Friday, April 12, 2013

Where's My Race-Card Trump-Card?

Where's My Race-Card Trump-Card? 

While rummaging around the Webosphere, I stumbled upon an article by The Root contributor David Swerdlick written last week on a particular CPAC panel entitled, "Trump the Race Card: Are you Tired of Being Called a Racist When You Know You're Not One?". Normally, the CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) weekend goes by without much of a hitch--a bunch of conservatives come together and talk about all the wonderful things they want to conserve. However, this year turned out a bit differently. In a response to Obama's re-election (where he received 91% of the 'African-American' vote), the Republican party decided to reflect upon their internalized racism. Of course, as we have pointed out in class, we live in a culture grounded upon a racist infrastructure, so, to some degree or another, each one of us carries with us racist beliefs that stand to denigrate, over-romanticize, or essentialize the 'races' that make up America's mezcla. I do not say that to make everyone feel guilty but simply to lay a ground work for my analysis. I am working within the assumption that our country's laws, written by white men for white men, has certain proclivities that tend to interpellate certain kinds of subjects--namely racist ones. Of course, the racist is only found in racist society, so we are all responsible our inter-predicament. That all being said, I'd like to first return to the title of the afore-mentioned talk. First off, who are these people constantly being called racist? I seriously doubt that such a condemnation is just thrown around willy nilly. Of course, the republican party often deals with just claims against their racist platforms, which may explain a feeling of ontological guilt by association. Perhaps rather than being called racists, these individuals feel themselves to be such and are seeking for an explanation for how they are not in fact racists. Below, I have embedded a clip from this particular panel. The speaker, KCarl Smith, who refers to himself as a Frederick Douglass Republican (famous abolitionist and assimilationist), covers several contemporary race issues; however, I have only included the clip that received most coverage in the news, where a middle-thirties male hopped at the chance to say slaves should have thanked their owners for "food and shelter." This gentleman's comment was met with confusion, surprise, and a few solid claps. In the after-math, he was harangued by many of the other people visiting the conference and Swerdlick argues in his article that the back-lash experienced by this dude shows minute progress; however, I want would argue that this man actually stands as a scape-goat for the whole room, and becomes a metonym for the way Americans find ways to distance themselves from such claims. 
    Everyone in the room who felt outraged at this guy told him so when in fact they need him to justify and mollify their own racist tendencies. Clearly, this dude is the racist, not them. In holding him up as the antithesis of themselves, he saves them from any real reflection on the matter with regards to their own personal and social exchanges as well as the way their vote reinforces, by and large, a racist infrastructure.

Please, Comments:

3 comments:

  1. What exactly do you suggest when you claim that the man took the blame for Americans seeking to detach themselves from such claims?

    I don’t believe this guy took any forethought over the social repercussions. Furthermore, I think it would be skeptical to consider the clapping public as any more apprehensive than the gentleman was. If the fellow and his peers are bold enough to assert their intransigent ideas to a tepid audience, then there shouldn’t be desire for a fall boy.

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  2. I think even if people want this guy to justify their racist tendencies, as you say, they're probably not conscious of the fact that they have racist tendencies. Therefore, they're not consciously desirous of wanting justification. I agree with Michael in that the guy probably wasn't thinking about stuff like this when he made those comments.

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  3. I just poorly articulated myself. He didn't consciously consider the impact of his actions; he nonetheless served as a scapegoat for the rest of the audience in this context. A few clapped, but not many. People are looking to justify their racist tendencies but to erase them from their consciousness. In other words, they are trying to remain racists without realizing their racism. Also, whether you are conscious or not of your racist tendencies doesn't make those tendencies any less racist.

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