(A warning to the reader: while I am a strong believer in some level of decency and decorum when writing a post, sometimes the subject matter requires that exact quotes be used, regardless of how offensive they may be to some. It will be better to leave the exact quotes in place here, with the hope that it gets one more person off the couch and engaged in the fight against racism.)
It wasn’t 1964 Birmingham. Nor was it a parade in Hayden Lake, ID with the Arayan Nations Brotherhood. It was Wenatchee, 2008. A workplace discussion was ongoing about the President-elect between co-workers, with most of the rhetoric revolving around the usual trash talk found in any right-wing echo chamber- “Obama bin Laden isn’t even an American.” “He’s not MY President.” “He’s a radical Muslim, and he wants to start a race-war.”, etc. As a liberal in eastern Washington, I am in the minority in these settings, albeit a demographic that continues to grow in numbers here. It just seemed like I had stumbled into a training class for some of Sean Hannity’s future guests, pushing their whole hate/fear mantra. As I was suggesting they could follow their own advice when an election doesn’t go according to plan and move to Canada, one person stated that it probably wouldn’t be necessary, “since he (Obama) isn’t going to survive his first term anyway.” My response was to say he might be correct, since there seems to be no shortage of right-wingnut, Michael Weiner followers willing to do something both tragic and stupid. Unphased, he retorts, “Well, it really would be the best thing that could happen, that somebody would just assassinate that nigger.”
Now racism is nothing new around here, but this was a new low. I said, “Come again?”, and he replied “That’s what should happen, that somebody would just put a bullet in that nigger, the sooner the better.” “Let me hear what you’re trying to say.”, I said. “Are you saying that someone should assassinate Obama?”, and he said, “Damn straight…settle things right there.”
I’ve heard more than a few people here say that racism isn’t a problem, at least not to the degree that one may find in the Deep South. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks and monitors the activites of hate crimes and the organizations that promote them, currently list over 70 different chapters of hate groups in Washington State alone. Over the past several days, myself and a few others have been hearing some very disturbed individuals spew forth their hatred towards Obama, with talk of cross-burnings and such. This clearly isn’t limited to Washington State, either. There have been numerous reports in the media of incidents across the U.S. in the last few days, which makes me wonder how bad this will get.
So I have 2 questions: How many of you have heard of or witnessed similar incidents recently? More importantly, how do we, a society that claims to be fair, just, and honorable, deal with such comments and attitudes? Personally, I believe that we have to confront it on some level, because to not address it is the same as pretending it never happens. Regardless of which political idealism you adhere to, or what ethnic or cultural background you are from, it is unconscionable for Americans to sit back and do nothing when we see this occur.
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” Dr. Martin Luther King