Dog-Whistle Racism is political campaigning or policy-making that uses coded words and themes to appeal to conscious or subconscious racist concepts and frames.
For example, the concepts ‘welfare queen,’ ’states’ rights,’ ‘Islamic terrorist,’ ‘uppity,’ 'thug,' 'tough on crime,' and ‘illegal alien’ all activate racist concepts that that have already been planted in the public consciousness and now are being activated by purposeful or accidental campaign activities, media coverage, public policy and cultural traditions.
So, what’s dog whistle racism? It’s pure political theater to push buttons to win elections and policies. StopDogWhistleRacism.com, a project of the Center for Social Inclusion, is here to identify, expose and help you to track it. Join us.
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Appearing at an election-eve rally in Colorado Springs on Monday, Sarah Palin stood up for country singer Hank Williams Jr. after the crooner took a swipe at Barack Obama, saying the Democratic presidential nominee is “not real crazy about” the national anthem.
Williams, who has appeared over the last month at GOP rallies, revved up the crowd of about 4,000 at an airport hangar when he announced his plans to sing “The Star Spangled Banner,” according toCBS News.
“You know, I’m usually at ‘Monday Night Football’ tonight, but Colorado, this is a lot more important tonight. Join me now in our national — you know, that song that, uh, Mr. Obama’s not real crazy about, we’re singing it right now.”
Palin took the stage after Williams sang the national anthem, followed by a rousing rendition of “McCain-Palin Tradition,” a reworked version of his “Family Tradition” hit from the 1970s.
The Alaska governor proceeded to defend the singer’s right to question Obama’s patriotism, citing the First Amendment:
“We want to take a minute here to thank Hank Williams Jr. … Now this is the last rally that we get to do together, and he’s been just a great inspiration — never one to hide his opinion or be afraid to share it. Hey, he exercises those First Amendment rights. We love him! Yes. So we want to thank Hank and we are going to see him tomorrow night on the other side of victory, my friend.”
CBS reporter Scott Conroy notes Palin said nothing to the crowd to correct the singer’s assertion “Obama’s not real crazy about” the national anthem, though she has said in the past that she believes Obama loves his country and is patriotic.
Summary: While discussing the death of Sen. Barack Obama’s grandmother, Michael Savage again revived widely debunked “rumors” about Obama’s “birth certificate not being valid.”
Recently, Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher has been hitting the campaign trail for and withSen. John McCain (R-AZ). Last week, he was sharply rebuked by Fox News’s Shep Smith for agreeing that a vote for Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) is a vote for the “death to Israel.” Today, Fox’s Neil Cavuto was taken aback when Joe questioned Obama’s loyalty to the United States:
JOE: McCain has fought and bled for our country, and loves our country.There’s too many questions with Barack Obama and his loyalty to our country. And I question that greatly.
CAVUTO: Well, you’re not doubting that he’s a good American. Or you are?
JOE: Oh you know, his ideology is something that is completely different than what democracy stands for, so I had some question there. In my opinion.
Chambliss: The rush of African-Americans to the polls has ‘got our side energized.’
On Wednesday, the chairman of the Hillsborough County, Florida Republican party forwarded an e-mail to several hundred party members that warned of “‘the threat’ of ‘carloads of black Obama supporters coming from the inner city to cast their votes.’” While the McCain campaign condemned the email, the sentiment does not appear to be isolated. As Tapped notes, earlier this week, Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) proclaimed that the the “rush” of African-Americans to the polls has “got our side energized“:
“There has always been a rush to the polls by African-Americans early,” he said at the square in Covington, a quick stop on a bus tour as the campaign entered its final week. He predicted the crowds of early voters would motivate Republicans to turn out. “It has also got our side energized, they see what is happening,” he said.
Similarly, Chambliss has been warning his “predominantly white base” in North Georgia, “The other folks are voting.”
Is Barack Obama enough of an American? Can a person be well-educated, dark-skinned and a real American at the same time?
Obama’s election hinges on whether a majority thinks the latter is possible or is so self-evident that the question is silly. The McCain-Palin ticket’s central strategy still is to stoke doubt and keep the first question alive.
It cannot be denied that this election would get much less attention were it a contest between a young white liberal-centrist and an old white right-wing warrior. The emotional outpouring is there because Obama is non-white in a white nation.
Europeans and other non-Americans are so riveted by this electoral drama because for almost everyone America is a white and multidenominational Christian nation. In those eyes being black, Hispanic, Asian or Muslim denotes belonging to an immigrant minority tolerated by white Americans but not of them.
For those eyes, it is exciting and surprising to see white people elect an apparently black person to be their Commander-in-Chief and ruler.
Yet, Obama is not really black or an African American despite his skin color. African Americans are just slightly newer than the early white settlers while Obama is the son of a foreign father who did not become American. His claim to being American comes from his white mother and grandparents.
For most eyes, America is white nation because immigrants of other races got there later. Europeans find it hard to see American blacks as being as genuinely American as whites. In Europe, all “colored” people are forever immigrants. France’s Nicholas Sarkozy born of immigrant Hungarians could never have become President were he black or Arab regardless of how many generations of ancestors were French born.
In light of claims that we have reached a place of post-racism, Latoya at Racialicious aptly points out multiple examples of how this is actually untrue. In light of the events of Hurricane Katrina, the Jena 6, the Jersey 4 and the Duke Rape case, all highly public moments where racism proved to be a relevant factor, we can hardly claim to be in a post-racial country.
But the very nature of our conversation about whether or not America is post-racial proves that, in fact, it’s NOT. Just look at the competing narratives on the right and the left about what role race has played in this election. Last week I suggested that Colin Powell put his support behind Barack Obama at least partially because of race, whether he said it out loud or not, and that this support is understandable given the history of racism in this country. In response, there were some suggestions that perhaps this act was in itself racist. I want to talk about what comments like these tell us about how we understand race, especially in the context of this election.
On Saturday, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) gave little-noticed remarks at Sioux City’s West High School during an appearance by Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK). King went beyond the traditional right-wing talking points — which brand Obama a “Marxist” who adheres to “socialism” — and said that he would turn the United States into a “totalitarian dictatorship.” From a reportby the Iowa Independent:
King, known for provocative, partisan remarks, suggested Obama actually could be classified as even more extreme than a socialist. King also said his party is the only one with a legitimate claim on representing freedom as Americans know it.
“When you take a lurch to the left you end up in a totalitarian dictatorship,” King said. “There is no freedom to the left. It’s always to our side of the aisle.”
Sioux City Journal reporter Bret Hayworth also reported that King said, “Obama is ACORN. … When I see Obama, I see ACORN branded on his forehead.” This wasn’t the first time that King fear-mongered about Obama. Speaking in Exira, IA on Aug. 21, King claimed that Obama was anti-American and raised by polygamists and “left wing hard core atheists”:
Obama was not raised with an intentional attitude toward Americanism. … The way to look at the reasons Obama doesn’t place his hand over his heart when the National Anthem is playing, or wear an American flag pin is primarily because he is not willful or spiteful, but because it just doesn’t occur to him because it’s not the way he’s been raised. American patriotism is not imprinted on his mind or in his heart, because he wasn’t raised as an American.
Why is it so easy for the Right to paint Barack Obama as both a foreigner and anti-American, despite the fact that he has served the country on a community, state, and national level and is currently running to become president of the United States? It is easy because in the American psyche, whiteness = American, and colored = something else. Back when I was in college, a diverse dining-hall table evoked an interesting comment from a white friend — one of the white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant, midwestern, small-town sort. She looked around at the group gathered for lunch, which included several white students, a Hispanic student, a student of Asian ancestry, and myself. “Wow! We’ve got a Mexican, a Chinese person, a black, and three Americans sitting here!” Of course, I pointed out that the people of color at the table were Americans too. All of us were born and raised in the United States. “Well, you know what I mean,” she countered offhandedly. I do know what she meant. She meant that, even in the minds of some good people who mean well, America is synonymous with baseball, apple pie, Chevrolets, and whiteness.
Please go read this column in its entirety and leave a comment if you’re so moved. Also, if you like Tami’s thought process and writing, check out her blogs.
Summary: Michael Savage, Rush Limbaugh, and Jerome Corsi suggested or asserted that the true purpose of Sen. Barack Obama’s current trip to Hawaii is not to visit his ailing grandmother, as Obama claims, but rather to address rumors — widely debunked — that Obama has failed to produce a valid U.S. birth certificate. However, in addition to FactCheck.org and a Hawaiian Health Department official, even Corsi’s employer, the right-wing website WorldNetDaily, has reportedly determined that the birth certificate provided by the Obama campaign is authentic.
P.J. Tobia missed the 22nd Annual White Christian Heritage Festival in Pulaski, Tennessee and he’s wicked upset about it:
It is so important to remember white heritage. We just don’t get to do that enough in a country where the vast majority of people are white, most holidays were started by white Christians, almost everybody on TV or radio is white and our government is, for the most part, composed of white guys.
It’s great that these fine people are taking the time to pause and think of our glorious white past in this age where white people still run pretty much everything.
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