is nice. That we still have to be subjected to their bile—and that such biliousness will only grow as they see their hegemonic grip on the country slip—serves as a reminder that they are still very much out there, and capable of significant damage.
IMAGINE FOR A MOMENT
PROTEST, PRIVILEGE, AND THE POWER OF WHITENESS
SOMETIMES THE BEST way to understand an issue like privilege and how it operates in the lives of white folks is to think about recent happenings in the news, but then change them up a bit. Instead of envisioning white people in the scenes one conjures, picture people of color instead. Then imagine how these events would have played out, and been perceived, had the principals been of color, rather than white.
For instance, imagine that hundreds of black protesters were to descend upon Washington, D.C., and northern Virginia, just a few miles from the Capitol and White House, armed with semiautomatic rifles, assorted handguns, and ammunition. And imagine that some of these black protesters spoke of the need for political revolution, and even armed conflict, if the government enforced laws they didn’t like. Would these protesters—these black protesters with guns—be seen as brave defenders of the Constitution, or would most whites view them as a danger to the republic? What if they were brown-skinned Muslims? Because, after all, that’s what happened recently when white gun enthusiasts descended upon the nation’s capital, arms in tow, and verbally announced their readiness to make war on the country’s leaders if the need arose.
Imagine that white members of Congress, while walking to work, were surrounded by hundreds of angry, screaming, black people, berating them for not voting the way the black demonstrators desired. Would the protesters be seen as merely patriotic Americans voicing their opinions, or as an angry, violent, even insurrectionary mob? After all, this is what white Tea Party protesters did recently to members of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Imagine that a black rap artist were to say, in reference to a white politician and presidential candidate: “He’s a piece of shit, and I told him to suck on my machine gun.” And what would happen to any prominent liberal commentator who then, when asked about that statement, replied that the rapper was a friend and that he (the commentator) would not disavow or criticize him for his remarks? Because that’s what rocker Ted Nugent said in 2007 about Barack Obama, and that’s how Sean Hannity responded to Nugent’s comments when asked about them.
Imagine that a black radio host were to suggest that the only way to get promoted in the administration of a white president is by “hating black people,” or that a prominent white person had only endorsed a white presidential candidate as an act of racial bonding, or said that he wouldn’t want to kill all conservatives, but rather, would like to leave just enough (“living fossils” as he would call them) “so we will never forget what these people stood for.” After all, these are things that Rush Limbaugh has said about Barack Obama’s administration, Colin Powell’s endorsement of Barack Obama, and about liberals, generally.
Imagine that a black pastor, formerly a member of the U.S. military, were to declare, as part of his opposition to a white president’s policies, that he was ready to “suit up, get my gun, go to Washington, and do what they trained me to do.” This is, after all, what Pastor Stan Craig said recently at a Tea Party rally in Greenville, South Carolina.
Imagine a black talk show host merrily predicting a revolution by people of color if rich white men continue to “destroy” the country, or calling Christians or Jews non-humans, or saying that when it comes to conservatives, we should “hang ’em high.” And what would happen to any congressional representative who praised that commentator for “speaking common sense” and likened his hate talk to “American values”? After all, those are among the things said by radio host and best-selling author Michael Savage, predicting a white revolution in the face of multiculturalism, or stated by Savage about Arab Muslims and liberals, respectively. And it was Congressman John Culberson, from Texas, who praised Savage in that way, despite his hateful rhetoric.
Imagine a black political commentator suggesting that the only thing done wrong by the guy who flew his plane into the Austin, Texas, IRS building was not blowing up Fox News instead. This is, after all, what Ann Coulter said about Tim McVeigh when she noted that his only mistake was not blowing up the New York Times.
In other words, imagine that even one-third of the anger and vitriol being hurled at President Obama by folks who are almost exclusively white, were being aimed, instead, at a white president by people of color. How many whites viewing the anger, the hatred, the contempt for that white president would then wax eloquent about free speech, and the glories of democracy? And how many would be calling for further crackdowns on “thuggish” behavior, and investigations into the radical agendas of those same people of color?
To ask any of these questions is to answer them. Protest is only seen as fundamentally American when those who have had the luxury of seeing themselves as prototypically American engage in it. When the dark “other” does so, it isn’t viewed as normal, let alone patriotic. To wit, Rush Limbaugh’s recent remark that the Tea Parties are the first time since the Civil War that ordinary Americans have stood up for their rights. It’s a statement, after all, that erases the normalcy and “American-ness” of blacks in the civil rights struggle, women in the fight for suffrage, working people in the fight for better working conditions, and LGBTQ folks seeking to be treated as full and equal human beings.
This is what white privilege is about in the age of Obama: the ability to threaten others, to engage in violent rhetoric, to be viewed as patriotic and normal no matter what you do, and never to be feared as people of color would be, were they to try and get away with even half as much. It’s the ability to channel racialized rage and hostility, aim it directly at ostensibly the most powerful man on earth, suffer no consequence, and yet still perceive yourself as the victims of his policies and hatreds. In short, it’s the ability to engage in a form of self-delusion almost too stunning to contemplate, and so thoroughgoing that even now, in the face of blatant evidence, we will no doubt find ways to deny it.
IF IT WALKS LIKE A DUCK AND TALKS LIKE A DUCK
RACISM AND THE DEATH OF RESPECTABLE CONSERVATISM
THOUGH CONSERVATIVES ACCUSE the left of thinking all critiques of President Obama are rooted in racism, this has never been my argument. From a place to his left, I’ve written two books highly critical of Obama’s positions on several issues, and am fully aware that reasonable people can disagree with Barack Obama from the right, too, without their disagreements serving as proof of bigotry or anti-black bias.
That said, what I have also long maintained is that the style of opposition, its specific form, and its particular content are often embedded in a narrative of white resentment, racial anxiety, and a desire to “other” the president in ways that go beyond the politically partisan.
After all, it is one thing to disagree with a president’s policies. It is quite another to suggest that that president is a foreign imposter, and to accept no proof, no matter how extensive, that he is a bona fide U.S. citizen after all. To wit, according to a spring 2012 survey, roughly two-thirds of Republicans said they believed Barack Obama was not born in the United States. Only about one in five unequivocally accepted the truth of Obama’s citizenship, which is to say that only 20 percent of Republicans can claim to be remotely rational beings.
It is one thing to disagree with the president about taxes or health care or trade policy. It is quite another to believe—as more than a third of conservative Republicans do, according to a recent Pew survey—that he is a secret Muslim who is “paving the way” for sharia law to be imposed. Or to say, as Rush Limbaugh
