Conservatives, Racism, and Jesus

[Poiuyt]

Obery Hendricks: Conservatives, Racism, and Jesus

Virginia Senator George Allen has been under fire since he publicly called an Asian American spectator at a campaign stop “macaca,” an apparent racial slur, then told the brown-skinned young man - an American-born citizen - “welcome to America.” While Virginia’s governor, Allen had also been denounced for hanging a confederate flag in his statehouse office. Since the “macaca” incident it has come to light that on numerous occasions Allen used the heinous “n” word to describe American citizens of African descent.

But the apparent racism of Allen should not be seen in a political vacuum. Historically, political conservatives like him have shown themselves much too willing to condone racism or to exploit it. In fact, racial demagoguery is heard from many conservative politicians and commentators, although they are seldom taken to task for this sin by their conservative colleagues. For instance, in his campaign for the presidency against Michael Dukakis, George H. W. Bush used the specter of paroled black rapist Willie Horton to appeal to whites’ deepest racial fears. In the 1990 North Carolina senatorial race, archconservative Republican senator Jesse Helms also used obviously racially charged campaign ads to defeat Harvey Gant, his African American opponent.

snip-

Moreover, the conservative communications media are riddled with inflammatory racial rhetoric. Radio personality Rush Limbaugh once declared to his millions of listeners, “Let the unskilled jobs, let the kinds of jobs that take absolutely no knowledge whatsoever to do – let stupid and unskilled Mexicans do that work.” And in the midst of the suffering caused by Hurricane Katrina, conservative talk show host Bill O’Reilly claimed that, “Many, many, many of the poor in New Orleans” (whom he knew to be overwhelmingly black) were caught in the storm because “hey were drug addicted. They weren’t going to get turned off from their source. They were thugs, whatever.”

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Why does racist discourse permeate conservative politics? Consider this: a defining feature of political conservatism is its dedication to maintaining the wealth and power of those who historically have had wealth and power. Thus, one reason for the racial antipathy exhibited by many conservatives is that social and economic inroads by those who had previously constituted a cheap and desperate labor pool presents a growing threat to the continued domination of average Americans by the wealthy and the powerful, those President Bush affectionately calls “the haves and the have-mores.” In addition, continued racial turmoil serves as a loud and convenient distraction from corporate exploitation of all rank-and-file Americans, regardless of race.

more -

http://www.beliefnet.com/blogs/godspolitics/2006/10/obery-hendricks-conservatives-racism.html

[EVDebs]

1. Their self loathing prevents them from living the Greatest Commandment

http://www.baharna.com/logos/log016.htm

"Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself"

[ProgressiveEconomist]

2. Fomenting ethnic and religious divisions is an important tool of empire

and dates from at least the Roman era of "Divide and Rule" (see http://encycl.opentopia.com/term/Divide_and_rule ).

The British Empire deliberately created countries out of warring tribes, and often gave the smallest tribe the most power, just to foment exploitable strife.

In the American South, the land-owning aristocracy used an elaborate mythology on race to put small farmers on their side, while small farmers and descendants of slaves had a great deal more in common when it came to economic interests.

Starting with Richard Nixon's "Southern strategy", Republicans took "Divide and Rule" national, choosing new scapegoats for every election, and creating a "social issues agend" that somehow never made it into legislation or officeholding for the poor saps who drank the Kool-Aid. But the Wall Street agenda of higher payroll taxes, drastically lower marginal income tax rates at the top, deregulation, union-busting, and offshoring always moved forward.

Sites like http://www.sojo.net , the "Red Letter Christians" who originated your long quote, are beginning to open many eyes. I predict we'll soon begin to see in the mainstream media the Sojourners leader Rev. Jim Wallis a lot more than we see Dobson and Robertson today. One of their issues for 2008 is a living wage, an idea that is a deal-breaker for Wall Street.

[Karenina]

3. Kick!

:kick: