The fact is that since the dawn of the republic, we have always been a politically fractured nation.
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As most people who follow politics know, President Obama delivered his final State of the Union address a few weeks ago in mid January. As to be expected, his statements received high marks from many people on the political left, and largely critical responses from those on the conservative right. Such is the state of politics in 2016. The fact is that since the dawn of the republic, we have always been a politically fractured nation. Political disagreements, nothing new. Goodness knows I have engaged in my share of political verbal sparring with more than a few individuals in bars, coffee shops, academic spaces, and other venues. The majority of conversations have been spirited and civil. Most people, regardless of where they sit on the political spectrum, manage to maintain their composure and behave like human beings. It seems, however, that the same cannot be said for right wing talk radio.
Over the past two weeks, a number of radio hosts have been responding to the recent poll conducted by Rasmussen that found that more than half of Americans polled believed that race relations are on the decline. My response to this: is that race relations in our nation have never been greater.
Truth be told, race relations have not worsened under President Obama.
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However, I would have to disagree with those who say they are getting worse. Rather, what I see is a segment of society, (a small but vocal one), who is angered and disillusioned with the fact that an African American man and his family have resided at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for the past several years. These are the men and women who have made their bitterness known by aggressively utilizing talk radio to vent their unhinged anger.
In fact, these people have taken their queues from the legions of many Republican politicians, pundits, and loyal GOP voters who have targeted President Obama (and, in some cases, First Lady Michelle Obama) as the reason for the current state of race relations in our nation.
Right-wing talk radio has made blaming President Obama for race relations a cottage industry. In fact, I have not seen anyone blamed so much for a situation since 2005, when the former Bush administration official Michael Brown was scapegoated for the ineffectiveness of FEMA during the hurricane Katrina tragedy. Perennial Obama critics Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, acid-tongued author and commentator Ann Coulter, outlandish radical Obama haters Mark Levin and Alex Jones, sophisticated Obama critic Erik Erickson and Hugh Hewitt, the entire 2016 GOP presidential field, and many others have made criticizing the president for racism a daily affair. In fact, it has become an obsessive, ’round the clock hobby for an ever increasing selection of these individuals.
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To these people, the Obama presidency is the equivalent of having a bad nightmare from which they have not yet awakened.
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Truth be told, race relations have not worsened under President Obama. They are indeed less than desirable and far from ideal, but the fact is that this has always been the case. From the time African slaves were brought ashore and stepped foot on American soil, to the present day, race relations between different ethnic groups have always been complex. America always has had a tortured racial past. The nation’s gender history hasn’t been much better. From slavery to the Civil War. From the reactionary 1980s to the 21st century, race (like gender) is an ongoing topic that has been deeply etched in the fabric of the restless soul of a conflicted and unsettled nation. This is nothing new.
Rather, what has transpired is that, during his tenure in office, largely due to his race, many people have been forced to confront the issue of race as well as their own racism. Sad as it is, the truth is that for many of these people, the fact that a man of African descent is the leader of the free world is too much for them to bear. To these people, the Obama presidency is the equivalent of having a bad nightmare from which they have not yet awakened. Black leaders of state are supposed to be relegated to literary fiction or to the imaginary creative spaces of Hollywood portrayed by actors such as James Earl Jones, Morgan Freeman and Chris Rock. It is these sorts of fictionalized accounts of Black presidencies where such limited idealism is supposed to end. Psychologically speaking, this is where many of the president’s critics dwell in terms of emotion and values.
Does this mean that the president is devoid of any issue in regards to race? Of course not.
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Let’s keep it real here. As a historian, I can tell you with unalloyed confidence that neither President Obama nor his wife are responsible for the more than 400 years of racial strife that has plagued this nation from its inception. He and his administration did not pull Union troops out of the South and end Reconstruction in the mid to late 19th century (that was Rutherford B. Hayes and his vice president, Samuel Tilden) that led to the demise of brief Black political enfranchisement in the South and other regions of our nation and allowed the South to return to its previous behavior of terrorizing, oppressing and demoralizing Black citizens thorough the sadistic employment of Jim Crow laws, grandfather clauses, colored (yes, “colored,” that was the term used at the time) and White water fountains, poll taxes, literacy tests and, in a number of cases, lynchings and other forms of physical violence. He did not demand that all government agencies of Washington DC. be segregated. Point the finger at Woodrow Wilson.
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Such vicious forms of political, social, emotional, economic and psychological denigration and degradation manifested themselves in the culture of the South for more than a half century, right up until the mid-1960s long before our current president was born or held political office. President Obama can plead not guilty. Does this mean that the president is devoid of any issue in regards to race? Of course not. There are a number of people (I am one of them) who have at times felt that the president has not taken an aggressive enough stance on discussing racial issues. In some cases, we feel that he has erred on the side of caution far too often in an effort to placate, pacify or, at the very least, neutralize his critics who monitor every comment he makes and are ready to pounce on or, in many cases, distort comments he makes in regards to the issue.
That being said, I can also understand why he has often been apprehensive in public about really engaging in any sort of racial discussion for this very reason. The tender feelings of some on the conservative right (and some faux liberals) can be easily offended by people of color and other anti-racist activists who candidly and unabashedly speak truth to power. The cold hard fact is that race has been, is and, for the foreseeable future, will be a crucial and ongoing issue for Americans of all political, racial, and cultural backgrounds to deal with long after President Obama leaves office. It is best that we decide to approach the subject aggressively, practically and wisely.
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Photo credit: Getty Images
Of course, the tendency of left-wingers to claim that everyone who disagrees with Obama on any subject whatsoever necessarily has to have racist motivations hasn’t helped, now has it?
It seems as though there are always going to be people on opposing sides, and regardless of the hard facts in front of them, they just aren’t ever going to agree. I don’t easily foresee a future where one side will actually let go of their bias and give credit to the other, or vice versa. I think it’s one of the most disappointing parts of politics. I appreciate this post!
Thank you.
Elwood Watson, Ph.D.
Author of article