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September 19, 2009
Why must "his" omission be "my" subtext?
I woke up this morning to see an apparently reassuring headline: Obama: Health care anger not motivated by his race Finally! I thought. The president has had the decency to at least acknowledge something dictated by simple logic and common sense. (As I pointed out not long ago, no one said opposition to Hillary Clinton's 1993 health care plan was grounded in sexism.) But then I read what the president actually said: WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama said Friday that angry criticisms about his health care agenda are driven by an intense debate over the proper role of government -- and not by racism.Am I being nitpicky, or is there a distinct difference between saying "because of race" and "because of my race"? The former might mean that some people don't like him because they don't like the way race is presented as an issue, while the latter would obviously be evocative of racism. Or should I assume that the AP headline got it right, and the president missed a word? I don't know, but I don't see why I should have to play mindreading games with the president. As astute commenter Baldilocks put it to another commenter last night: Don't assume you can read minds.So I don't want to assume anything. What I want to know is why didn't he simply state "because of my race" or "because of racism" if the goal was to make himself clear? The reason this apparently simply missing word matters to me is that I do not like the fact that race matters in this country, and I wish it did not. Which is a roundabout way of saying that I don't like race, nor do I like people who play games with it. I wish race did not exist at all, but since it does, I wish it did not matter. I do not like the fact that some people want race to matter, and I worry that the president is one of them. (To say that it matters to many of his supporters is an extreme understatement.....) So I hope that the president meant to say "because of my race." Because I am sick of the race game, and sick of endless racial subtexts. (And I'd hate to think the subtext might be along the lines of if you are sick of race you are a racist, because that would confirm my suspicion only racists are not "racists.") But maybe I should look on the bright side! At least he didn't say "people don't like me because of racial subtexts." posted by Eric on 09.19.09 at 09:11 AM |
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Obama has it covered.
If blacks should turn on him it is because he is white. And obviously if whites turn on him it is because he is black.
Only those of mixed race are even remotely proof against racism.