I'm old enough to remember the civil rights era, the riots, the murders, the marches of the KKK, the images in the magazines of signs over drinking fountains that shouted out "Whites Only". At the time, you could have walked through the streets of most Southern towns and pretty much known that nearly every white person you passed had bigotry embedded firmly in their psyche. Most felt no guilt about the trait. After all, their mothers, their grandmothers, their slave owning ancestors all accepted it as a way of life.
My own parents, born and raised in the early 20th Century in the Northeast, clearly had pieces of that culture passed down to them even though they lived in one of the more culturally progressive areas of our vast country. Their bigotry extended not only to people of other races but also to other religions as well. It wasn't blatant cross-burning type of stuff, just the occassional slur in conversation, and the insistence that my older sisters never date outside of white Protestant middle America.
My mother, clearly the most intellectual of my two parents, only saw the beginning of the upheaval of the civil rights era. My father didn't live long after her untimely death so I really never got to see the evolution in them that I got to observe in the rest of America. Our country took a two by four to the head during those years and we were slapped into a reality prior generations never had the courage to face. Because of that wakeup call, a large amount of the racial divide was erased within a few generations. Of course it didn't wipe it out completely but contrasting the problems today with the nightmare prior to those years, the difference is stunning. My children are largely free of the curse I grew up with.
As I watch the recent political manipulations of the desperate Clinton campaign stating that there are white people that would only vote for Hillary with the clear insinuation that race is what would prevent them from supporting Obama, I'm placed back in that era from my childhood again.
What it tells me is that once again it's time for our country to take that courageous stand no matter what the political cost might be. As much as I would like to believe that what the Clinton campaign is saying is just political grandstanding, we all know there exists especially in the deep rural Bible Belt areas, an immovable section of white culture that believes deeply that they are the core and soul of our great country and that their narrow view of what makes up a citizen and human should define us all.
Now let me make clear just which people I'm talking about here. It's easy to clump all blue collar, middle aged, white people into the same group but all of us that have lived rich lives know there are subtle differences within that huge category. The folks that Hillary is suggesting only she connects with are clearly those who can never embrace a minority candidate because they still retain a good deal of post Civil War bigotry. It has nothing to do with the work they perform, their income level, or educational attainments. It's a trait passed down through generations that has never been interrupted.
For the past few months the message has been that these white working class ignorant cretins are somehow more American than all the rest of us, the doctors, the teachers and professors, the computer programmers, and especially the rest of the blue collar workers of all colors and cultures that care more about people's actions than the hue of their skin. Somehow we've been sold that their vote must be courted despite their ethical makeup.
Well, they have a term for that in the psychiatric arena and it's called "enabling". It's what politicians and national leaders did in the deep South for a century after the end of the Civil War. Pandering to the massive voting block of bigoted white people primarily in the Southern states was more important than taking on the human indignity that went on in broad daylight in their streets, on their buses, and in their schools.
We face the moment again today as this small minority of citizens throughout the country are free to push their clout on our democracy. It's once again time for an intervention and to let them know their voices, tinged with unfairness, injustice, and fear, are no longer a vital part of our political dialog.
It isn't a simple choice and one without risk. The John McCains and Karl Roves of the world are standing in the wings ready to cater to these folks and welcome them into their den of fear and loathing. I live in a state (Arizona) that has its full share of them but I can see from the polling in states like West Virginia that my area is positively liberal comparitively.
Well here's what I believe our message should be to this block when someone like Senator Clinton pushes their voting power into our faces:
They're all yours. These folks that would vote based on skin color and fear of any one that doesn't look, act, and worship exactly as they do are not in keeping with the character that defines America. Instead of trying to change our message to fit their narrow-minded, master-race view of life, we instead turn our backsides to them. They are to be scorned for the embarassment to humanity they have become. When they are once again willing to evolve like the rest of us have, we'll welcome them back into the community of man. Until then they have no power because we no longer listen to their madness.
That was the eventual message during the civil rights days and the only one that could have worked. Our nation evolved because we forcefully put the spotlight onto our own bigotry and it was our embarrassment that made us change. I saw it in myself, my family, my friends. Without the riots and the anger and the sacrifice that went on during that period, we all would have just sat back and allowed business as usual.
Barack Obama is certainly a catalyst for this next step but the power is within each one of us to stop reacting to this bunch as if they mattered. Draw a line in the sand when you come upon one of these people. Show them that America no longer puts up with their ignorance. They have so much less power than you think.
Remember back in grade school when that one brave kid finally stood up to the bully that had been terrorizing everyone. It didn't take huge strength or outstanding fighting skill. It simply took not backing down. In almost all cases that cretin ran off crying never to bully again.
UPDATE: Wow, great comments from all. I had to run off and pretend to keep myself in shape with a racquetball game and it's amazing to come back to such a super outpouring.