[Although perhaps in a time of catastrophe and hysteria, calmness will look attractive.]
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/22/opinion/22observer.html
The New York Times
September 22, 2008
Editorial Observer
Barack Obama, John McCain and the Language of Race
By BRENT STAPLES
It was not that long ago that black people in the Deep South could be
beaten or killed for seeking the right to vote, talking back to the
wrong white man or failing to give way on the sidewalk. People of color
who violated these and other proscriptions could be designated "uppity
n-words" and subjected to acts of violence and intimidation that were
meant to dissuade others from following their examples.
The term "uppity" was applied to affluent black people, who sometimes
paid a horrific price for owning nicer homes, cars or more successful
businesses than whites. Race-based wealth envy was a common trigger for
burnings, lynchings and cataclysmic episodes of violence like the Tulsa
race riot of 1921, in which a white mob nearly eradicated the
prosperous black community of Greenwood.
Forms of eloquence and assertiveness that were viewed as laudable among
whites were seen as positively mutinous when practiced by people of
color. As such, black men and women who looked white people squarely in
the eye -- and argued with them about things that mattered -- were
declared a threat to the racial order and persecuted whenever possible.
This obsession with black subservience was based in nostalgia for
slavery. No sane person would openly express such a sentiment today.
But the discomfort with certain forms of black assertiveness is too
deeply rooted in the national psyche -- and the national language -- to
just disappear. It has been a persistent theme in the public discourse
since Barack Obama became a plausible candidate for the presidency.
A blatant example surfaced earlier this month, when a Georgia
Republican, Representative Lynn Westmoreland, described the Obamas as
"uppity" in response to a reporter's question. Mr. Westmoreland, who
actually stood by the term when given a chance to retreat, later tried
to excuse himself by saying that the dictionary definition carried no
racial meaning. That seems implausible. Mr. Westmoreland is from the
South, where the vernacular meaning of the word has always been clear.
The Jim Crow South institutionalized racial paternalism in its
newspapers, which typically denied black adults the courtesy titles of
Mr. and Mrs. -- and reduced them to children by calling them by first
names only. Representative Geoff Davis, Republican of Kentucky,
succumbed to the old language earlier this year when describing what he
viewed as Mr. Obama's lack of preparedness to handle nuclear policy.
"That boy's finger does not need to be on the button," he said.
In the Old South, black men and women who were competent, confident
speakers on matters of importance were termed "disrespectful," the
implication being that all good Negroes bowed, scraped, grinned and
deferred to their white betters.
In what is probably a harbinger of things to come, the McCain campaign
has already run a commercial that carries a similar intimation,
accusing Mr. Obama of being "disrespectful" to Sarah Palin. The
argument is muted, but its racial antecedents are very clear.
The throwback references that have surfaced in the campaign suggest
that Republicans are fighting on racial grounds, even when express
references to race are not evident. In a replay of elections past, the
G.O.P. will try to leverage racial ghosts and fears without getting its
hands visibly dirty. The Democrats try to parry in customary ways.
Mr. Obama seems to understand that he is always an utterance away from
a statement -- or a phrase -- that could transform him in a campaign ad
from the affable, rational and racially ambiguous candidate into the
archetypical angry black man who scares off the white vote. His caution
is evident from the way he sifts and searches the language as he
speaks, stepping around words that might push him into the danger zone.
These maneuvers are often painful to watch. The troubling part is that
they are necessary.