Racism Still Exists in America, But Not Where You Think

"You lie!" Congressman Joe Wilson yelled that to Obama during his health care address last week. Jimmy Carter condemned the comment as having racist undertones. One New York Times reporter claimed to have 'heard' it as "you lie, boy!" Boy being a term once used by white southerners in the past to dehumanize blacks, as it was a title for slaves. Obama himself has shrugged off Carter et al's comments saying that he believed there was no racial intent in the comment. Some Democrats have taken things further by saying that all protests against Obama's heath reforms are also racially charged. Perhaps because the majority of those involved are white. Conveniently forgotten are the African Americans who do oppose Obama. I once had the pleasure to meet a black American trucker who hated his guts with a passion. Another scene on the news showed a black man protesting to save his Second Amendment rights.

All this highlights the childishness of American politics as of late. During the Bush Administration, liberals compared the president to Adolf Hitler and frequently and fiercely accused him of lying, hidden agendas, racism (Take Kanye West's infamous Bush Hates Blacks speech as an example, before we knew Kanye was just a "jackass") and cover-ups. Now the tables have turned. We have gone from the furthest right president in American history to the furthest left. Conservatives are just doing the same things to Obama that the liberals did to Bush. Suddenly we've switched from acceptable and encouraged protest to it being racist to criticize the president. That's particularly worrying. This is why I didn't think America was ready for a black leader, and I still don't.

Oddly, but unsurprisingly, the only people mentioning race and the president are Democrats. Of course I'm not claiming that racism doesn't exist in the US or that people aren't making racist insults about Obama. However, not a single sitting Republican or protester to my knowledge has uttered a single racial comment about him. If protesters were doing this, every media outlet in the country would certainly be all over it. The New York Times reporter could have blasted Wilson for violating House decorum, and labelled him as an out of control person with no respect for the rules. She didn't do that though, she took the racial line. In fact nobody had even suggested Wilson's comment was racist until Carter and the article brought it up. It's nothing more than a cheap attack against Republicans. However, I worry that people will become afraid to criticize Obama's policies or else also risk being labelled a racist and shunned. That's vary bad news for democracy and echoes of the McCarthy era. Is Obama himself supporting this tactic? I don't think so, but there are lot of people in his party who are willing to exploit his race for their agenda. After all, that was one of the main reasons why he was elected to be their presidential candidate. As for Wilson, he apologized to Obama, but I also believe that Carter should apologize for calling him a racist without evidence. That's slander. As for the race thing as a whole, I've said it before and I'll say it again. The day America gets a black president and nobody notices will be the only true victory for racial equality.