's time for a conversation, and no subject should be off the table.
People get huffy, they get defensive.
Calling an argument "playing the race card" implies, right out of the box, that either that argument trumps everything (the defensive side)....or that the argument should be dismissed entirely on its face (the huffy side).
That's a pretty narrow view of the world. It doesn't leave any middle ground to actually have a discussion about...let's say: why the folks at Bush's Alabama press meet up were all white men, or why the folks at the Superdome were, on the whole, women, children and older people largely of African-American descent. It means we won't ever talk about race, even when it matters. Folks who "tut tut"...who use the "don't play the race card" rhetoric are basically saying...."Shut up about that. I don't want to talk or think about it. Not again."
Of course, telling folks to shut up, even when done nicely, is an endorsement of the status quo. It means that politicians who want to talk about something that's real: redlining, poverty, our increasingly segregated public schools, gun violence, AIDS, prison reform...end up using generic language like: "the Two Americas."
I understand that there are folks of all backgrounds and politics who don't want to ever talk about race in their life again. They are sick of it. They don't want to think about it, and don't think talking about race is productive. I see it. I don't think all these folks are "racist"; no one does. There's a lot of people like that. It's just true, and I admit that justice rhetoric has lost some appeal in America. (right wing radio and cynical lefty snark are so much....sexier.)
George Bush has tailored his message for just this climate. He's "nice" on the outside, but his policies paint a different picture. With George Bush, as long as you accept, or don't pay too much attention to, what he actually does or doesn't do you won't have to trouble yourself talking about race at all.
Of course, in my view, if you want to talk about GOP politics and policies, you've GOT to talk about the race card, because they've been dealing it since 1968:
"By the 70s and into the 80s and 90s, the Democratic Party solidified its gains in the African American community, and we Republicans did not effectively reach out.
Some Republicans gave up on winning the African American vote, looking the other way or trying to benefit politically from racial polarization. I am here today as the Republican Chairman to tell you we were wrong."
Ken Mehlman, RNC chair at a meeting of the NAACP, July 2005
Ken Mehlman was right to go to the NAACP and to apologize for his party's "playing the race card" for three and a half decades. But talk is cheap. It should have been George W. Bush at that meeting. He is, after all, the President of all of us. If Bush had once met with the NAACP in his time as President, maybe he would have found someone, a leader, who would be the right person to help those evacuated from New Orleans and Gulf Coast right now. Maybe the President would have earned some hard-won trust.
Trust is a lot harder to earn when you're asking for it in a crisis. It's a lot harder to earn when you've failed people. George Bush didn't cause Hurricane Katrina. The mess we're going to have clean up wasn't all caused by Katrina either. That's the point.
Let's come together. But let's get real. Like Ken Mehlman said, it's time for a conversation, and no subject should be off the table.
Comments
i DO remember the diary you wrote a week or 2 ago. maybe you should stick to this blog, see how far you can make it.
ooo, maybe i'll write an apology in an hour and hope it absolves me of any and all bullshit that spews from my fingertips.
...jackass
You get told..."Go, do your own thing...the blogosphere is a big place."
And then you get taunted and mocked for it anonymously.
human being to supply any given army on any given day
and the best at murder are those who preach against it
and the best at hate are those who preach love
and the best at war finally are those who preach peace
those who preach god, need god
those who preach peace do not have peace
those who preach peace do not have love
beware the preachers
beware the knowers
beware those who are always reading books
beware those who either detest poverty
or are proud of it
beware those quick to praise
for they need praise in return
beware those who are quick to censor
they are afraid of what they do not know
beware those who seek constant crowds for
they are nothing alone
beware the average man the average woman
beware their love, their love is average
seeks average
but there is genius in their hatred
there is enough genius in their hatred to kill you
to kill anybody
not wanting solitude
not understanding solitude
they will attempt to destroy anything
that differs from their own
not being able to create art
they will not understand art
they will consider their failure as creators
only as a failure of the world
not being able to love fully
they will believe your love incomplete
and then they will hate you
and their hatred will be perfect
like a shining diamond
like a knife
like a mountain
like a tiger
like hemlock
their finest art
-Charles Bukowski
KO, I ought to have just said something specific, but I was timid and feared being unduly saccharine. I see you as a true individual, and as an artist. Your writings are a compassionate and thoroughly human song rising out of the wilderness of a sick and coarse culture. What you write is tremendously courageous not only because you seek to speak the truth as you know it (itself a courageous act in mendacious age), but also because what you write betrays a sensitivity to your truths that is both foolish and beautiful.
There are those who will demand from you normalcy and mediocrity -- they will slink after you with their long knives and demand that you lie on their Procrustean Bed of poor taste, bad judgment, and limited possibilities. The rancor and venom in the first comment reminded me of such people. There is a power and a perfection in their hatred, but there is also a sterility to it. Bukowski’s poem seemed apt in light of this.
One of the downsides of blogspot comments is that they can be confusing...ie. if two "anonymous" posts come up.
No worries in the least, and thanks for reading this blog and leaving comments...I appreciate it.
Yesterday, in the midst of some cynical lefty snark, I accused you and others of playing The Race Card.
I did not mean to suggest that you should shut up about race. The targets of my half-assed jab were those wisdom deliverers who use "playing The Race Card" as a tool to dismiss and silence the thoughts, like yours, that we're not supposed to think.
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I'm one of those types who copes with tragedy, outrage, rage rage, and frustration with smartass jokes. I've been trying to outgrow this gutless, unhealthy habit for years.
Your "race and racism" post should be on every editorial page in the country. The corrosive effects of this "playing The Race Card" rhetoric should be exposed through serious writing and discussion, not snarky public therapy sessions such as what I wrote. I apologize for telling you to shut up. It's the last thing on earth I meant to do.