The R Word

We’re going to go there.  The R Word means Race. 

Race can be talked about, openly, by grownups, as long as one is respectful, supportive, honest and inclusive, which is exactly where we are going to stay, but expect some mild discomfort along the way.

Specifically we’re going to talk about the obvious observation, that Senator Barack Obama is black.

There.  We said it.  Notice the planet is still revolving, gravity still applies, buildings have not fallen over, there has been no rain of flaming frogs from the sky and George W. Bush is still depriving a small West Texas village of their idiot.

The Pundit and Poll Trolls have been talking about something called The Bradley Effect as a shy code-word for a phenomenon where people tell pollsters how they’re planning to vote, but doing something else when confronted with the pencil, voting lever, chad puncher or computer doodle on an actual ballot.

To truly simplify The Bradley Effect and strip away what is being implied, hang onto your socks, here it is:

Will white people actually vote for a black man for the office of President, in America, in November 2008?

There.  We said it.  Out loud.  No sugar coating, no indirect obscure references and no coy batting of eyelashes. It is a difficult question that should make you uncomfortable, especially if you’re white. 

(Disclosure:  I’m so White that White people point at me and say “Who’s the White Guy?”  Technically, I’m English-Scottish-Irish-Welsh-American cross-bred with several generations of Ottawa Valley hillbillies.  I rest my ancestral case, M’lord.)

So there sits the question.  For the majority the answer is “Hell, Yes, we will vote for Barack Obama as he is the right person for the job.” 

However, there is that percentage that will not vote for Obama.  Not because Barack Obama is the wrong person, or inexperienced, or any number of disagreements with policy, but who will not vote for Obama because he’s Black. 

Now, how does that make you feel?  Do you feel queasy or lightheaded?  Sit down for a bit and take a few breaths, you’ll be fine. 

We all belong to various races, as race is a taxonomic term that groups very broad physical characteristics by commonality as a short-form descriptor.  Caucasian, African, Semitic, Nordic, South Asian, Asian, Aboriginal, Innu are all terms that describe the collection of physical traits associated with a race.  Ninety-nine percent of the genetics are the same, but we needed a way to describe a Samoan and a Swede in the same sentence.

Unfortunately, the term “race” has been corrupted to include politics, nationality, affiliations and behaviours real or imagined associated with that race, in a hurtful and discriminatory way.  That’s why you are feeling uncomfortable now.  “All Elbonians are horse thieves” is an example of a negative racial statement.  (It’s wrong too:  All Elbonians are goat ropers, not horse thieves.  I’m kidding, relax.)

Now that we’ve defined our terms we can come back to the core question.  Does race matter in the US Presidential Election?

My answer is a very simple No, as race is the dumbest reasons to vote for or against someone.  The potential that any sensible human would even consider voting based on race is repugnant to me as it calls to all the worst aspects of the human animal.  Race voting precludes thinking for yourself and succumbing to very dangerous and very stupid fears.     

However, there is a percentage, who vote, who don’t use their brain as anything other than a spacer to keep their ears from touching in the middle of their skulls.

These include people who insist that only small town America is patriotic, or their policy is going to benefit Joe SixPack and Joe the Plumber and The Real America, whatever the hell that is.  This includes pundits who point to The Bradley Effect as a way for some people to vote by race and feel OK about it. 

This also includes commentators who claim that Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama solely on a dermal melanin percentage.  This also includes the perpetrators of the Barack “Osama” typographical “mistakes” and the hundreds of other petty, dumb beasts out there.

They’re playing a fear card and a race card in the ugliest way possible, by indirect inference.  They don’t have the courage of their convictions to stand up and be direct about their beliefs.  I’ll give swine like George Wallace and Bull Connor one point for being straight-up Honest-to-God Racists:  At least you knew where you stood with them.

The sleaziest and scummiest are the ones that mouth the pieties of America out of one side of their mouths, while doing a Zarrow shuffle with the cards and getting the Ace of Spades to magically appear every time.  These are fear-mongers of the worst kind.  The kind who stoop to using race as they know they can’t win any other way. 

We still have that question sitting out there don’t we? 

Will white people actually vote for a black man for the office of President, in America, in November 2008?

I have my answer:  I truly hope that white Americans will vote for a black man for President.  He’s the right person for the job.

Now, you have your say.