The Race Card Chorus plays on white resentment

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My One and Only Post About the Stupidest Phrase in Politics

by publius

I’d honestly rather rip my toenails out than write about this whole “race card” business. I literally cringe when I hear the phrase — what does it even mean? Race card. Race card. Blah, it's stupid. But it’s been annoying me, so I’ve got to make a couple of points before I explode.

What really gets under my skin is how utterly cynical and phony the whole exercise has been. I took Obama’s “dollar bill” statement as a way to deflect criticism with humor. But even if that’s too charitable, there’s precisely zero percent chance that anyone anywhere was actually offended by it. The whole Shrieking Race Card Furies bit is all a show. Who knows, they probably even drafted the talking points back in March and have been waiting for just the right moment.

And look, I understand that demagoguery is part of politics in the age of the 24 hour news cycle — I don’t like it, but that’s part of it. But this particular demagoguery — this cynical phony whining about the “race card” — is uniquely harmful for at least a couple of reasons.

For one, it prevents any actual discussion of race in the campaign (and beyond). I mean, we never really talk about it anyway, other than to confirm such brave controversial positions as “segregation bad,” and “civil rights good.” But we need to move beyond a world where Bull Connor is the only enemy — we need to address our more complex world where the structural legacies of racism are arguably a bigger problem than actual racism proper. But crap like this chills any discussion of race — do you think that Barack Obama is going to touch race with a ten-foot pole this fall? No way. Can’t risk offending the delicate sensibilities of all the delicate flowers out there.

But the bigger problem here is that the Race Card Chorus plays on white resentment — which remains a poisonous brew. I’m a child of the rural South. But you know what? Actual racism is a lot less common there — we have a ways to go, but there has been real progress on that front.

[Brewman_Jax]

1. Tim Wise covers this, also

in his article, What Kind of Card is Race? The Absurdity (and Consistency) of White Denial

From the article: Recently, I was asked by someone in the audience of one of my speeches, whether or not I believed that racism--though certainly a problem--might also be something conjured up by people of color in situations where the charge was inappropriate. In other words, did I believe that occasionally folks play the so-called race card, as a ploy to gain sympathy or detract from their own shortcomings? In the process of his query, the questioner made his own opinion all too clear (an unambiguous yes), and in that, he was not alone, as indicated by the reaction of others in the crowd, as well as survey data confirming that the belief in black malingering about racism is nothing if not ubiquitous.

It's a question I'm asked often, especially when there are several high-profile news events transpiring, in which race informs part of the narrative. Now is one of those times, as a few recent incidents demonstrate: Is racism, for example, implicated in the alleged rape of a young black woman by white members of the Duke University lacrosse team? Was racism implicated in Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney's recent confrontation with a member of the Capitol police? Or is racism involved in the ongoing investigation into whether or not Barry Bonds--as he is poised to eclipse white slugger Babe Ruth on the all-time home run list--might have used steroids to enhance his performance?*

Although the matter is open to debate in any or all of these cases, white folks have been quick to accuse blacks who answer in the affirmative of playing the race card, as if their conclusions have been reached not because of careful consideration of the facts as they see them, but rather, because of some irrational (even borderline paranoid) tendency to see racism everywhere. So too, discussions over immigration, "terrorist" profiling, and Katrina and its aftermath often turn on issues of race, and so give rise to the charge that as regards these subjects, people of color are "overreacting" when they allege racism in one or another circumstance.

Asked about the tendency for people of color to play the "race card," I responded as I always do: First, by noting that the regularity with which whites respond to charges of racism by calling said charges a ploy, suggests that the race card is, at best, equivalent to the two of diamonds. In other words, it's not much of a card to play, calling into question why anyone would play it (as if it were really going to get them somewhere). Secondly, I pointed out that white reluctance to acknowledge racism isn't new, and it isn't something that manifests only in situations where the racial aspect of an incident is arguable. Fact is, whites have always doubted claims of racism at the time they were being made, no matter how strong the evidence, as will be seen below. Finally, I concluded by suggesting that whatever "card" claims of racism may prove to be for the black and brown, the denial card is far and away the trump, and whites play it regularly: a subject to which we will return.



www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=10157

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2. Thanks for sharing. nt