In the old Jim Crow south, upper-class whites very rarely engaged in overt acts of racism. Contrary to Hollywood's portrayals, the upper-class whites were largely absent from the KKK and almost never used racial slurs, considering it low-class.
Instead, upper-class whites signaled to the lower-class whites that racism was acceptable. They used racism to divide African-Americans and lower-class whites for economic purposes. This is the main reason we never saw a strong union movement in the South.
Hillary Clinton is using the tactics of upper-class whites to divide down-scale whites from African-Americans once again.
Just because she is not overtly making racist statements herself, does not mean that these pernicious tactics are any less racist.
More after the flip (including song lyrics)
The Clinton campaign continues to attempt to make race an issue. It gives me no pleasure to report that this morning, during an interview on MSNBC, Gen. Wesley Clark said "race and gender are a part of this as are every other aspect of a candidate's appearance and character." WHAT??? WHy not say race and gender should not play a role. I'm not asking that we pretend that they don't, but why validate it.
Now, here's the test. Imagine if an aide to John McCain were to say that "race is a part of this" in a general election against Barack Obama or that "gender is a part of this" against Hillary Clinton. The Clinton campaign is once again using her gender as a shield for injecting race into the campaign as an issue.
By having Ferraro make the statements and not be immediately fired (resigning on her own two days later is not the same thing), Hillary is intentionally signaling to her volunteers all the way down to phone-bankers that it is alright to use race as an issue.
We have seen reports of Hillary volunteers using racist appeals in Ohio. We've also seen the Hillary trolls making racist appeals on the blogs.
This all appears to be a very carefully orchestrated on the part of the Clinton campaign; she clearly learned a few tricks during her years in Arkansas.
I am calling all Kossacks in the north east to organize and coordinate trips to Hillary Clinton rallies to stand outside and sing the old civil rights song "We Shall Overcome."
The imagery of this song juxtaposed to a call for Hillary Clinton to fire each and every staffer who ever suggested an appeal based upon race would be absolutely devastating. It would probably end her campaign on the spot.
Yes We Can!!!
We shall overcome, we shall overcome
We shall overcome some day
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe
We shall overcome some day
The Lord will see us through, the Lord will see us through
The lord will see us through some day
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe
The Lord will see us some day
We’re on to victory, we’re on to victory
We’re on to victory some day
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe
We’re on to victory some day
We’ll walk hand in hand, we’ll walk hand in hand
We’ll walk hand in hand some day
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe
We’ll walk hand in hand some day
We are not afraid, we are not afraid
We are not afraid today
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe
We are not afraid today
The truth shall make us free, the truth shall make us free
The truth shall make us free some day
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe
The truth shall make us free some day
We shall live in peace, we shall live in peace
We shall live in peace some day
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe
E shall live in peace some day
ADDED: Elections shall be fair, election shall be fair
Elections shall be fair some day
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe
Elections shall be fair some day