Poll on racial views in the US

[Jimmie Higgins]

AP poll: Majority harbor prejudice against blacks (http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/AP-poll-Majority-harbor-prejudice-against-blacks-3986183.php#page-1)

Troubling, if not unexpected. At least it should be evidence to argue the falseness and uslessness of "colorblind" attitudes about race and racism.



Obama has tread cautiously on the subject of race, but many African-Americans have talked openly about perceived antagonism toward them since Obama took office. As evidence, they point to events involving police brutality or cite bumper stickers, cartoons and protest posters that mock the president as a lion or a monkey, or lynch him in effigy.
"Part of it is growing polarization within American society," said Fredrick Harris (http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fpolitics&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Fredrick+Harris%22), director of the Institute for Research (http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fpolitics&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Institute+for+Research%22) in African-American Studies at Columbia University (http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fpolitics&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Columbia+University%22). "The last Democrat in the White House said we had to have a national discussion about race. There's been total silence around issues of race with this president. But, as you see, whether there is silence, or an elevation of the discussion of race, you still have polarization.


So not only have things gotten economically and socially harder for blacks in the US during the recession, on top of being hit harder than the average population in employment and forclosures, but even overt racist attitudes have worsened.

Sorry to be a downer. Fight back!

[Let's Get Free]

The job of leftists is not to deny this or pretend its a 'distraction', but to engage with the argument about why racism is important to the reproduction of capitalism, where it emerges from, and what role it plays in the constitution of classes, etc. In other words, it's to show that race and class are integrally linked, not pretend they are discrete, competing issues.

[Ocean Seal]

Its kind of odd how most people support incredibly racist things in this country yet try to argue that they aren't racist. But allow them to get an anonymous soapbox and they'll go wild on political correctness and the other "inferior" races. I'm serious they're fucked up. Racism hasn't gone away its been experiencing a twenty year revival with a lot of whites feeling that they've been fucked by society because the other groups are better off than they were 40 years ago. Its sad to see white people complain that they aren't on the top of the food chain by that much anymore.

[campesino]

I see the media as it is now, and there are barely any shows with a visible black presence, compared to the 70's and 80's. Watch any episode of network tv and shows like modern family, which supposedly has a lot of diversity, and you''l barely see any black people.

there used to be the cosby show, diff'rent strokes, sanford and son, the jeffersons, family matters.
hell they even broadcast roots back in the day.

What the fuck do we have now.
If somebody tried to rebroadcast roots, people on the left(fake left/liberals)and right would be upset, with the right saying"this is race-baiting" "this is bringing up long dead racial animosity" "this is racist against whites" and the liberals would say "we live in a post-racial society" "there is no need for recognition of race nowadays" "this is unnecessary in modern day america" "it is wrong to divide people" "this is just going to divide and polarize america."

[Lev Bronsteinovich]

No surprise. Racism to the US what antisemitism was historically to Europe (I'm not sure there are enough Jews left there for it to be so useful to the bourgeoisie anymore). And while I suppose that a larger minority presence on popular TV shows means something, I'm not sure what. The demographics all point to rampant and institutionalized racism in this country. It will take a revolution to make this right.

[Os Cangaceiros]

What the fuck do we have now.


Tyler Perry ;)

[enlightened_ape2112]

I'm glad to hear people talking about this its something I've known for awhile. No matter how much mainstream media and liberals try to pretend racism is in decline its actually getting stronger. They're getting braver and coming unhinged. Things are only going to get worse for minorities in this country. Its frightening really.

[cynicles]

No surprise. Racism to the US what antisemitism was historically to Europe (I'm not sure there are enough Jews left there for it to be so useful to the bourgeoisie anymore). And while I suppose that a larger minority presence on popular TV shows means something, I'm not sure what. The demographics all point to rampant and institutionalized racism in this country. It will take a revolution to make this right.
Thankfully for the bourgeoisie you don't need jews for anti-semitism since it has historically been connected to orientalism one need only shift from jews to arabs and/or muslims.

[hetz]

Thankfully for the bourgeoisie you don't need jews for anti-semitism since it has historically been connected to orientalism one need only shift from jews to arabs and/or muslims.
That's pretty stupid because Islamophobia doesn't revolve around world banking conspiracies, secret societies, lizards, blood libels and what not.
European Jews and therefore antisemitism didn't and doesn't have much to do with orientalism.

[cynicles]

That's pretty stupid because Islamophobia doesn't revolve around world banking conspiracies, secret societies, lizards, blood libels and what not.
European Jews and therefore antisemitism didn't and doesn't have much to do with orientalism.
You have no idea what you're talking about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpU9L2Wljjk

[hetz]

You have no idea what you're talking about.
I think I do.
If you have an argument to make then please do so.
Posting some YT links instead of responses is close to trolling.

[Jimmie Higgins]

That's pretty stupid because Islamophobia doesn't revolve around world banking conspiracies, secret societies, lizards, blood libels and what not.
European Jews and therefore antisemitism didn't and doesn't have much to do with orientalism.I think in practice, many of the tropes used in modern antisemitism have been adopted and applied in antisemitism. Islam is linked to any kind of radicalism in the middle east; Islamophobes in europe attack Muslems for being part of an insular and therefore inherently untrustworthy group, international banking conspiracies have been replaced by fears of conspiracies of eliete Arabs controlling oil, and so on; the US Islamophobes are certaintly big on "secret societies" and plots to change US law to "sharia law".

There are similarities, but I don't think there's a one-to-one replication going on, just use of similar tropes for similar purposes of xenophobia, nativism, and scapegoating social problems onto a social minority.

[Jimmie Higgins]

An article from Socialist Worker on this poll:
http://socialistworker.org/2012/11/05/why-they-dont-challenge-racism



THIS BRINGS me to the AP poll's second revelation about racism and politics in the U.S.

While the Democratic Party is not the party of open racism, it certainly is the party of accommodation to it. For all of the racist inferences raised by the GOP--from the invocation of food stamps and welfare and beyond--the White House has a policy of not responding.

White House ally and AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka explained the reasoning behind not responding: "[B]ecause the instant he does, it becomes a racial fight. People look at everything he does through the race lens, and that makes it pretty tough on him."

Why are the Democrats so afraid to engage in a "racial fight?" The Democratic Party is also a party of the status quo and a fierce defender of American capitalism. To engage in a fight against the racism of the GOP would inevitably open up larger questions about racial inequality in the United States--like why Blacks are disproportionately on food stamps, living in poverty and unemployed?

To engage in a discussion about racial inequality would inevitably invite a discussion on how to address the material disparities between Blacks, whites and Latinos--and the Obama administration is loathe to engage in that conversation.