The Bridge: Obama, Race & Politics

By Darryl James

Some people still don’t get it.

But anyone with eyes, ears and a working brain knows that President Barack Obama has brought out all the racism in America that many people lied about. Many people lied about racism being on the decline and how Obama’s election ushered in a “post racial society.”

But to the contrary, his election has ushered in a neo-racial society, meaning that racism has reared its ugly head in the forefront of our society once again, because some factions of America are filled with venom and ignorance, as opposed to a true love for this nation.

We see it with the death threats against the president, the filthy little white woman who shook her finger in the president’s face and all of the overt messages of hatred that the ignorant can no longer hide.

I said it during the presidential campaign and I said it when Barack Obama was elected.

His election will be used to polarize a nation, rather than unite it.

And it has been.

Although many Americans are smarter and more open minded than the nation used to contain, there are still pockets of racism that will hold on with tooth and nail to a world they are comfortable with.

That world is a world where Blacks and whites are bifurcated in language, culture and living quarters.

And it’s both good and bad.

It’s good because Obama’s existence is forcing racism to be played out in the most public manner possible on the world stage.

It’s bad because all of the venom held by the confused angry racists has finally boiled to the surface.

And it’s hurting the image of America on the world stage. The entire world can see that America is still very much focused on race and racism. No matter who denies it or pretends that it isn’t a major issue.

Most of the anger stems from the same place that always provides anger—the pain of lower and middle class white America.

The recession that launched under George Bush’s watch hit the nation hard, but was taken more to heart by whites than any other group. This group traditionally holds the belief that they are more American than anyone else, and accordingly, should benefit more and suffer less.

Unfortunately for them, the recession did not discriminate and ravaged communities all across racial lines. That ravaging left many whites angry, feeling desperate and looking for someone to blame.

And we know who they look for to point fingers at.

Ushered into the White House on a tide of desired change that followed change in society, particularly the nation’s demographics, Obama is now the icon for change, and for many angry, frightened whites, the icon for all that is wrong.

His iconic existence facilitates the anger of those angry whites who ignored the eight years of wanton warfare and economic depravity waged by George W and focus on the rapid changes sought by the nation’s first Black president.

Those of us who paid attention and who have working brains understood the schism between the young progressive whites who supported change and the backwoods redneck dirt farmers who refuse to move beyond outdated ideas of Black people, inflamed by the rich, white demons who hate Blacks, but who also hate poor people, which includes those dumb ass white racists on the bottom of society.

The political lies employed by the right wing crazies place the blame for all things wrong in the world on President Obama, ignoring what began on the previous president’s watch.

And where were these people when Bush was grinding the nation and the world economy into the ground?

Curiously silent.

From what I can see, race and racism are in the forefront like never before.

While the first African American President represents change, he also represents everything that is wrong and ugly about America.

He represents change because a great deal of people of all colors had to come together to get him elected. Frankly, many of us never thought we would see the day.

But he also represents everything wrong and ugly, because stupid Americans have begun to raise him as a scapegoat for all that has gone awry, using his image to fill the rosters of hate groups and hateful racist activities, while claiming that there is no more racism, because of his election.

As for the Blacks who are raging against Obama, they are no different than the bonehead Negroes who opposed Dr. King and who supported Reagan and both Bushes.

Even the self hating ignoramus Negroes come out of the woodwork in order to disagree with things that don’t exist.

The strongest taboo in America is to admit to racism. America has spent more than forty years denying that the vestiges of racism have a strong toehold on pockets of the nation.

But what else would explain the upsurge in hate groups and the sudden widespread interest by older whites in the minutia of national policy?

It’s like watching a sporting event where one team scores, yet the announcer says that the other team is playing hard and leading the game.

We saw this with the beating of Rodney King, where an entire nation and a jury refused to see the beating of a Black man by a group of white men.

But this November, a clear message will be sent to the entire nation and to the entire world:  America is NOT post-racial and the American people who desire to see the nation progress, or at least not falter will come together to send the racist, ignorant ratbrains out of business.

At least out of the White House.

Darryl James is an award-winning author of the powerful new anthology “Notes From The Edge.”  James’ stage play, “Love In A Day,” opened in Los Angeles in 2011 and will become a feature film in 2012. View previous installments of this column at http://www.bridgecolumn.proboards36.com. Reach James at djames@theblackgendergap.com.