But right now, there's a movement against our democratically elected President, and it's filled with a hostility I haven't seen since about, oh...fourteen months ago, when people realized that
It defies logic. They've accused him of not being an American. They've said, "He's not like us." They've said that he's a socialist, a secret Muslim (as if that's a bad thing), openly racist towards white people (like his mother and grandparents), and most recently, a flat-out liar. And if that's not enough, his wife was called a "monkey." Then it's justified by people saying, "It's no worse than what was said about Bush."
If it was just politics, I think I could understand it, even if I don't agree. But it isn't. This is about race, plain and simple. It's to the point where white people are the main ones saying that it's about race. You know it's bad when that happens, because white people are always skeptical about these kinds of things. I know a white person who still think that the police who shot Sean Bell probably had a good reason, because she can't imagine that the police would do something like that. When it comes to matters of race, white people tend to be behind the curve. Black people should thank God every day that the video camera was invented.
Thing is, all this hostility against the President is being characterized as being a "fringe" element, just a handful of whackos who are operating far from the mainstream. Why, look at the 47 people nationwide who attended the first tea parties.
I don't think it's a fringe movement anymore. After all, now you've got people disrespecting the President in the halls of Congress. While he's talking. On television. The true colors are coming out and they aren't just kooks with tin helmets and misspelled signs outside of the local courthouse. These people are elected officials, backed by an organized network of supporters, funding, and a functioning media arm.
And they're not worried about being frowned upon, because they've found that they have supporters, not only in their communities, but in the halls of power. Sarah Palin was governor of Alaska and a Vice-Presidential candidate and she's talking about death panels. Almost every elected official in South Carolina has said or done something crazy to disparage the President's plans. Rick Perry, the Governor of Texas, is trying to secede from the Union because of this. This isn't exactly your local militia who keep guns and money buried in the woods in case the government turns against the people.
This IS the government.
And on top of that, you've got a church leader praying to God that the President dies. Sure, it's just a storefront church, but whatever he's saying is working. Is it hateful? Sure it is, but all that means is that there's a lot of hateful people out there. They just don't live in the backwoods of Alabama anymore. Now, they're working in office buildings alongside the rest of us. Claiming that their country has been stolen. That they don't recognize it anymore.
Of course not, because it's multicultural, not monochromatic. You gotta read between the lines. We know what you're getting at.
A few years ago, some of us would joke about how some white people were secretly racist. How they'd say one thing and do another. How they'd try to be our friends and smile in our faces, while calling us "nigger" behind our backs for speaking out. Or "angry black man or woman." Like we couldn't see through that fake smile.
They knew all the right things to say in public, but behind closed doors, they'd say how they really feel. And that's nothing new. We all do that, because I'd be lying if I said I never talked badly about white people. But we believed that white people couldn't stand for a black person to be on top. That having a black person explain something to them burned them up. In our minds, white people hated the idea of a black person that was higher up the food chain than they were. They hated more than anything, having to call a black man "Mister." Felt like hot sauce was coming back up their throats to have to do it.
We always kept that to ourselves, though. We didn't tell white people about our theories because we never knew what kind of white person we were dealing with. Some white people were cool about everything. They understood that there were still race problems in America and that black people had a clearly different perspective on these things that needed to be heard.
Then, there were the ones who can't understand why they can't say "nigger." And thanks to all of this open anger and hostility, we know which is which. If you work with a white guy who took off to go to one of these rallies, you probably don't need me to tell you this, but don't try to date his daughter. His rebel flag tattoo will be the last thing you ever see.
That kinda guy is in a position of power now. He's probably got a radio show or a newspaper column, just saying all the right things to incite more anger. And while, ten years ago, there were whites who might have agreed, but never would have associated with them, they're standing united, publicly in 2009. They've spent the last decade reveling in their bigotry on websites and message boards, safe in their anonymity.
They're bold now, because they're supported by politicians and media forces who, ten years ago, never would have legitimized such a movement, despite their personal feelings. Now, they realize that there's money in being a bigot. And the people too unafraid to let their real feelings be known see that there's others out there just like them. They're like kids who think they want to fight, but no one wants to throw the first punch. But once it's thrown, though...all of a sudden, they're crazed cage fighters.
They want to fight back now, because the commute to the suburbs has gotten too long. Because NOW it's a problem that our country is in debt. NOW, borrowing money from China is a problem. NOW, we can't mortgage our children's future. NOW, we have to verify that the President is really an American.
They're all coming out of the woodwork now, determined to turn back the clock. "They've gone too far this time!" But not because of health care reform, fears of socialism, or any other the other half-ass reasons they've thought up on the fly. It's because a black man is President.
You think they're gonna be okay with that? They never got over having to call their black boss "Mister."
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