Yesterday in Kansas, a story ripped through the capital and state, as an elderly Representative Alford (R-KS124) made comments about the genetic predisposition of African Americans to become addicted or abuse marijuana. His comments were racist, offensive, and wildly out of bounds. He was rightly chastised by the press and Democratic members in the state house.
What also began to occur was a cleanup crew, who followed behind these statements and began the common apologia: “I know Rep. Alford, he’s not a racist”.
Senator John Doll (R-Garden City), obviously does know better. He knows the comments are out of bound and wrong, but was the first to the press with his defense of Alford: “Not a racist”
www.kansascity.com/...
Sen. John Doll, a Garden City Republican, was at the event where Alford made the comments. Doll said he knows Alford very well and he’s “not a racist.”
“But what he said, I disagree with adamantly,” Doll said. “Hopefully he didn’t mean it how it sounded.”
And here lies the real problem of tackling racism and hatred in America. When people who know better jump to the defense of those in the wrong, we enable the activity. We raise the bar for what defines racism. And, we put aside the fact that structural racism isn’t about overt violent acts, but often about the continuous assessments, minor and major, people bring to the table when dealing with others that create an uneven playing field for millions of Americans.
Most Americans grew up with some tinge of racism in their lives. They’ve said or done something that was tainted by racist assumptions, even if they weren’t aware of it. I’m sure, at many points in my life, I have probably done or said things that could be seen as offensive — while certainly not on the level of Rep. Alford, the lesson was to learn and move on.
It is that element that is being stripped from a lot of the movements nationally. Rather than learn and move on from the experience, we are skipping the “learn” portion, and quickly moving on. Whether the issue is racism, misogyny, or classism, we either find a scapegoat and move on, or we dismiss it as an aberration to the way things normally work and defend the person in error “well, it was a one-time thing, he’s really not that way.”
But, where, exactly, is the opportunity to learn and change? The decisions by Kansas Republicans to circle the wagons around an older man who made some racist comments aren’t about booting one person from the state house — it is about the opportunity to learn why it is wrong, and for a group of elected officials to stop enabling the activity.
This is exactly what will not happen, however. In state house after state house, and now in our White House, the problem has become that Republicans who know better — who know the situation is wrong and things need to be addressed — instead choose to shirk responsibility and defend either their majority, their friend, or the process because, well, that is the quickest way to get the story out of the press and ‘move on’.
Some of us have referred to the problem as one of party over country. In so many ways, though, it is about political convenience over humanity. We skip the uncomfortable discussions, the decision to evaluate internally where we could be wrong ourselves, and quickly move on to the next item on the agenda.
Rep. Alford grew up in a time period where racist ideas were far more accepted, and, I believe these ideas didn’t even strike him as racist as much as just the way he grew up, and the way society was in his youth. Rather than have that uncomfortable conversation that reminds us that America’s constant change and acceptance has made us as a nation better, we have decided to not have that difficult discussion.
The racist ideas and talking points continue, not because of overt racists around us, but because the moderate middle has decided it is too uncomfortable to have that discussion. It might hurt people in their coalition, or upset friends.
Rep. Alford will get a lot of press for his boneheaded comments, but the press and others will reserve criticism from those who come to his defense as a "good guy who made some bad comments.”
Trump, in a similar way, “a guy who just makes some comments”, white neo-nazis are ‘very fine people’, and hateful rhetoric is “not what they really meant”.
When white men continue to raise the bar as to what is defines racism, we make it easier to say racism doesn’t exist. We say “oh, that’s just some dumb thing...” and those who suffer the slights and the harms are left without a voice.
Republicans in our state, and nationally, have a job at hand. They can stop staying on the sidelines while their party condones these acts, or they can continue to be the crew that offers excuses.
It will not be frail, elderly members who cause longterm damage with racist remarks and ideas. It will be those who tolerate and excuse them who will leave the lasting legacy of what is acceptable by enabling it and changing the standards through their words.