On Sunday, I read an article on MSNBC’s Web site titled “‘Racist’ claims defuse once powerful word.” Its main story started with the retelling of Republican Rep. Joe Wilson shouting, “You lie!” at Barack Obama during the televised health care debate in Congress.
Former president Jimmy Carter, who apparently felt the need to comment on Wilson’s actions, said, “I think (Wilson’s outburst) is based on racism. There is an inherent feeling among many in this country that an African-American should not be president.”
I’m sorry, can you repeat that? Because someone disagrees with the president (who happens to be of biracial descent), he or she must be a racist? That is possibly the most absurd thing I’ve heard since the media’s uproar over Michael Jackson’s death.
However, I remember all too well the arguments and accusations that went on during the 2008 Presidential Election. Not only did I hear McCain supporters accused of racism, but I also heard from people who voted for Obama simply because they did not want to appear racist.
The article also quoted Tom Molloy, a 65-year-old retired financial services executive from New Hampshire, who said, “A racist is a person who discriminates or holds prejudices based on race. Discrimination is treatment based on category rather than individual merit. Barack Obama favors policies that will give preference to groups based on race rather than individual merit. It’s called affirmative action.”
Before you all get riled up, I’m not accusing the president of racism. I am simply pointing out that the definition of the word seems to have lost some of its definition. Things are no longer black and white (pun intended).
Our definition of racism has gotten a bit fuzzy around the edges. It now seems anyone who disagrees with someone of another race is labeled as racist.
And it is not only blacks calling whites racist. Congressman Jim Clyburn, who marched with Martin Luther King Jr., called Wilson and other health care protesters racist, but bloggers are claiming Clyburn is the real racist himself. Even though the Jim Crow laws and slavery have long been abolished, people are still choosing to see things as skin issues.
This is a brilliant way to avoid talking about real matters. So many people are afraid of being labeled racist they refuse to speak their minds. Aren’t the great things about America supposed to be that we are a melting pot and that we love progress? Calling people racist is impeding both of those two great, fundamental ideas this country is known for.
Obama, to his credit, had his spokesman say in a press conference that he did not believe the hostility towards the health care plan is because of the color of his skin. Hopefully, Obama will apply the same reasoning to Wilson’s outburst.
I think we can all take a leaf out of Obama’s book here and give people the benefit out of the doubt. Until someone shows blatant, unreasonable hatred to someone else because of the color of their skin, then we should hold our tongues before shouting “racist!”
Another great quote from the MSNBC article is from Sean Wilentz, a Princeton University professor who studies U.S. political and social history. “Everything is not about race,” he said. “It’s not Mississippi in 1965 any more. Even in Mississippi it’s not Mississippi in 1965 any more.”
I think everyone here at Mississippi State can attest to the truth of this statement. Sure, we have our bad times, and I am not saying racist actions don’t go on, but calling everyone who disagrees with the president “racist” isn’t getting us anywhere. It’s time we stopped throwing around that word like it’s a plastic football at an MSU game and started listening to people’s reasoning instead of just their dissent.
Hannah Kaase is a senior majoring in animal and dairy science. She can be contacted at [email protected].