Friday, January 26, 2018

When racism is a "political asset".

MORE DISCLAIMERSThe Field Negro education series continues.

The following is an essay from Jamelle Bouie.

"What would you call someone who blasted Haiti as a “shithole,” complained about immigrants from Africa, and wondered why the United States couldn’t accept more immigrants from a European country like Norway?

What about someone who mocked Nigerians as living in “huts?” Or defended white supremacists after they terrorized a city in a “protest” that ended with the killing of a counter-demonstrator? What if he or she described black neighborhoods as essentially fit for animals, portrayed Muslim Americans as fundamentally untrustworthy, and criticized Mexico for sending “rapists”? What if, for nearly five years, that person devoted time and attention to “proving” the first black president of the United States was an illegitimate usurper hiding his true African background from the public?
What would you call this person? At the very least, you would call him or her a “racist,” one with a documented history of bias and contempt toward nonwhites.

This person, obviously, is President Donald Trump. And President Trump is a racist. It was clear on Thursday, when he made his remarks about Haiti, and it was clear last month, when he made his comments about Nigeria. It was clear when he went on his “birther” crusade against Barack Obama. It’s been clear for as long as he’s been in the public eye, from when he was investigated by the Department of Justice for housing discrimination in the 1970s to when he demanded execution for five black and Latino teenagers who had been accused, falsely, of attacking and a raping a white woman in New York City in the 1980s. 

The evidence for Trump’s racism is so abundant and explicit that the claim shouldn’t even be controversial. And yet, in the wake of the president’s recent comments, our most prominent news outlets are still hedging their bets. The New York Times called Trump’s remarks “the latest example of his penchant for racially tinged remarks denigrating immigrants.” The Washington Post, which broke the story, called the comments part of his “long-standing tendency to make racially charged remarks.” For the Wall Street Journal, the comments were merely “vulgar.”

This hesitation is not hard to understand. Our society is largely indifferent to racial inequality but is highly sensitive to accusations of racism. Labeling anything racist—or accusing anyone of racism—is fraught enough to spark a backlash, especially when it falls outside common archetypes for racism: the violent neo-Nazi, corrupt Southern sheriff, or torch-bearing member of the Ku Klux Klan. Not only does Trump fall outside of the popular image of a racist, but he’s a partisan figure, backed by millions of people. Even if it fits the facts, frankly labeling the president a racist is a risky move, one that might alienate the people you’re trying to reach, including other lawmakers and partisan political figures.

Beyond this, the attitudes and actions that constitute racism are highly contested, especially among white Americans most sensitive to the accusation. And when racism is acknowledged, it often comes sans actors and agency. Something racist may have happened, but no one is responsible. It’s racism without racists.

Donald Trump is a racist, and the evidence shows it. But it’s politically incorrect to say so. When ESPN analyst Jemele Hill criticized the president as a “white supremacist” on Twitter, she was met with a wave of opprobrium, including a statement from White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who called it “one of the more outrageous comments that anyone could make and certainly something that I think is a fireable offense by ESPN.” Trump demanded an apology, and the network allegedly tried to take her off the air.

Major news outlets may be slow to label Trump’s racism as such, but the president’s allies seem to both acknowledge the racism and see it as a political asset. “Staffers inside the White House aren’t that worried about Trump’s ‘shithole’ remark,” reported CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Twitter, “with some predicting it will actually resonate with his base, not alienate it, much like his attacks on NFL players who kneel during the national anthem did.”

Donald Trump came onto the political scene with a racist conspiracy theory. He ran a racist campaign. As president, he continues to say racist things. As a simple point of fact, we should be able to say—without hesitation—that Donald Trump is a racist. [Source]

Well done, although the theme of the essay was kind of stating the obvious. 

Saying Donald trump is a racist is like saying water is wet. But  still, it's always nice to remind our fellow Americans who we elected as our president.  

64 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:18 PM

    Wait, so Haiti lSN'T a shithole??

    I wonder why their next door neighbor, the Dominican Republic, has a (racist) fence between the two.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous11:12 PM

    For right wingers, Trump's racism....my bad... racially charged/tinged disposition is not a negative attribute. It's a positive virtue.

    In fact, for them, White racism is an unspoken job requirement to be a POTUS.

    In short, racism is American as apple pie.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The only recourse we have is the vote. Make that blue wave happen in 18 and 20!

    ReplyDelete
  4. PX: Yes, let's.

    "But still, it's always nice to remind our fellow Americans who we elected as our president."

    No. "We" didn't elect Fergus. They elected him and had to cheat their asses off to pull it off.
    They know they elected him, and now the 27% that will always support whatever hobgoblin has an R after their name are twisting themselves into pretzels trying to explain why they still support him after he has betrayed the shit they claim they stand for repeatedly and in public.
    While at the edges some are reading the writing on the wall and scuttling away to bad mouth him in the media, acting as if there would be any fucking difference in policy if it was president Rubio or president Jeb, and that somehow the goddamn Republican party they have spent their entire adult lives supporting wasn't responsible for him.
    Among those Gersons and Frums and Rubins and all of the rest there is a major project underway to escape responsibility for their complicity in foisting this bozo on us, which they very much would like to spread to the population at large like the phony Tea Party bullshit did in the wake of the implosion of the Bush administration, and to a certain extent they will succeed, at least with the 27% who really want to believe them.
    For everyone else?
    Burn the fucking lifeboats.
    They own this.
    We will hang it around their necks for a long, long time.

    -Doug in Oakland

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good read along the same lines.

      https://johnpavlovitz.com/2018/01/24/white-evangelicals-people/

      Delete
    2. Well expressed Doug

      Delete
  5. I personally think we need to stop saying the word racists because it no longer has any meaning to racists.

    Let's just call them inhumane evil bastards which is a MUCH better description.

    On another note, it's so interesting as a health professional to see all the "sympathy" given to heroin addicts these days because it's affecting white, middle class people, when no one gave a rat's ass as poor, minority people were addicts were dying in the 70s and 80s.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous7:47 AM

      No, the left just shouts racism when they lise the argument.

      Delete
  6. Yīshēng said...

    On another note, it's so interesting as a health professional to see all the "sympathy" given to heroin addicts these days because it's affecting white, middle class people, when no one gave a rat's ass as poor, minority people were addicts were dying in the 70s and 80s.

    2:37 AM
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    The white supremacists know their numbers are dwindling. Therefore they have to save and rehabilitate as many of their kind as they can, while simultaneously killing off as many browns and blacks as they can. The white children of these addicts that are taken into foster care while they rehabilitate the parents/family are given to the best families possible, with a huge stipend thus making it lucrative for white upper middle class families,careful monitoring with all medical and psychological services for them. And so while this is wonderful for the children who get to see and learn from a wonderful family life, it of course should be this way for all Americans, But we know it's not, nor will it ever be.

    I say to all black and brown parents out there, please be aware of your child's school matters and of the very real school to prison pipeline. Just yesterday a 7 year old child was arrested in school for some trumped up misbehaving charge,and led away in handcuffs! 7 years old.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:52 PM

      Parents, PARENTS? With an "S" on the end?!?

      Oh l see, that is a joke, right?

      Delete
  7. Lilacpr10:25 AM

    "What about someone who mocked Nigerians as living in “huts?”
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    IT'S clearly a ploy from a businessman who has traveled and done business with all of the African countries, to appeal to the ignorant masses (whom the most they've seen is Disney), who vote for him, and keep him in office and in the money. Clearly he knows better. But of course you know, he has to say that...

    ReplyDelete
  8. The Truth will set you free12:12 PM

    So, Field, you are saying reality is racist, and speaking the truth makes one a racist.

    We got it.

    ReplyDelete
  9. My shoes12:18 PM

    Yīshēng said...
    "all the "sympathy" given to heroin addicts these days because it's affecting white, middle class people, when no one gave a rat's ass as poor, minority people were addicts were dying in the 70s and 80s"

    Does your lack of sympathy have anything to do with the fact this affects whites more?

    Note that America spent 24 billion dollars fighting the AIDS epidemic, which disproportionately affected gays and blacks (and today is pretty much a black disease) while the current opioid crisis among working class whites has only gotten $500 million from congress.

    Try looking at things from other people's perspectives once in a while.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Diesn't matter a whit what Drumpfuck sez or duz, a percentage of racist wasici wasteys will believe him and defend him.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous1:04 PM

      Mike, your cutting edge wit is like a scythe to those Drumph wingnuts, and your use of the worh "waycis" is a testament too your genius.

      Keep up the good work buddy, it's guys like you that make Field Negro a top blog.

      Delete
  11. Drumpfuck's FBI shot and killed a hostage in Texas.

    Drumpf's military friendly fired 11 friendly soldiers in Iraq.

    Way to go, team Drumpf.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I say to all black and brown parents out there, please be aware of your child's school matters and of the very real school to prison pipeline. Just yesterday a 7 year old child was arrested in school for some trumped up misbehaving charge,and led away in handcuffs! 7 years old.
    >>>>>

    I took about 1.5 years off my own career to be involved full-time at my daughter’s elementary school advocating for minority kids whose parents couldn’t afford to. Let me tell you, that school to prison pipeline starts in elementary school when school officials, sometimes Black/Brown ones too, get these kids stuck with labels that follow them into early adulthood.

    ReplyDelete
  13. “The white supremacists know their numbers are dwindling.”

    THANK GOD, and this is backed up by the fact the life expectancy is down due to all the White addicts dropping like flies.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous2:38 PM

    The number of racially aware White people is actually growing, not dwindling.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Correction, we did not elect tRump, he was selected by the Electoral College and certified by Congress.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous7:24 PM

      Damn the American Electoral process!!!! It's rayyyycissss!!

      Delete
  16. Lilacpr2:45 PM


    My shoes12:18 PM

    Does your lack of sympathy have anything to do with the fact this affects whites more?

    Note that America spent 24 billion dollars fighting the AIDS epidemic, which disproportionately affected gays and blacks (and today is pretty much a black disease).
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    When I was in health, the majority of HIV infected were white. They received the best medicines where blacks did not. So there is that

    ReplyDelete
  17. Flattery will get you nowhere with me, Anymoose, you dog.

    ReplyDelete
  18. "school officials, sometimes Black/Brown ones too, get these kids stuck with labels that follow them into early adulthood".

    So, it's not the bad behavior that's the problem, it's the labeling of it by school officials.

    Hmmmmmm.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous3:34 PM

    "When I was in health, the majority of HIV infected were white."

    Don't know where you practiced, but for the entire country, blacks are many times more likely to have HIV.

    ReplyDelete
  20. The Constitution3:38 PM

    Redeye said...
    Correction, we did not elect tRump, he was selected by the Electoral College and certified by Congress.
    ---

    Just like every single other President in US history.

    The US President is not elected in a national election, but in 50 state elections.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous said...
    Mike, your cutting edge wit is like a scythe to those Drumph wingnuts, and your use of the worh "waycis" is a testament too your genius.

    Keep up the good work buddy, it's guys like you that make Field Negro a top blog.
    ---

    With the level of discourse exhibited by some of the trolls here as well as resident regulars like "Doug from Oakland" and "Yisheng", one would have thought it impossible to drag it any lower, but mike, God bless him, has redefined what's possible when it comes to poorly written idiotic vitriol in an internet comment forum. His mastery of the mindless non sequitur coupled with gratuitous vulgarity and cringe-inducing self-abasement knows no peer. A hateful ignoramus proudly carrying the banner for a dying and discredited ideology, he works tirelessly to demean any discourse, no matter how meaningless and retarded it already is. Truly a man for our age.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous Internet Comment Review Board says- derp.

    Honest, fellas, it isn't my fault dtoopid fucking wingnuts can't keep up. Slow and retarded is not a good way to get through life. Of course, behind is all you think about. Hoping Drumpfuck does yer behind sets yer little hearts aflutter.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Seriously you are just annoyed that Doug, I and others put the lies to so many of your wingnut fantasies and you are not allowed to kick puppies anymore. Take it out on me. I have broad shoulders.

    All the best to my adoring stoopid fucking wingnuts fans.

    ReplyDelete
  24. The system4:50 PM

    So, it's not the bad behavior that's the problem, it's the labeling of it by school officials.
    ___________________

    It is if the same behavior is excused when the actors are white. That shows a broken system.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Jim Wright at Stonekettle Station just handed Nunes and the rest of the stoopid fucking wingnut party their lunch over sekret societies.

    Wright masterfully plucks and draws the corpses of these idiots who apparently do not understand classified info and classifications for such.

    Sic 'em, Jim http://www.stonekettle.com/2018/01/dirty-tricks.html

    ReplyDelete
  26. Anonymous The system said...

    It is if the same behavior is excused when the actors are white. That shows a broken system.

    4:50 PM
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Exactly! Also putting any child in handcuffs and taking them to jail, is barbaric to say the least and inexcusable. Any child that has behavior problems should be seen by a qualified psychologist, to get to the root of the problem, not taken to jail!

    ReplyDelete
  27. Anonymous5:56 PM

    "It is if the same behavior is excused when the actors are white"

    But it's not.

    American public schools are run by liberals, who teach white guilt/privilege and black saintliness. They are not racist towards blacks. The whole edifice is built to eliminate the Achievement Gap and the Discipline Gap between white and black students.

    Black kids mature physically earlier, they often have absent fathers, and many are taught that school has little value, nothing is their fault, and all responsibility for everything falls on white people, who are racist.

    My kids went to a "diverse" school system. Black kids fight and act out a lot more often than white kids. Black girls actually fight in the hallways during school.

    Schools need to enforce more discipline, not less. More excuse making for black kids just puts them deeper in the hole.

    ReplyDelete
  28. My dream proves I am a better person than stoopid fucking wingnuts

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DUfZQpLVAAACknI.jpg:large

    ReplyDelete
  29. Advertiser says he puts commercials on Fox News because their viewers are "extremely gullible" and "f*cking idiots."


    Anonymous mike from iowa said...

    My dream proves I am a better person than stoopid fucking wingnuts

    Too true, though i did not write this.

    Gawd, now everyone will want to be like me.

    ReplyDelete
  30. A cross that I must bear to lead stoopid fucking wingnuts to the light and the real truth.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Anonymous7:17 PM

    https://fellowshipoftheminds.com/2010/05/27/washington-insider-obama-member-of-chicago-gay-mans-club/

    ReplyDelete
  32. Anonymous7:28 PM

    Chicago January 2018 to Date:
    Shot & Killed: 30
    Shot & Wounded: 148
    Total Shot: 178
    Total Homicides: 35

    ReplyDelete
  33. So Cheeto chases women around hotel rooms in his VERY large "tighty whiteys".

    BAWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  34. So Cheeto chases women around hotel rooms in his VERY large "tighty whiteys"

    😖 Thanks Doc, now that'll be stuck in my head.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Jethro8:02 PM

    Trailer Park, West Virginia January 2018 to date:

    OD's due to consuming hillbilly heroin: 1,000

    ReplyDelete
  36. Another crazy white shooter8:05 PM

    https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-kentucky-shooting-suspect-20180125-story,amp.html

    ReplyDelete
  37. Anonymous11:53 PM

    Only Pastor James David Manning can save Black folk. ATLAH !

    ReplyDelete
  38. Anonymous11:55 PM

    Hey Field, Whats the difference between a racist and a missionary? .......About two weeks.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Anonymous12:01 AM

    I love racists

    ReplyDelete
  40. https://tinyurl.com/y8c5nmls

    Who knew someone was talented enough to draw Mitch McCTurtle as a cat?

    Well done, sir.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Stoopid fucking wingnut guv of Wisconshithole just signed a bill that allows toddlers to hunt deer with guns, as long as they are accompanied by an adult.

    Used to be a kid had to be 14 and pass a Russian/NRA hunter safety class before they could legally carry.

    ReplyDelete

  42. I wonder why their next door neighbor, the Dominican Republic, has a (racist) fence between the two

    To show the new border between the 2 countries. Not wayciss at all, Sucker. Try harder.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Anonymous12:50 PM

    Oh the hilarity... Black whining reaches a new crescendo!

    What would you call someone who blasted Haiti as a “shithole,”

    Truthful.  Port-au-Prince has NO functioning sewage treatment system, and human feces run in open sewers.

    What about someone who mocked Nigerians as living in “huts?”

    Truthful.  Search Google Images for "Nigeria hut" and you get hundreds of hits like this.

    Or defended white supremacists after they terrorized a city

    They defended a long-standing monument.  They were BEING terrorized by armed Antifa and black supremacists.

    in a “protest” that ended with the killing of a counter-demonstrator?

    After everyone from the local PD to the governor did everything they could to get someone killed, and the victim didn't die of blunt force injury.  The grossly obese woman had a heart attack.

    What if he or she described black neighborhoods as essentially fit for animals

    Wealthy black people agree:  the place to live is the whitest one you can buy into!

    And seriously, given the rampant animal abuse black people commit, black neighborhoods aren't even fit for animals (except the swine who created them).

    portrayed Muslim Americans as fundamentally untrustworthy

    Taqiyya.

    and criticized Mexico for sending “rapists”?

    Such refreshing candor!

    What if, for nearly five years, that person devoted time and attention to “proving” the first black president of the United States was an illegitimate usurper hiding his true African background from the public?

    The guy "won" his Senate seat when the Chicago machine un-sealed the sealed divorce records of his opponent, but has kept his own academic records sealed.  We don't need to know any more than that.  Obama is as phony as a $3 bill.

    What would you call this person? At the very least, you would call him or her a “racist,” one with a documented history of bias and contempt toward nonwhites.

    Anyone who isn't "racist" by Bouie's standard is a fool.

    The evidence for Trump’s racism is so abundant and explicit that the claim shouldn’t even be controversial.

    Trump is no fool.  That's what we love about him.

    Don't like it?  #Blaxit already!

    And one last thing:

    "To anger a conservative, lie to him.
    To anger a liberal, tell him the truth." — Teddy Roosevelt

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous6:22 PM

      Damn, you posted facts, and facts be raycisss!!

      You is raycissss!!!!

      Delete
  44. Anonymous12:52 PM

    Blaxit in 2020 !

    ReplyDelete
  45. "Hey Field, Whats the difference between a racist and a missionary? .......About two weeks."

    Historically speaking, most of them were racists before they left.

    -Doug in Oakland

    ReplyDelete
  46. Israel is offering a $100 US bounty for African immigrants found in country.

    ReplyDelete
  47. Anonymous Anonymous said a mouthful of shit. Stoopid is strong in this live wire. Yer one sick mofo!

    ReplyDelete
  48. Anonymous3:44 PM

    Blaxit in 2020 !
    ---------------
    Harris/Booker 2020!

    ReplyDelete
  49. Fake Noize is trying to infer Steve Wynn, the financial chair of the RNC is a Democrat.

    ReplyDelete
  50. Anonymous7:48 PM

    "Harris/Booker 2020!"

    Oh, that would be great.  Trump has all the video of Booker emoting on the Senate floor, and Harris has even worse optics.  It would be a bloodbath.

    ReplyDelete
  51. Neither Booker or Harris could ever lie like Drumpfuck the dumbfuck.

    ReplyDelete
  52. This so-called "president" is severely mentally incapacitated. He needs to be assigned into the nearest mental facility near the Whites' House. If his father was a Klan member and their originally from Germany, why would he not have the same orientation as Adolph Hitler. His so-called "racism" shouldn't surprise anyone. His fucking FACE is a surprise.

    ReplyDelete
  53. their should be they're; sorry about that, I do know the English language.

    ReplyDelete
  54. Anonymous6:26 PM

    SPARKLEFARTS!!

    ReplyDelete
  55. What about someone who mocked Nigerians as living in “huts?” Or defended white supremacists after they terrorized a city in a “protest” that ended with the killing of a counter-demonstrator? What if he or she described black neighborhoods as essentially fit for animals, portrayed Muslim Americans as fundamentally untrustworthy, and criticized Mexico for sending “rapists”? What if, for nearly five years, that person devoted time and attention to “proving” the first black president of the United States was an illegitimate usurper hiding his true African background from the public?


    Yet, ALL of these things he's said are TRUE! How do argue with absolutely TRUE, dude?

    ReplyDelete