A primer on racism (for people too ignorant to know)

Racism, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.  To say, for example, that blacks make better athletes is a racist statement. If you cannot get past this basic assumption, then you should probably close this window and go back to watching Fox News or the Home Shopping Network or some other intellectually-challenged TV show.

Let's go a step further and discuss institutional racism. One definition calls this: those forces, social arrangements, institutions, structures, policies, precedents and systems of social relations that operate to deprive certain racially identified categories equality. Segregation is an example of institutional racism. Again, if you cannot agree on this basic fact, perhaps enlightened reading is not for you.

Segregation is based on racism. White people in this country did not want to drink from the same fountains, sleep in the same beds, ride on the same bus seats, etc. etc. as black people because they believed them to be less-than, to be subhuman, to be inferior. This is an historical fact, don't argue with me.

Fast forward to 2002. Trent Lott, then Senate Majority leader made this ridiculously ignorant comment:

"I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either."

In case you don't know about Strom Thurmond, here's a quick background on the 1948 presidential election Lott is referring to in his quote. Thurmond ran for the Dixiecrat Party, a right-wing breakaway party whose platform was based on the defense of segregationist policies. The party's platform included this: "We stand for the segregation of the races and the racial integrity of each race." Thurmond said, during his campaign, "All the laws of Washington and all the bayonets of the Army cannot force the Negro into our homes, our schools, our churches." (and don't go filling up the comments section with a bunch of apologist statements about how Thurmond moved away from his segregationist beliefs later in life. That is completely irrelevant here.)

THIS position is what Lott was supporting. THIS politician in THIS election is what Lott was supporting in his statement. He is clearly supporting a racist candidate and espousing racist beliefs, at a minimum for the period during which Thurmond ran and Lott voted for him. More likely, he like many others continued to espouse these racist beliefs for a long time. Either way, it was an incredibly offensive comment that was supporting racist practices and beliefs.

Fast forward to 2008. Harry Reid, while discussing the electability of then presidential candidate Barack Obama, made a short statement to a reporter. Harry Reid's paraphrased words as reported in the book Game Change:

He was wowed by Obama’s oratorical gifts and believed that the country was ready to embrace a black presidential candidate, especially one such as Obama — a “light-skinned” African American “with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one,” as he later put it privately.

Now, let me me state two things very clearly: 1) the use of the term 'Negro' is cringe-worthy and offensive to many, and 2) had Reid said the EXACT same thing, but used the word 'Black' instead, most of us would have simply nodded in agreement and noted that America still has many racial issues and hang-ups to overcome.

But, now stay with me here (those of you who haven't floated off to watch Wheel of Fortune), Reid's statement was, at its essence, an indictment of the racism that exists in America. His statement is not racist. Let me say that again. Speaking about racism is not the same as being a racist. I can talk about baseball all day long; this does not make me a baseball player. See the difference?

Now go back and read the first sentence of this post. Go on .. I'll wait here.

There is nothing in Harry Reid's statement that is racist. He is not supporting racism, endorsing a candidate who supports racism, or saying anything racist.

Let's take a peek at Lott's statement. He states, with enthusiasm, that he supported racist policies and racist beliefs HIMSELF and voted as such. Not my words. His. (again, I don't care if you believe he and Thurmond later renounced these beliefs. It is not the issue.)

Needless to say, the fact that the Republicans and the right-wing pundits are trying to make a false equivalency between Reid and Lott in order to justify getting Reid to step down is ridiculous. In fact, the irony of their position is that it just further proves that we can't have honest dialogue about race in this country STILL. We can't even get people to acknowledge what racism is and what it isn't or whether racism exists or not. Sad, but true.

(and coincidentally, exactly what Reid was reflecting on in his now infamous statement)