5 Reasons That Shouting "Racism" Doesn't Work Anymore

5 Reasons That Shouting "Racism" Doesn't Work Anymore
By John Hawkins
3/23/2012









Because of slavery (Democrats did it), KKK violence (Democrats did it), segregation (Democrats did it), Jim Crow laws (Democrats did it) and other historic abuses heaped on black Americans in our country by the Democratic Party and its supporters, America has been a bit oversensitive about race for the last few decades. Of course, the political party responsible for all of that racism is now the one shouting, "You're a racist," and trying to pit different racial groups against each other. That might seem ironic at first glance, but if you think about it, it's actually par for the course. Since its founding, the Democratic Party has always tried to generate racial strife; it just uses a little different strategy today than it did in the past. Unfortunately for Democrats, the race card just doesn't work as well as it did in the good old days. There was a time when a condemnation by Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton produced actual fear as opposed to eye rolls and laughter. It wasn't so long ago that being called racist was a threat, as opposed to just being more of an annoyance today. That has only changed in the last few years for a few select reasons.

1) Barack Obama won the presidency. Like him or not, Barack Obama's election was a historic moment. He turned out to be the Jackie Robinson of the American presidency. Unfortunately, this time around, Jackie Robinson hit .162, couldn't field, and spent way too much time golfing and speechifying instead of doing his job. Still, it was a historic moment. For the first time, the leader of the free world was black. Fifty years ago, during the civil rights era, that would have been unthinkable. So, the moment Obama was elected, people started asking the obvious question, "How serious of a problem can racism still be in the United States if a black man can be elected President?" The honest answer to that question is, "Not very."

2) Black Americans have become much more prominent in the Republican Party. Despite what you hear from the Left, the Republican Party has never, at any point in its history, been a racist party. Yet and still, because black Americans have voted so heavily for the Democrats, there just weren't a lot of black Republicans and thus, there were few prominent black Republicans. This has started to change. Clarence Thomas is the only black Supreme Court Justice. Colin Powell and Condi Rice both took turns at Secretary of State under George W. Bush. Michael Steele was the first black RNC Chairman. Walter Williams fills in for Rush Limbaugh. Tim Scott, who was endorsed by the Tea Party, was elected to Congress in South Carolina. Congressman Allen West was the keynote speaker for CPAC in 2011. Thomas Sowell was voted the most liked conservative in America by conservative bloggers. Herman Cain is not only wildly popular; for awhile he was the leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination. There are now enough prominent black Republicans to completely refute the idea that Republicans are racist to any open minded person.

3) The double standard has become too big to ignore. Democrats incessantly say and do things that would be called "racism" if they were done by Republicans. When Harry Reid can tout Obama because he has "no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one,” Chris Mathews tells people he forgot Obama "was black tonight for an hour," and Joe Biden can claim that Obama is the "first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,” without any repercussions, people get the message. There are two completely different standards for racism; one applies to liberals and the other applies to conservatives. When "racism" becomes just another arbitrary term that has more to do with politics than hating black people, you can't expect people to take it all that seriously except in the most egregious cases.

4) It has become widely acknowledged that shouting racism is a political tactic. We're long past the time when there's an assumption of good motives when someone cries "racism." People have come to realize it's usually about politics. Some people on the Left have become very open about that.

Tainting the tea party movement with the charge of racism is proving to be an effective strategy for Democrats. There is no evidence that tea party adherents are any more racist than other Republicans, and indeed many other Americans. But getting them to spend their time purging their ranks and having candidates distance themselves should help Democrats win in November. Having one’s opponent rebut charges of racism is far better than discussing joblessness. — Mary Frances Berry

You can tell that other Americans are picking up on that message when you see Tea Partiers carrying placards that say, "It doesn't matter what this sign says, you'll call it racism anyway."

The politicalization of the word "racism" is a shame because it does still exist. Unfortunately, for every real racist incident, there are 100 phony political cries of "racism" designed to benefit the Democratic Party and put money in the pockets of race hustlers like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and the NAACP.

5) "Racism" has been so overused. Since Barack Obama has been elected, the cries of racism have been fast and furious. This is not a surprise given the Democratic tactic of chalking up every conflict between a black liberal and a white conservative to racism. Still, it's ridiculous on its face. Barack Obama is the most powerful man in the world and liberals act as if he's a poor sharecropper being pushed around by, well -- a Democrat, since Democrats were actually the racists who bullied sharecroppers. Getting beyond that, the cries of "racism" have become so incessant that they've almost become background noise. Anybody who opposes Barack Obama? Must be racist. Are you a Tea Partier? Must be a racist. You think Michelle Obama's butt looks big in that dress? Must be a racist. Even little kids who read fairy tales know you can only cry "wolf" so many times before people stop believing you.
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To read another article by John Hawkins, click here.