That's right. I'm mad and I'm not apologizing for it.
There is something greatly wrong with this country when we are returning to state where not only is open or thinly veiled racism increasingly common, but we are afraid to call it out as the insidious societal disease that it is.
Earlier this week, Pamela Ramsey Taylor, a leader of a Clay County, West Virginia non-profit organization posted on Facebook that it would be refreshing to have a "classy" and "dignified" first lady in the White House instead of "a ape in heels." Local Mayor, Beverly Whaling, responded that the post "made her day." Clay County is 98% white. Clay, the city of which Whaling is the mayor, has no black residents. After the initial firestorm prompted by the comments, Taylor responded that the comment was not racially motivated, though she admitted how it could be seen as such.
I don't know if Taylor or Whaling can or will keep their jobs. They shouldn't, but that's pretty much beside the point. I'm also not going to go into the detail of the thrust of their comments. Michelle Obama is one of the most dignified and classy PEOPLE to live in the White House, First Lady or otherwise. I don't know what class or dignity anybody married to Donald Trump can bring to the White House, but it certainly pales in comparison to the embodiment class and dignity that is Michelle Obama. Instead, I want to talk about the dog whistle that the classless Ms. Taylor blew in her comment, and that the equally classless Mayor Whaling responded to. The idea that either one of these worms losing their jobs is an adequate response to what they've said is off the mark. It's not enough because what they said is not the real problem; it's just a symptom of the problem.
The problem is that anybody is thinking this garbage to begin with. The problem is that there is an entire group of people thinking like this. The problem is that we have a candidate for president around whom the purveyors of the glory of a white America can gather. The problem is that when these people are caught, they are allowed to sneak away with their tail between their legs without long term repercussions and without being called out as the racists that they are. The problem is that they are backed by countless people who simply think the solution is to "not say that," or (more realistically) not get caught saying that. The problem is that these people will continue to support and vote for people and policies that uphold the primacy of white America.
The problem is that these people either think there is no racial divide in this country, that it is the fault of minority populations, or that the divide is not a problem. The problem is that we have racists in our government and our voting population and that they are not called out for what they are until they are so embarrassed to show their faces in public. The problem is that we don't shame these people until they are too afraid to make their voices heard, until they realize that THEY are the minority and that they're living in the past. The problem is that we have enough of these people that the election process allows them to nominate and then elect a racist, misogynistic, xenophobic, bigoted bully to be the President of the United States.
The problem is that this person, these people, are in my country. The problem is that we're afraid to call this deplorable woman what she is, a racist. The problem is that she's not alone. The problem is that the Republican Party disproportionately attracts racist voters and activists, but the good people in the party are either afraid to call them out for fear of losing their votes, or they don't understand the thinly veiled racism that these worms are spouting. The problem is that the hypocrisy of expecting black Americans to take a greater degree of responsibility for "black on black" crime, or expecting Muslims to turn in members of their community as potential terrorism suspect while failing to take any responsibility for policing racism within one's own party (because we wouldn't want to lose their votes).
The problem is that racism is alive and well in this country and the vast majority of people are either afraid to admit even the possibility of that being the case, or they're afraid of being called oversensitive or "playing the race card." The problem is that these deplorable neanderthals are allowed to be over-represented by a political system that was never designed to see that everybody was represented in government, and has not substantially evolved (with the exception of women's suffrage) since shortly after the Civil War. They're over-represented because they can be manipulated by people who, in all honesty, may not be racist themselves, but are perfectly willing to harness the racism of others to get what they want.
None of these problems are addressed by either of these deplorable women joining the ranks of the unemployed (though they certainly both deserve to), because the deplorable ideas that they’ve displayed are not only alive and well, but they are a significant part of what propelled them, and so many like them, to positions of influence.
I don’t know what the best way to combat this failure to evolve, but pretending there is no problem and allowing others to do the same is not part of that solution. That is why I will continue to call out racism when I see it. I will do my best to remain respectful in doing so, but I’m done sugarcoating the way I approach this topic. If you can't handle that, then take a look in the mirror. You are the problem.
