It has only been a little over six months since Pres. Obama took the oath of office. Six months. While Limbaugh was already out in front with his "Magic Negro" crap, followed close by Hannity's flogging of Jeremiah Wright and his ridiculous attack on Black Theology, we are now inundated with folks whose defenses have been worn down by the on-going presence of a black man in the oval office. And, of course, the real racists aren't these unhooded Klansmen on the air - including but limited to Limbaugh, Hannity, Glenn Beck, Lou Dobbs, and even former Congressman Tom Tancredo - but, as these and many, many others screech each and every day, it's the terrible, awful brown people who are the real racists.
The whole lot of them have done us the favor of giving a voice to the ugly cancer of racism. We no longer have to wonder when the boil will burst, because it already has. Each and every day they get their hate on, on television and radio, in newspaper columns and interviews. They are the vent to the deep ocean of barely contained race hatred that is, alas, part of our national inheritance. While it is ugly, this daily barrage of race hatred might also serve as a way of lancing the boil, as it were. It is far more honest, I think, to have these people coming as close as one can to shouting, "NIGGER!" (and I look forward to the moment that occurs; it will just as fish gotta swim and birds gotta fly), than it is pretending their objections to Pres. Obama is based on anything noble or principled.
They don't like him because he's black. Not only that, he's smart, he's funny, he's popular, he has political skills, and he's a dedicated father and husband. In other words, he's "uppity". They can't deal with his ongoing presence in our national life. They can't accept him. The real teachable moment on race in America isn't the arrest of a Harvard professor. The real teachable moment on race is the ongoing Klan rally that is much of the right-wing. In the 1920's, the Klan marched down Pennsylvania Ave in Washington, DC. Today, it airs midday on most AM stations across the country, as well as having a few TV slots on FOXNews and CNN.
While I feel for the African-American community, and all America, that has to suffer these pinheads and their blathering, I still think it far better they reveal themselves for who they are. When the moment comes for them to reveal themselves completely (and I would love to get a pool started on which one - Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity, pick your poison - slips the word first), perhaps we can have a teachable moment not only on race, but on our public discourse, the role of major media outlets and their sponsors, and a bunch of other stuff as well.
