The Race Card?

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By Rowan Wolf (about the author) Page 1 of 2 page(s)

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Is racism alive and well? I believe it is. I am truly over-the-top with hearing about "the race card." The phrase comes to us from the UK where in the 1960s it was tagged on a conservative (white) politician who had a campaign slogan "If you want a nigger neighbour - vote Labour".

The Phrase Finder gives the phrase's meaning as :

To attempt to gain advantage in an election by pandering to the electorate's racism. Also, more recently, to attempt (by a black person) to gain advantage by accusing another (usually a white person) of racism.

I have problems with the euphemism "playing the race card" as I do with the other common phrase - "political correctness." In the U.S., both have largely become appellations of the right to diminish credibility and derail significant discussion.

Race in the United States cannot be understood as a unitary idea. This is because of the structuring of race which places racial groups in "different" worlds and creates both different life experiences, and different perceptions of reality. Race, particularly for whites, is not a personal issue. It is an (overly sensitive from a "white" perspective) issue for those who are not white. This is part of the privilege structure of whiteness, and it is reinforced by active and passive denial of race issues - and racism.

McCain, and conservatives, are clearly "playing the race card." Launching an attack that Obama is "arrogant." John Ridley nailed what this really means in his article "When Rove Calls Obama Arrogant, He Means "Uppity"."

Karl Rove says Barack Obama is arrogant.

We've heard that; we've heard the pejorative "arrogant" before. When I say "we" I mean those of us who are "others" in America; people of color. Minorities. Women. We hear the word all the time from a select section of privileged white guys; the codifying they use when they fear the silver spoons are about to be snatched from their lily palaces: "Those people... How dare they think they can work jobs like ours or live in neighborhoods like ours or send their children to school with ours? Those people are just so damn arrogant."

Arrogant, of course, is a euphemism. In the monochromatic bunkers from which old-schoolers cling to power the true word they use is "uppity" when hurled at blacks. It's the "B-word" for women. I'm not sure what the Rovian ilk use for the Latinos and Asian-Americans who dare claim their due, but I'm sure it's equally as derisive and wielded with sick pleasure.

So to smear themselves even further, the McCain campaign released a self-damning ad - "The One"

It is hard to imagine this campaign being released to attack a white male candidate. It wouldn't work, because it would call up the white racism of the "uppity" black (man). The ad is aimed at triggering that (unconscious) white racism, It is, in my opinion, a tremendously racist ad.

Whites and African Americans (and other people of color) frequently do not "see" - or experience - the same world. The difference shows up in virtually every poll (see Race & Ethnicity Polls from Polling report.). Whites largely see equality and that the structural (and systemic) inequalities of race are part of history. African Americans (and other people color) see something different.

Obama clearly understands race as was shown in his speech at the Take Back America Conference. However, the Obama candidacy attempts to balance the sometimes wildly different perceptions and experiences of whites and blacks in the U.S. (and the racist structuring that has pitted various racial and ethnic groups against each other).

On one hand, Obama is a "black" candidate for president. His prominence for many whites is a "proof" of how "equal" we have become. He is palatable for whites because he strokes this meme. On the other hand, the undercurrent of racism plays the role of judging his actions and activities with a racist framework rather than within a "human" (or even "American") framework. This is because no such framework exists within the United States. Hence, the claims that Obama is "arrogant."

On the other hand, for many people of color (and especially for many African Americans) the expectations is for Obama to speak the truth of structural and systemic inequality within the United States. All protestations aside, Obama hews closer to white sensibilities than to black experience (Hecklers greet Barack Obama in Florida). Whether this is a real reflection of Obama, or political expediency, is an unknown. Regardless, it is a difficult balancing act.

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Rowan Wolf is an activist and sociologist living in Oregon. She is the founder and principle author of Uncommon Thought Journal, and a Senior Editor for more...)

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