How Racism Works in the US. Are you going to let it?

[G_j]

Received this message from Naomi Wolf, but I'm not sure who wrote it (no link.)


How Racism Works in the US. Are you going to let it?
Body: How Racism Works...

What if John McCain were a former president of the Harvard Law Review?
What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?

What if McCain were still married to the first woman he said "I do" to?
What if Obama were the candidate who left his first wife after she no longer measured up to his standards?

What if Michelle Obama were a wife who not only became addicted to pain killers, but acquired them illegally through her charitable organization?
What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard?

What if Obama were a member of the Keating-5?
What if McCain were a charismatic, eloquent speaker?

If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?
This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference.


You are The Boss... which team would you hire?

With America facing historic debt, 2 wars, stumbling health care, a weakened dollar, all-time high prison population, mortgage crises, bank foreclosures, etc.


Educational Background:

Obama:
Columbia University - B.A. Political Science with a Specialization in International Relations.

Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.
) Magna Cum Laude

Biden:
University of Delaware - B.A. in History and B.A. in Political Science.

Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)

vs.


McCain:
United States Naval Academy - Class rank: 894 of 899

Palin:
Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester
North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study
University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism
Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester
University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A.
in Journalism

Now, which team are you going to hire ?

PS: What if Barack Obama had an unwed, pregnant teenage daughter....

[Liberal Veteran]

1. Reminds me of something I wrote last night

I see a lot of rationalizations made about why John McCain who is the son of an admiral and a career politician who left his wife for a rich beer heiress and whose one executive decision he has made thus far has been foisting this ex-beauty queen who gets prayed over in church to keep the witches (literally...no joke) from derailing her political career and believes one can "pray the gay away", points her finger in judgment on the families of others and sarcastically belittling people who work day in and day out to make their community and the world a better place.....are the people who are more likely to get how life is for the average joe than the man with a funny name who grew up with a single mom while barely scraping by in Kansas, lived the American dream and got an education in two very prestigious colleges, while excelling at it. Then, he goes on to use his education to become a community organizer and civil rights attorney and a teacher while marrying a nice woman who wasn't exactly an heiress herself and goes on to build a family together.

In the old days, people who actually went out and bettered themselves and made a success out of lives despite their modest resources growing up and didn't become totally selfish ass hats in the process were the kind of people we looked up and aspired to be.

And someone wants to tell me that the guy who had life handed to him on a silver platter, who was unfortunate enough to have to live through being a POW and came back to a marriage that failed while he was hooking up with a beer heiress, and uses those connections to get him a place in the Senate where he served for 26 years, is the guy better able to "relate" to the experience of the average American?

That I don't get. Even looking past the fact McCain is oblivious to the economic crisis unfolding as a result of some the very policies he championed, seems oddly confused about the nuances of the Middle East for someone who boasts such a huge foreign relations portfolio, and the fact that he has flip-flopped on everything (torture, taxes, regulation, drilling, privacy) with there possible exception of campaign finance reform, there is a steady trickle of people who are more about, "Well, yeah....but there's something about Barack Obama".

I'm not talking about average "dyed in the wool" hardcore republican. I'm talking about people who are otherwise feeling the pinch and can see that things have been pretty well bollixed by the republicans in the last 8 years.

From my vantage point, I could put my armchair psychologist hat on and give my impressions of that latter person I have encountered far too often for my comfort.

As near as I can tell, the vast majority of those people I could run a point by point discussion where we absolutely agree on everything (civil rights, worker's rights, education, opportunities, help for the needy, rebuilding our reputation as a nation, health care, investing in our infrastructure...etc). And then we get to Barack Obama. Barack Hussein Obama. A man who pretty much stands in line with their way of thinking. But man, that's a fucked up name. Oh, and did you happen to notice the amount of melanin in his skin? And worked in the inner city of Chicago?

Honestly, I think it makes people more open on subconscious to believe something must be wrong with him and more likely to believe whatever nonsense used by some to build on that "gut level" mistrust. Everything superficially screams, EXOTIC, about him or more succinctly "different".

But in the final analysis, those things that "just don't feel right" seem to be based on superficial impressions and little to do with objective reality. I think a goodly portion of those feelings may have more to do with latent prejudice, not necessarily of the racial type, that leads one to accept stories and rumors that one can drive a truck through ("sworn in on the Koran", "won't say the pledge", "is a secret Muslim", "harbors radical African-American sentiments"). They allow people to rationalize and shore up their superficial impressions keeping them from objectively looking at the facts.

The end result is profoundly tragic and self-contradictory. Intellectual ability and curiosity are looked are suddenly "elitist". And self-achievement is "opportunism". Even a cursory examination of the facts says this man, Barack Obama, has done precisely the kinds of things that should be admired, not dismissed.

Except for those silly superficial things that at the end of the day are really not all that important.

When push comes to shove, when pressed, I've rarely met anyone who could tell me why they disliked Obama that didn't throw up at least one or two "urban myths" that have been widely debunked as why they just don't trust Obama.

They are rationalizations for the most part. Tell me you disagree with Obama's policies and be specific. Tell me what really sets you on fire for McCain and be specific. I can respect that.

The rationalizations and vague "gut feelings"......not so much.

[ladjf]

3. McCain's great grandparents were plantation owners in Mississippi

during the 19th Century. There was a caste system in place back then. One hundred and sixty years later, that mentality survives in the psyche of many who were part of it.

[gordianot]

2. Then you go into a Presidential debate and your white opponent does not give you eye contact.

He does have eye contact for the moderator but not Barak Obama the entire debate. It was the most single shameful display I have ever witnessed in 55 years.

Added when McCain cusses comments (low volume) on a venue of high historical value such as the debate it created the impression with me at least he has issues beyond a difference in political opinion. This is not a just a matter of temperament there are other deep factors involved. I have seen similar behavior but not since the days of the Elementary school play ground.

My white opinion "You nailed it!". No I am not going to let it happen.

[ladjf]

4. I am an elderly caucasian male, born and raised in Mississippi.

I know exactly what I saw in McCain's attitudes last night and it was ugly. Unfortunately, I've seen it far too often during my lifetime.

[G_j]

5. I have a different background

but, I got that vibe also.

[ladjf]

6. In the agrarian culture of the Southern States through the mid-nineteenth century, race specific

slavery was an obvious route to great wealth. There was a clearly defined caste system. This system
put the white plantation owners at the very top and black slaves at the bottom. That system began to tear apart during the Civil War and has continued to do so up to the present time. While it's apparent that during the 148 years between the start of the Civil War and now, racial attitudes have changed. But, to what degree is difficult to measure. The lines of the caste system have blurred but are still discernible.

McCain's great-great grandfather William Alexander McCain was a plantation owner in Carroll County Mississippi in the nineteenth Century. How owned between fifty and sixty slaves. http://archive.salon.com/politics2000/feature/2000/02/15/mccain/print.html

Those facts alone certainly do not mean that John McCain is necessarily a white supremest. However, his mannerism strongly parallel the the "Plantation Mentality" of the mid-nineteenth Century plantation owners. Note that racism was only one facet of the plantation mentality. Along with it was an almost baronial attitude toward everyone else in the community including whites, blacks, farm animals and wild animals. They felt a complete right to dominate any and everything that they needed to use. In this regard, the follow the religious doctrine of Dominionism.

At this juncture, the U.S. would do well to select an intelligent person such as Obama to lead them away from some very dangerous precipices. McCain appears to be an erratic, cynical and out of touch unhealthy man who's party has remained in power largely through criminal behavior.