The latest meme to silence the effects of racism is the "
if you criticize Obama you must be a racist"
theme. This seems to me to be a tool, a way to silence critical objections of racism while at the same time, diminishing the actual current affairs of racism in the US.
It should be clear that criticizing the Obama administration is not racist, but using racism to criticize President Obama is wrong, hurtful, racist, and frankly seems to be used as a blocking tactic to impede any real discussion of the issues we face, health care, unemployment, the economy, the wars, what to do with the charges of torture from the previous administration, how to best address the needs of the GLBT community, how to provide education and opportunity to all of our citizens, how best to deal with immigration. These are just the issues that come to my mind off the top of my head.
I was reading a lot of comments recently about the inappropriate use of blackface by a blogger, and I happened to go read diaries by one commenter. He had written an article about Emmitt Till. I left a comment, but I also want to share it here.
I just read your diary about Emmitt Till, and also many of the comments. You yourself were criticized for using Emmit Till's picture for political purposes, and I will give you credit for putting up another picture of Emmitt Till, but it seems to me that you weren't really listening to the comments that told you how painful it was to see his picture being used in that way, and I can especially appreciate that knowing that you only posted the most horrible picture without posting a the beautiful, smiling face of Emmitt with his mother. Sure, you can write a nice article, but there was something missing besides that apparent lack of empathy and connection in your diary to Emmitt Till. You got it wrong.
Here's were I think you got it wrong, Emmitt Till's death didn't motivate white people to end racism, it motivated Black people to stand together to demand the end of racism. Just like Vincent Chin, his death didn't motivate white people, instead, his death motivated Asian Americans to form coalitions to demand the end of racism. That is what really disturbed me about your inappropriate, crass use of Emmitt Till.
It does seem to me, that white people, myself included, become either defensive, or lack empathy, when we are made aware of our mistakes or are made aware of how our lack of understanding affects people of color.
Criticizing Obama is one thing, but bringing a racist poster of Obama to a rally is wrong. Criticizing Obama should be expected, but comparing President Obama to Tiger Woods? Not cool. Disagreeing about health care seems to be reasonable, but making a crass, insensitive video, claiming "I must be a racist"? Hurtful and racist for it's lack of empathy for the reality of racism that people of color face on a daily basis. It derides and diminishes the impact. It's not just a slap on the face to President Obama, it's a slap on the face to all people of color who live with racism everyday. If we are all working on making the world a better place, shouldn't it begin with us?