This past weekend, our country remembered the struggles faced by civil rights leaders and the Black community by commemorating the events in Selma, Alabama and the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Days later, we were treated to the appalling sight of white fraternity students singing a racist chant and promising never to allow Black students to join their organization at the University of Oklahoma. To their credit, Dan Boren and the administration of the university stepped up and addressed the problem quickly and there are indications that the students involved will face even more severe punishment once the investigation is complete. I find myself asking how we as a society have managed to backslide to such a degree where young adults not only thought it was appropriate to sing their racist song but to do so in an environment where every single person possesses a video camera and where their exposure was inevitable. I want to know how our society has gotten to a point where young people thought that overt racism would be celebrated and not be called out as disgusting, antiquated, and unfit for society.
These questions were partially answered after news broke that 47 Republican senators had written a letter to the hard-liners of Iran informing them that President Obama’s attempts to reach an agreement on stopping Iran’s nuclear program would not be honored by the U.S. Congress and could be overturned should a Republican win the White House in 2016. Senate Republicans made a choice that the culture of the United States would not only accept but celebrate a blatant disrespect of the office of the President and that this unprecedented interference in the Executive Branch would be applauded because many in their caucus and base viewed the president as illegitimate. There is only one conclusion to draw: the racism exemplified by the video of University of Oklahoma students has somehow been deemed permitted because of the actions of many Republican Senators and Representatives in our Congress. Our political leaders, as they should be, are role models for kids today. When these young people see members of the United States Congress disrespect and disregard the office of the President it sends a powerful message – especially when the president being dismissed is the first Black president of our country. If Congress is allowed to treat the president of the United States in such a way than young people take from that a message that it simply doesn’t matter if you refer to Black students as n*ggers. After all, if Congress is doing it, why can’t they?
This is not to say that I believe all members of Congress to be racist. That being said, it is troubling that Majority Whip Steve Scalise once spoke to a group headed by noted degenerate and Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. It is even more troubling that, on the 50th anniversary of the March on Selma, not one member of Republican leadership bothered to mark the occasion by simply showing up. They were too busy back in Washington writing a letter to a regime once referred to by President George W. Bush as part of the Axis of Evil. If Republicans are ready and willing to side with a public enemy of the United States over our own president, I am not sure we can expect much more from young college students who see this behavior and think they will be celebrated for doing what they did.
How has our country fallen on such hard times socially? This blame must be laid at the feet of Republican Congresspersons who have actively courted racist votes using dog whistle politics and overt displays catering to less evolved voters. In Mr. Scalise’s case, I refuse the explanation that a Louisiana Republican was not aware that David Duke was involved in the organization to which he spoke. The letter sent to the Ayatollah of Iran, written by Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, is a furtherance of this dog whistle politics being practiced at the highest levels of our government. Never in the history of our country has the United States Congress attempted to circumvent the responsibilities of the president of the United States in such a way. Not once in our history. I find it incredibly telling that the first time this does happen the occupant of the White House is a person of color.
There is no other explanation that makes sense. Certain members of Congress have hijacked the Republican Party and have turned it into a sort of quasi white-rights organization dedicated to dismantling the Executive Branch of the first Black president. There is no concern for the effect this will have on the office of the president in general because these members believe that the office is currently held by an alien usurper who has is not entitled to respect or consideration. Regardless of how Mr. Cotton tries to spin his actions they can only be explained by his disdain for the office of the president being held by someone of color.
Many have said this is a hopeful time for America. That our country is expanding rights for our citizens beyond anything thought possible even thirty years ago. At every step of the way, the Republican Party has threatened, cajoled, infuriated, and disrespected our citizens simply because they’re representing unrepentant racists who demand such language. It used to be our political leaders would stand up and actually lead. Now they’re more concerned with remaining in power and the only way to do that is to cater to the lowest common denominator of political thought.
Our children are paying attention and if the events at the University of Oklahoma are any indicator, they are learning that lesson well.