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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Pictures of an Hispanic man flashing a gang symbol, another Hispanic man in the custody of immigration officials, and an Hispanic male in a kitchen with a rifle adorn the lastest race-bating mailer sent out by ex-state representative Bill Keffer (R-Dallas) in his grudge match against State Rep. Allen Vaught (D-Dallas).
The mailer, which was paid for by Keffer’s campaign, alleges that Vaught says the illegal immigration issue is a “political gimmick,” but cites no source to illustrate that Vaught ever made any such statement.
REPORTER: ‘How can you not hear a little racial undertone when you say [MS 3rd Congressional Dist. Candidate Ashwin Madia] is “”not one of them”
MN GOP CHAIR RON CAREY: “People have to draw their own conclusions, but Eric Paulsen is a very good fit, from a philosophical standpoint and a lifestyle standpoint. …I’m just saying from a demographic standpoint, he fits the district very well.”
OH-07: Republicans Assail Neuhardt for Aiding Rwandan Genocide Survivor
Republican state Sen. Steve Austria, running to replace retiring GOP Rep. Dave Hobson in an R+6 central Ohio district, is spewing out a “unique” new attack against his Democratic opponent, attorney Sharen Neuhardt. Austria is now criticizing her family’s sponsorship of a Rwandan political refugee and survivor of that country’s brutal genocide:
Austria’s campaign manager, Brad Mascho, told Cox News that “harboring an illegal immigrant with a criminal record is a serious matter.”
There are lies and then there are vile lies — this one is the latter. As Jeff at the Ohio Daily Blog writes, Ishema Umuhoza has been living in the United States legally as he waits for federal courts to review his petition for political asylum. In the meantime, he graduated from the University of Dayton in 2005 and had some minor brushes with the law (driving without a license and walking home while intoxicated). The Neuhardt family has been aiding Umuhoza since 2002, offering him a place to stay and taking up his legal fight for political asylum in the courts. In turn, Republican Steve Austria and the slimeballs at the NRCC are attacking Neuhardt for her act of generosity.
The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports that state Rep. John LaBruzzo (R) said yesterday that “he is studying a plan to pay poor women $1,000 to have their Fallopian tubes tied.” LaBruzzo worries that people receiving food and housing assistance “are reproducing at a faster rate than more affluent, better-educated residents”:
He said he is gathering statistics now. … “What I’m really studying is any and all possibilities that we can reduce the number of people that are going from generational welfare to generational welfare,” he said.
He said his program would be voluntary. It could involve tubal ligation, encouraging other forms of birth control or, to avoid charges of gender discrimination, vasectomies for men. It also could include tax incentives for college-educated, higher-income people to have more children, he said.
…
UpdateLaBruzzo’s district is the same one that sent white supremacist and former leader of the KKK David Duke to the state legislature in 1989.
I just got off a Republican National Committee conference call for black-oriented media to discuss the political landscape leading up to November’s presidential election. The conference call featured Michael Steele, GOPAC chair and former Maryland Lieutenant Governor; Rich Beeson, the RNC’s political director; and Shannon Reeves, the RNC’s director of state and local development. Each man made comments, and then took questions from the media.
…
Mr. Reeves’ comments focused on local efforts. He stated that black Republican candidates are getting a benefit from the overall increased black voter registration and highlighted three such candidates on the statewide ballot in Texas: Michael Williams, chair of the Railroad Commission of Texas; Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson, and Texas Supreme Court Judge Dale Wainwright. “We are reminding folks that Obama is not the only African-American candidate on the ballot”, said Mr. Reeves. He also highlighted Abram Wilson, the mayor of San Ramon, California who is running to become the first black Republican in the California state legislature since the 1930s (Mr. Steele is apparently stumping hard on his behalf).
Members of the Republican Party are rushing to denounce the statements of Fernando C’ de Baca about Hispanics “won’t vote for a black president” and basically saying Hispanics are racist because the Spanish came here as conquerors while blacks came here as slaves.
Oregon voters get to decide how to reach and teach children with limited English this fall as the hot-button immigration issue makes it to a statewide ballot
The Mississippi Supreme Court has given a split ruling in a dispute about the ballot placement for Trent Lott’s old Senate seat.A majority of justices ruled Thursday that state law requires the special election between Republican Roger Wicker and Democrat Ronnie Musgrove to be near the top of the November 4th ballot.
But they stopped short of ordering Republican Gov. Haley Barbour to elevate the race off the bottom.
So let’s get this straight: The Mississippi Supreme Court (stacked with Barbour allies) says that the ballot is illegal, but stops short of ordering Haley Barbour to comply with the law?
Finally — real minority outreach from the GOP. The Virginia Republicans have a big rally coming up this Saturday that’s designed to reach out to minority voters in Fairfax County.
Guess who is one of the featured speakers?
George Allen. Yes, that George Allen.
We checked in with the state GOP to ask if Allen is really an effective front-man for the party’s efforts to win over minorities, given the “macaca” scandal.
The answer? Yes! “George Allen has an excellent record on issues of diversity, reaching out to people,” Gerry Scimeca, communications director for the state party, told us. “His whole career, his whole life have been a testament to a guy who’s treated people equally across racial lines, across every kind of line.”
Fox 31, conservative media figures exploit deaths of three to replay immigration myths
Several Colorado media outlets and personalities uncritically repeated immigration-related falsehoods in their reporting or commentary regarding a fatal traffic accident allegedly caused by an illegal immigrant who reportedly was arrested 16 times but never deported. Newsradio 850 KOA’s “Gunny” Bob Newman parroted the unsubstantiated assertion that illegal immigrants kill 12 Americans every day, KDVR Fox 31 aired the baseless claim that “25 to 30 percent of the entire inmate population in most jails are aliens subject to deportation,” and columnist Chuck Green in The Pueblo Chieftain and the Aurora Sentinel repeated the myth that Colorado is a “sanctuary state” and Denver is a “sanctuary city.”
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