Given the events in Virginia particularly of the past week, I want to know this community's thoughts on what exactly constitutes a racist. My Virginia is for lovers, not bigots. More beneath the fold.
I am a Virginian born and raised. Other than 6 years in South America and 4 years in NC for college, I have lived in Richmond VA my entire life. 9 of those entire life years, I lived on Monument Avenue. (Or as Tom Robbins of Jitterbug Perfume fame affectionately refers to it, "the avenue of dead loser soldiers". My father was a Presbyterian minister and a major leader in the Civil Rights movement here in Richmond in the late 60s early 70s. He was a white minister of an all black church. He also served on City Council from 1968-1973. When he resigned from council, my Daddy appointed the 1st African American woman to serve on council to take his place. I watched my neighborhood shift from all white to almost all black between the years 1964-1973. I 1st heard the "n" word, much like Alan Grayson's son, by simply picking up the telephone at the age of 5. I was told to tell my father he was a MF "n" lover. Come to think of it is was the first time I heard the Mother F word too. People threatened my parents that I would be kidnapped from the parking lot of my school. (To prove they were serious, they would describe to my parents what I was wearing that day). The klan burned a cross on our front lawn and left us "literature" on a regular basis. I just learned from my Mom a few weeks ago that someone(s), (hmmmmmm, I wonder who), shot a gun through my bedroom window when I was about 6. (This was shortly after my Dad invited Stokely Carmichael of Black Panther fame to speak at a public forum in Richmond, and shortly before the FBI began tapping our phone). Despite all of the above, my parents kept me and my siblings in public schools and I had a happy, albeit, interesting childhood.
There are/were bright sides to being the daughter of a bleeding heart liberal wear-it-on your sleeve Daddy. I was front row center on more than one civil rights march around the time Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy were shot. I had many African American & white friends. While I did not fully understand the complexity of all that was going on around me, I did understand that my Daddy had integrity. I understood that some people hated black people-simply because they were black. To this day I don't understand that. I understood that the world was not fair and that prejudice is wrong.
One of my childhood neighbors, African-American, worked for the company that made the casts that made the monuments on Monument Avenue including Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis. I remember as a child on our family outings, driving down Monument Avenue and wondering what it felt like for Mr. Ferguson to know that he had helped make the statues of these men that were honored for fighting for slavery. I remember staring at the horse's asses and thinking to myself that THAT was probably his favorite part of his job...maybe the ONLY thing he liked about it. In short, I learned early on that some people like to think themselves better than other people simply by virtue of their skin color. It made no sense to me and it still makes no sense to me.
Fast forward to the present. President Obama makes me smile everyday. Despite all the rancour and spittle of those who think they have the corner market on who is and who is not a REAL American, I know better. For better or worse, we are all American citizens. The actions of Virginia's asshat Governor and his A.G. sidekick absolutely sicken me. Like my Daddy before me, I'm a bleeding heart flaming liberal. With that said, my boyfriend is a Republican. Two of my best girlfriends are Republicans. Lately, I've found myself asking what does that mean to be a Republican? Are my friends/lover racist? Each of these individuals has black friends, volunteers at prisons, and feeds the poor. I can't bring myself to think of any of them as racists. Outside of politics, I know each of them to be kind, caring people. Yet all 3 voted Gov. Asshat into office and all 3 love Sarah Palin. As you well may imagine, this is causing me A LOT of cognitive dissonance. I know that each of them to a person would vehemently deny being racist. My boyfriend and I have had very blunt, no holds barred, conversations about race, Tea Parties, the state of the Republican Party, Governor Asshat, Fox News, etc. What follows are my conclusions about what exactly constitutes a racist.
No one in my immediate circle would ever own up to being a racist. Racist is a dirty word. Yet to my mind, it is possible to be a racist and not even be fully aware that you are one. If racism is defined as believing in a natural order of things with white people - and white men specifically- being at the top of the food chain--well, then I sadly conclude that my boyfriend and my 2 girlfriends are racist. They would not see it as such. They each would deny their motivation for voting for Palin or Gov. Asshat as "wanting to preserve the natural order of things". They don't see it. Their reasons for voting Republican are the old reasons of small government, no taxes, individual responsibility, don't take my $ away from me. And yet....the Republican party has changed. Anyone who supports Sarah Palin, to my mind, is a racist-whether they "see" it or not. Racism is like an onion---there are layers.
In conclusion, I thank God everyday that Barack Obama is President. I thank God that his presidency has brought all this "hidden" racism to the fore. I know deep in my spirit that all of us are souls and all of us are equal. I know the arc of the universe does bend towards justice. We are living history. We are watching Gone With The Wind Part II - the death of white privilege. As a white woman who has experienced sexism & racism, I say, "What more can I do to usher in a new egalitarian era"? Thank you rserven here at DailyKos for giving me my quote of the day: "A quality man is not scared of equality." (I would revise that to read, "A quality person is not scared of equality.") Please though, tell me how YOU define racism.