Let's be clear about the effect of the racism directed against President Obama and his family

[JoePhilly]

54. A generic white guy's perspective ...

But first, great OP. Happy to K&R

I describe myself as "generic white guy" for a couple of reasons. The first is that my appearance is "generic white guy". I'm 6 foot tall, brown hair, and I', a little thicker in the middle than I was when I was younger. I'm in my later 40s, but I pass for younger, mid-30s is a common guess. At the mall in white America, you will pass a guy who looks just like me about every 30 feet or so. I'm everywhere.

One of the funny results of this is that on a very regular basis (consistently over the last 30 years), people come up to me because they are "sure" that they know me. So then we talk. They try to figure out how they know me. They never know me. They also come up to me because I look just like some one else they know, and so they think I'm probably related to that other person. Which is never the case.

An interesting part of being "generic white guy" is that if you change my cloths, I can go anywhere in white America and I am immediately accepted as "one of us". Put me in a suit, I'm an executive, or certainly middle or upper management. Put me in an Eagles jersey, and I'm a blue collar guy from Philly. Causal pants and shirt, simple blazer, I might be a college professor. Jeans and a flannel shirt, and I fit right into any rural setting, or even tea party event (THAT was fun).

I've talked about this with some of my African American friends because it was they who made me aware of it. That notion of being able to enter ANY group of whites and immediately be accepted, often with an assumption that some of the people there already know me, is something that they told me rarely happens for them.

Years ago one of these friends said to me, as a "generic white guy, no one ever reminds you that you are white. As a black guy, I am constantly reminded that I am black." I think most white people aren't aware of this.

The other thing that happens when you are "generic white guy" is that the people you meet, see you as "one of them" and they usually assume that you think exactly like they do. For me personally, that has allowed me to learn a lot about how whites behave in a variety of settings in which there are no African Americans present.

In most of these groups, race doesn't come up at all. No one in the group is thinking about race because they rarely encounter a situation in which it comes up. Its not happening to them. Its off the radar.

However, in some groups it does come up. Regularly. Many of today's white racists think that they are not racists. They've actually bought into the nonsense that "minorities get all the breaks". Usually, these discussion occur with whites who think that they should be more successful than they are. They need some one to blame. And they can't / won't blame themselves. So they have bought into the GOP's Southern Strategy, and they blame minorities for their own failings.

These folks are very angry about this. They want to scream at the minorities who "caused" their problems. But they can't. They used to be able to scream N****R at a black person who ruined everything ... and now they can't. That word gave them POWER. But now that open racism is not acceptable, they had to go underground ... only discussing race within specific circles.

I think that for many ordinary whites, they lost track of the racists in their midst. The situations in which the racists could rant became fewer and fewer. The circles tighter and tighter. The racists learned to not bring this topic up in certain situations. So lots of ordinary whites were no longer hearing the racial hate speech as frequently. So it may have seemed like it had almost gone away.

But of course it had not. The racists learned how to hide their true feelings. And the racists HATE having to do this. They hate having to hold their tongue. They are PISSED that they can't say what they want to say. And their frustration has been building up for probably 20+ years.

And Obama's election was the last straw. I know some white guys who are furious. The election of Obama is proof that minorities get all they breaks. Meanwhile, they'll say ... "I have to work my ass off". And then the real discussion starts. One is on unemployment, one is on disability, one has a DUI which cost him his job. A discussion of their situations reveals that they are actually the ones who put themselves where they are. And there's not a minority in sight. Its a slow process, but you can see the wheels turning.

I tend to think that the racists blowing their cork will ultimately be a good thing. They had been in hiding, now they can't hide anymore. The people around them can see them for who and what they are. Maybe their family and friends can turn them around ... or if not, write them off.