GO AHEAD. CALL ME A RACIST
By William J. Dodwell December 10, 2018
That is the attitude America must adopt to disarm the left in its effort to intimidate the public into submission. The charge of racism shuts down debate rendering easy victory for the accuser, and for liberals writ large. Conservatives, afraid to resist, fall for the gambit hook, line and sinker. Even though the epithet has become devalued as the left invokes it so gratuitously, the charge still imposes dreaded social and professional banishment on the accused. As such, fear of the race card has to stop through a grass roots challenge to its power.
Casualties of the race card
Many absurdly claim that criticism of Obama is racist. In particular is the verboten questioning of his birthplace despite abundant indications of his foreign origin that would have rendered him constitutionally ineligible to be president. But the media and legal authorities never allowed that evidence to see the light of day as everyone on the left and right still shuns the topic because of supposedly racist implications. Anyone who dares to raise the issue is ipso facto racist, the Constitution be damned. In addition, citing any differentiation between races on the basis of physiology, genetics or statistically proven social facts is impolitic. For example, those who contemplate the subject of highly disproportionate black crime and a predisposition for violence are summarily dismissed or vilified. And, of course, they are called racist with all the injustices that might ensue.
Celebrities are especially vulnerable because the racist moniker applied to them sends a message to large populations, even if it has no basis in fact. As such, the left makes examples of them in illustrating the wrath it visits upon those who dissent from its fascist orthodoxy. The media silenced well-known oddsmaker Jimmy the Greek in the 1970s for pointing out certain innate physical advantages of black athletes. Meghan Kelly lost her job for speaking benignly about wearing black face on Halloween as a child. ABC fired Rosanne Barr for a comical quip about Valerie Jarret’s appearance, inferred by the media as a slur on her black heritage. (How many even knew Jarret was black?) Kitchen maven Paula Deen lost her longtime television program because of a racial slur she uttered thirty years prior. Papa John’s co-founder, John Schnatter, had to resign because he used the N word in a conference call about how to deal with the fallout from his public lament about the adverse effect the NFL national anthem protests had on his business. In fact, in mentioning the word Schnatter simply referenced chicken king, Colonel Sanders’ past use of the term with impunity, suggesting the alleged racial implications of his anthem protest complaint were unfounded. Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate, Ron DeSantis took heat for referring to his black opponent’s “monkeying around” with existing good policy. LA Clippers owner, Donald Sterling, was crucified by the media and forced to sell his team. All he did was make a negative comment about blacks to his half-black girl friend in a private phone conversation she exposed in an extortion attempt. The hit list is endless.
The left’s dependence on blacks
Twenty years ago I overheard a long telephone conversation between a college professor and an associate about having to recruit a black instructor. The white speaker kept repeating that a particular candidate was “articulate”. Several times in the course of the conversation he said, “… but he’s articulate”. Desperate to add a black to the faculty, apparently under pressure from the administration, he figured that speaking well was enough to make the candidate seem credible in the position and thus allow the college to further demonstrate its diversity. His background and expertise did not seem to matter as it was not discussed. Surely, if the candidate is articulate everyone will assume he is a qualified academic. Blacks play a major role in the diversity game by which the left tries to divide and conquer. In fact, their grievance is stock in trade for the left.
The left is desperate to maintain the monolithic black Democratic voting block. It is said that if it falls under 85% from the historical 90+%, the party cannot win at the ballot box. Liberals also depend on black pathologies to justify trillions of dollars of government assistance. That largess empowers liberal politicians through the black votes it garners. It also enriches the institutions that get lucrative contracts to deploy the goodies in exchange for political donations. Blacks are a major meal ticket for the left. The last thing it wants is a cure for poverty and other black ills. Indeed, the left uses black voters as pawns, dupes, or as Marx would say, useful idiots. As such, liberals are extremely protective of blacks, vilifying all who refuse to pander to them and their allies. The race card is a major weapon for doing this.
But the black electoral monolith that Democrats have taken for granted for so long may be weakening. Witness the relatively substantial black support for Donald Trump in the 2016 election. Also consider influential Kanye West’s public support for him in a call for blacks to rethink their political loyalty. On the other hand, this serious threat to the Democrats might cause them to double down in their charges of racism in an effort to curry favor with questioning blacks and thus minimize defections. All the more reason to marshal a resistance to the race card.
Fighting back
The public must fight back against the race card the left uses as a tool to silence political opposition. Rational debate is not enough as the left is wedded to selfishly protecting blacks against criticism no matter what, and it will lie, distort and defame as necessary. Truth means nothing to the left and political expediency is everything in which intimidation is an important propaganda tactic. The solution therefore is to challenge, not shirk from, accusations of racism, not to just disprove it, but to mock the charge as meaningless. (The same resistance model can neutralize the left across the spectrum of intersectional political identities in the battle against institutionalized victimhood.)
Show that the accusation doesn’t faze you and that you will not give in to the intimidation. Respond insouciantly in a firm tone with, “Yeah, whatever you say.” Ask the accuser if he knows what a racist is, or to define one. He will look foolish at his loss for words. Then turn it around by calling him a racist because of some analogous behavior of his. Or, just jokingly call him a racist repeatedly, every time you see him, especially in the presence of others. Say loudly, “Hey racist, what’s up?” That accuser will soon become very defensive and retreat. But even after he relents, keep taunting him by saying, “Aren’t I a racist anymore? I’m insulted. But I bet you’re still a racist.” Use your imagination. The scenarios are limitless.
Those who invoke the race card too much lose credibility. Indeed, they are viewed as having no argument, and even as stupid. That reality must suffuse the public consciousness. Bill O’Reilly when he was with Fox News said his tactic for dealing with the accusation is to look sternly into the accuser’s eye, say nothing, walk away, and never speak to that person again. Good start, but people have to be more proactive to win the war.
Of course, reacting to the R word on a one-on-one basis is one thing. A bigger problem is when an employer or a social affiliation gets wind of the charge. Their dread of guilt by association can result in immediate expulsion for the accused. Not because they think there is anything wrong, but because they have to pretend to think so in order to avoid serious backlash from the left. And if the media get involved, forget about it. A public drubbing is anathema to anyone.
The solution is to effect a popular revolt to get institutions to overcome their fear of media backlash and join the grass roots, bottom up resistance described above. This attitudinal revolution can start with individuals adopting the aforementioned turnaround tactics en masse in their daily lives as to declare a resounding collective No! to political correctness. And blacks can help the cause enormously to the extent they renounce the race card and their historical fealty to the Democrat Party as they embrace political alternatives.
In time, institutions will see that the emperor (the left) has no clothes as critical mass sets in and fear abates among the people. Cowardly corporations will no longer fire employees frivolously accused of racism, and advertisers won’t pull their business when they see that gratuitous charges of racism are not taken seriously anymore by the public. The people have the upper hand if they would use it. If they do, the charge of racism will go the way of “Your mother wears combat boots.” And America will say, Go ahead. Call me a racist.
©2018 William J. Dodwell