Bigots for Equality!

Last week I posted the comments of a friend, a psychotherapist and reverend, who argued that statements like "Justice Sotomayor is a reverse racist", or that Obama-care will favor blacks over whites, or will give-away medical treatment to “illegals”, or that, as Glenn Beck proclaims, Obama has "a deep-seated hatred for white people", are all demonstrations of psychological projection. “Projection is never conscious”, she wrote, “and so is not deliberate. The person who projects sincerely believes that what they say about the other person applies.” Many here agreed. I believe the opposite.

The most virulent white supremacists have always hailed from the extreme Right, and the from the reddest states, like South Carolina, which Joe (you lie!) Wilson represents. Yet today hordes of politicians of Wilson’s ilk, and right-wing shock-jocks are holding themselves out to be defenders of equal rights!

This is the same conservative movement that instituted slavery and waged the Civil War to defend it. Then they brought us the Klu Klux Klan and Jim Crow, and fought tooth-and-nail against the Civil Rights Act, integration, affirmative action, and Dr. Martin Luther King. Now they itch for a global war against Arabs and demand a wall to keep out Mexicans.

There is nothing remotely subtle about their racism. Here’s Rush Limbaugh on Obama: “We are being told that we have to hope he succeeds, that we have to bend over, grab the ankles … because his father was black, because this is the first black president." During the campaign he called Obama a “halfrican-American” who’s "only chance of winning… is that he's black", and that he’s "an affirmative action candidate". (citations and more quotes. 13 million Americans listen to Rush religiously.)

But now we should believe that they sincerely believe they are defending racial equality? Michelle Malkin, Rush Limbaugh, and Sean Hannity all warned that white males would be excluded from jobs created by the economic stimulus package. Why? Because Obama’s Labor Secretary said the plan should "include women and minorities ". (citation)

One thing – and only one thing - is absolutely consistent with conservative attitudes about race: they have always fought for white male power and prestige against any perceived threat. To believe that their recent warnings of reverse racism are anything but conscious and cynical lies would be foolish. And I’m not buying it.

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