Those genuinely “uncomfortable” that the fellow in the Oval Office is a black man... Racist?

[bigtree]

from John Farmer at the Star-Ledger: http://blog.nj.com/njv_john_farmer/2012/07/after_nearly_four_years_of_bar.html


After nearly four years of Barack Obama, is white America still uneasy with a black man in the White House?

____ Leonard Zeskind, head of the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights, catalogued various groups that make up what he labeled the “anti-Obama opposition.” He came up with a menagerie that included anti-tax tea partiers, Christian right activists, anti-immigrant nativists, “birthers” who profess to believe Obama wasn’t born in this country, Stormfront national socialists, militia groups and others.

They may not all be racists, though some surely are. But each has found a reason to oppose Obama if only because, as president, he represents a sea change in the life of the nation that they can’t accept — at least not yet. He makes them uncomfortable . . .

I do believe they are genuinely “uncomfortable” with the fact that the fellow in the Oval Office is a black man, not a white man. It’s unacceptable and unworthy, but perhaps understandable in the context of this moment of dramatic — and to some indigestible — change . . .

They’ve seen the country change more radically and rapidly in their lifetime than their parents ever did in theirs. Soon whites will no longer be a majority and they feel vaguely threatened.

They want the country back the way it was when they were young, when presidents were white. That’s clear enough . . .


read more: http://blog.nj.com/njv_john_farmer/2012/07/after_nearly_four_years_of_bar.html

[ProgressiveEconomist]

1. IMO many want to feel patriotic again, and end the dissonance

between their patriotism and feeling their deeply-ingrained racial prejudice is vaguely unpatriotic when the POTUS undeniably is a Black man.

They want the "good old days" back, when any kind of expression of prejudice, racism, and race hatred was as American as cherry pie.

[Scuba]

2. As an old white guy I can assure you that many old white guys are racist to the core...

... as are many old white women.


The good news is I see an increasing number of old white People speaking out against racism and other problems in our Country. The right's attempt to intimidate us work to a degree, but will fail in the end.

[bigtree]

3. I can see some of that

I can also see that race or skin color is often just a convenient foil for some, instead of them harboring some genuine aversion to color or creed.

As with most things, familiarity and effective communication often breeds understanding and goodwill. That's been the trend, I think, since I became racially aware in the mid-sixties as a child.

[abelenkpe]

4. All I know

Is that the birthers and tea party fans that I know personally are all also known for making bigoted comments, bigoted jokes and having bigoted beliefs. But they would all also claim to not be a bigot.