#dearwhitepeople - in 1963 journalist Robert Novak said of the Republican Party, A good many, perhaps a majority of the party’s leadership, envision substantial political gold to be mined in the racial crisis by becoming in fact, though not in name, the White Man’s Party. The resulting #dogwhistlepolitics of race baiting, which Nixon used famously to take the south from the Dems in 1972, persists today. Mitt Romney won 59% of the white vote in 2014 versus 48% of the popular vote. When you hear words or phrases like takers, thugs, immigrants, food stamp president, the races implicated are obvious and purposeful. When you hear the phrase, states rights it has its modern roots in resistance to desegregation in the 1960s. Ronald Regan then used it to sweep the white vote to victory in 1980. This is not an accident and its not principled, unless you consider bigotry principled. You will notice that states rights are conveniently absent in conversations about marriage equality for example. Rather, this is one powerful example of the way #structuralracism works in America. I Saw Ian Haney-López speak last night, and he is an eloquent expert on this subject. Please have a look and listen. billmoyers/episode/ian-haney-lopez-on-the-dog-whistle-politics-of-race/
Posted on: Wed, 15 Oct 2014 15:43:31 +0000
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