Friday October 10, 2008 will go down in history for a number of reasons, but mostly for being the day Americans were hit with the fact that after 200 years of nationhood and after strenuous efforts by our leaders to project an image of maturity, progress and tolerance, we are still a nation searching for what it means to be free. This stark reality was thrust to the fore by the statements of participants at a John McCain campaign rally in Minnesota. Most of them referred to Barack Obama as a “terrorist”; one participant expressed worry about raising a child in a country ruled by a Black man; a woman called Obama an “Arab”. The seeds of these bewildering perceptions were planted by the politics of division, hate and the “us vs. them” slogans that they must have known would be divisive. To compound the problem, this is a very trying time in the face of a very disturbing economic crisis and what was called the worst week on Wall Street. To cut to the chase, the recent direction Sarah Palin and senator John McCain are taking this country through their hate-filled vitriol at their rallies reminds any student of history about the early bearings of the rise of what could potentially be a very tense period in the final three weeks of the campaign season.
Ever since she got on the campaign trail, Sarah Palin has not espoused a policy position once. She has not come up with a coherent idea of how their administration will move the country forward. She has not told us of the plans they have for education, social security, dealing with two international wars etc. Rather, every available minute on the trail is wasted on waging class warfare and spreading racial bigotry. In an era when “almost two out of five Los Angeles County residents do not have enough income to meet their basic needs and may qualify for government anti-poverty programs….[and] 3.7 million residents live below 200 percent of the federal poverty line“, she douses the audience with bile and made up stories of “exceptionalism”, a phrase she absolutely has no idea what it means based on how it is used. All one needs to do is go to a republican rally. While there, count how many African-American people are there. See if you can count how many Hispanics, Asians, West Indians etc, there. Notice that we did not even bother to add anyone of Middle Eastern descent on that list. Being an “Arab” is not synonymous with being a “terrorist”, but that distinction is perhaps too much to expect from a woman who thinks Afghanistan is a neighboring country. Are we to assume now that anyone with a foreign “Arab” sounding name should be afraid to apply for a job, seek medical attention or run for public office in the United States of America? Are we labeling people whose names are not Brown, Rice and Beans as pariahs in our country? In some quarters, inaction may be seen as tantamount ot consent. In other words, McCain and Palin tacitly agree with the characterization induced by their hate-mongering speeches and exhortations. These are dangerous times and for anyone who may think people are over-reacting, remember that this country has a sad history of assassinations and attempted assassinations. Is it legitimate for the McCain campaign to highlight policy differences with senator Obama? Absolutely. That is what campaigns are all about, and the American people will relate to that. But at the same time, John McCain, being an older person, is well aware of the historical difficulties this country has been through and should be cognizant of that history when they give Governor Palin her talking points. That Governor Palin has some racist tendencies may be gleaned from her use of the words of a writer who was famous for his “casual distaste for Jews,”.Being Black does not equate the inability to lead. Why is it okay to send Black men into wars as commanders, or have them as heads of major corporations and government agencies but assume that we cannot live in the same country with a Black man as president? Granted, this myopic mindset belongs to a small section of civil society, but rather than stoke that ignorance and perpetuate the rabid hate that spews from it, it is incumbent on John McCain and Sarah Palin to promote the gains the country has made that made it possible for senator McCain to select a woman as his vice presidential candidate without people calling for her head and/or his for that matter.
The disdain for intelligence and against intelligent people is why it is important for Republicans to remember history. Every country we have had to go into militarily had at the heart of it all, ethnic bigorty and hate. Whether it is Kosovo, Smialia, Iraq, Afghanistan, there is a common thread – people who could not learn to accept others for what and who they are. Is it not ironic that we condemn extremists and fundamentalists for practicing the exact same thing we now seem to be encouraging _ hate?
