Racism, Part II

As I pointed out in an earlier missive, as the song goes, We’re all a little bit racist.

Nevertheless, Cliven Bundy says he’s not a racist. Donald Sterling has also (finally) denied being a racist. [President] Donald Trump says he's not a racist. You know what? I believe, well, not them, exactly, but I believe they believe they’re not racists.

That’s because, like many racists, they don’t really understand what being a racist is. Maybe they think that because they don’t (or no longer) use the “N-word” they’re not racist. They believe because they’ve never personally discriminated against someone (although apparently even that’s a stretch for Mr. Sterling) they’re not racist. Saying, “I treat everyone the same,” does not a defense against bigotry make. Saying, “I have no problem with _________ people” is not enough, either (and, in fact, could be construed as evidence of what they are desperately trying to deny). There’s much more to it than that. Your actions, or even lack of actions, do not, by themselves, allow you to claim to be non-bigot. Attitude counts. A lot.

George Lincoln Rockwell, the (late, totally unlamented) American Nazi leader, also claimed to not be a racist. He spoke at Hamilton College during my sophomore (and final) year there. His invitation, and presence, in 1967, was, to say the least, controversial. I’m not sure who thought having him give a speech was a good idea. There was some debate over boycotts, protests, etc. In the end, the semi-organized response was that we students would attend but sit quietly and then walk out at the end in silent protest.

I can’t tell you if that was really a brilliant idea or not. I like to think I’d do something, anything, different today. However, what happened made everything moot, because he revealed his true nature and sabotaged whatever goals he may have had without any help from us.

Rockwell was, like his idol, a pretty accomplished speaker. He had a rhythm and cadence that worked to dampen the resistance of his audience’s intellect. As I recall it, he was about a third of the way through his speech, trying to convince us that American Nazis were somehow different than the old-fashioned kind, and that they weren’t racist but just good Americans concerned about the deterioration of American life the way the Founding Fathers had intended (conveniently forgetting how most of those same founders had been slave owners, of course). He was on a roll, gaining a modicum of momentum, when, as he talked about crime, he used the word “nigger.”

The change in atmosphere was palpable; I remember a collective gasp. He knew that whatever minor traction he had gained had immediately vanished. His car careening on the ice, he desperately tried to recover, to justify his use of, what even then, at least in educated circles, was an unacceptable racial slur. He failed miserably, in the same way so many others have failed. They fail because it’s not true; they are, in fact, bigots, who, while they may be able to single out, even perhaps admire an individual or group of individuals, cannot, in general, see past the stereotypes that enslave their opinions.

And the fact they don’t realize they’re bigots, that they actually believe they’re not racist changes nothing. The same is true of many, perhaps most, of the Obama haters. I’m not talking about everyone who opposes his policies. But the virulence of that opposition often goes beyond mere political partisanship or even belief, and to deny that racism plays a role is to be as oblivious as Bundy or Sterling.

I’ve seen too much evidence to the contrary in terms of public “posts” or comments, so I am very definitely talking about those who viscerally hate the man, and have pretty much hated him since his first election. They can deny that their hatred of him (and anything he might propose) is based on racism. But like the denials of Bundy, Sterling and Rockwell, that doesn’t make it true. Hatred and racism cannot be separated, no matter how hard one might try. Only when we recognize it in ourselves can we make real progress in defeating it.

Unfortunately, for too many, defeating bigotry is no kind of priority. They would rather hang on to their hate while pretending it’s not there.