The Dreaded Word: Race
September 30, 2009, by Carine Fabius
Untitled, 2000 by Mark Steven Greenfield
The latest news about healthcare and race has Carine Fabius pulling out her passport.
Coming up with something devastatingly original and fun to write about would have made me feel edgy and special but it turns out I am not so outré. Alas I am just like many who write about the issues of our times—I can’t stop thinking about the pervasive issue of RACE. Ever since the healthcare debate began I have felt like one giant sigh. A sigh grown so outsized that it now drives my most desperate desire: to leave the United States for other shores.
On one hand, I am in the very attractive position of having dual citizenship—American and European Union—so it would be easier for me than most. But the bigger, more annoying question is always: What country doesn’t have gaping issues? None, I suppose; it’s just that I always expect more from America, foolish, foolish woman that I am.
Tales abound about how during the Civil Rights Era, officials in towns across the South chose to fill municipal pools with cement rather than share them with blacks, thus denying all their citizens the refreshing merriment provided by the pools on hot summer days. With Obama in the House, we thought we’d come a long way, but no, baby, things are so the same it makes me want to sigh some more.
Take, for example, these eye-popping facts compiled by HopeNet, a Louisiana community organization:
• Louisiana ranks last among states in access to healthcare and prescription drugs.
• One out of four people are poor and uninsured.
• Almost every part of Louisiana fits the definition of a HPSA (health professional shortage area), which means an area with only one doctor for every 3,500 people.
Yet, according to a new survey by Southern Media and Opinion Research, a whopping two-thirds of Louisiana voters oppose Obama on healthcare reform. Want to guess their skin color? One poll showed 81.5 percent of white respondents opposed to the plan. According to one of the pollsters, “In Louisiana, voters trust insurance companies far more than they trust President Obama.” He actually said that.
In other words, I want healthcare; I need healthcare, but if it’s coming from a black man, I don’t want it. And then, this: according to a recent Los Angeles Times article, gun shops can’t keep enough ammunition on shelves even though manufacturers are working overtime to fulfill demand.
Can somebody tell me what these people are planning to do with all that ammo? The typical response is that—against all evidence to the contrary—Obama is planning to take away our guns so we have to stock up. But I’m worried the reason may be altogether different.
At a recent rally, one protester’s sign read: “We come unarmed…this time.” And one of the organizers who helped bus in Mississippi protesters to the big march against healthcare in Washington (did I really say march against healthcare?) was quoted as saying, “It’s like we are the forgotten people.” Guess what color people she was referring to? And another person, citing a Census Bureau estimate that by 2042 whites will be a minority in this country, explained the anti-Obama fervor in this way, “No other people in the history of the world has given up numerical and cultural dominance willingly.” Sounds like the rumblings of a revolution in the works.
When we marched against Bush it was because he lied to get us into war with a country that had not attacked us. And we despised him because he was a dangerous buffoon and an embarrassment. They hate Obama because he’s black.
The whole thing is so damn ugly and scary and sad I can’t stand it.
I understand that there will always be something in the external world to challenge my happiness and sense of well-being. I’ve been on a spiritual path since age 21 and by now I know that sighing the blues and drowning in them doesn’t help one bit. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned from my teacher it is that happiness resides within us all; and only by going to that place in order to replenish (for me, through a solid meditation practice) can we face our hurdles with renewed optimism. Just wanted to end on a positive note by reminding everyone, and myself, of this simple truth.
September 30th, 2009 at 5:57 am
It is astonishing Carine in this millenium, we are in the height of the yaliyuga, age of darkness. Race is just another way of saying to the poor and working class,nobody cares in the upper chambers of whomever is running the White House. I feel sorry for Obama for taking the job. Politics is still the game of the mighty dollar and lobbyists. Interesting to note, the C.E.O.’s of these drug companies are amongst the 20 highest paid in the U.S. I see all social, educational, arts programs being funded less, and am glad I am on the slide going down. A pure cop-out!
September 30th, 2009 at 9:10 am
A march against healthcare? Guns at town hall meetings? What day and age is this? Shades of Jim Crow abound. And those idiots who use the “Hitler card” — astonishing and scary. I remember Obama’s speech on the subject of race, early in his presidency. I though it deep and meaningful, straightforward and just plain common sense. I guess he was just preaching to the choir. The once-majority is scared, their status is threatened with the browning of America (yes, Hispanics are the fastest-growing minority segment.) Race is a difficult subject, thanks for writing about it so eloquently Carine. I too was hoping that racism would mellow with such a shining example of a person of color in the White House. Change is s-l-o-w, I guess, and as you mention, there’s no light without darkness.
September 30th, 2009 at 9:18 am
I was aghast when I read in the paper yesterday that someone had posted the question on Facebook, “do you think Obama should be killed?” It has since been pulled. But–how and when did that get to be OK? How and when did it get to be OK for people to hate out loud??? Hatred and fear is the deadly combo-pack of violence. We all must shame those people at any cost. They should not be allowed to turn us backwards. We are at the tipping point.
September 30th, 2009 at 11:24 am
I’m not sure that the word “race” encapsulates how deep this chasm is that runs through the American psyche. We Americans are divided between those who watch and accept Fox News programming as the gospel truth, and those who understand science and the sanctity of the division of church and state. I thought that Barack Obama would be the one to bring us together, but apparently I was mistaken. Every day when I turn on the news at 6 a.m. — NPR, of course — I breathe a sigh of relief to hear “normal” news of war and environmental disasters, and not the funereal tones that accompany the news of assassination. Living in these times when local law enforcement allows morons to carry loaded weapons to sites of presidential visitation gives a whole new meaning to “one day at a time.” The only antidote to the Teabaggers’ depth of ignorance, hatred and fear is to keep turning over the rocks they live under; to keep flooding their darkness with light and truth. This takes money and time. I’ve made a vow to write two personal letters a day (email makes this easy) to legislators and policymakers in support of issues such as healthcare and officially declaring the coup in Hondurous a “coup d’etat.” Our individual voices together are powerful. And because we speak the truth, our efforts are super-sized. This is the belief I cling to and it helps me feel empowered when faced with the constant threat of violence from the right wing. You, too, can reach out to our leaders; it’s easy:
http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov
September 30th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
I agree with NY Times columnist Maureen Dowd who wrote that the word “Boy” was the implicit third word in Congressman Joe Wilson’s outburst of “You lied!” in President Obama’s recent Joint Address to Congress. There is no excuse for Wilson’s racism, his ugly words or his lack of respect for our president–and by implication, his lack of respect for everyone who doesn’t belong to his privileged white male club. I find two things frightening about the Joe Wilson phenomenon–first, that his rudeness was met with a hero’s welcome by so many; and second, that the “so many” have no clue that, even if they put pastel Izod shirts and golf knickers, Joe Wilson wouldn’t be caught dead hanging out with them. The gun-toting, red-necked Joe Sixpack who considers Wilson a hero would be turned away from Wilson’s door and most likely locked up if he tried to gain entrance.
September 30th, 2009 at 8:02 pm
My question is simple. When is Obama going to show some guts and stop showing up in “white face”?
And when are the American people that voted for him and this putrid Congress going to get mad and shut this country down until these chicken hearted Democrats start to stand up for real change.
October 1st, 2009 at 4:30 am
Carine,
Thanks for writing this post. Obama is a brave soul to promote so much needed change, and I have to believe since America elected him as her president, he will prevail. We might not get the health care plan he/we wanted, but we will get one, and it will be the first step to many more changes to come either form him or others following in his footsteps regardless of their color.
October 1st, 2009 at 9:52 am
To Tubularsock,
Obama is not showing up in “whiteface.” Obama is a centrist (not a liberal) who by hook or by crook has decided to be civil. As regards the democratic party, I, too, am done with them. Although I will continue to vote democrat for president (otherwise my vote is a waste), I will never again vote for a democrat for senator or councilperson unless they espouse progressive views. I’m officially changing to Independent. That’s the only way to change the culture in DC. To fill those seats in the congress and senate with independents.
October 1st, 2009 at 1:19 pm
I love that quote: “In Louisiana, voters trust insurance companies far more than they trust President Obama.” I can’t even talk about this issue – it makes me sick (which apparently I can’t afford to do), but you’ve said it well.
October 2nd, 2009 at 7:15 am
To Carine,
Oh. A centrist, you say.
Believes in rendition.
Still allows torture.
Expands the imperialist war agenda
Believes in the bogus “war” on terror
Fearful of investigating 911
Opposes real transparency
Bends over — to corporate power.
Supports state secrets to prevent lawsuits
Supports detentions without legal rights
Supports dismissing lawsuits seeking the release of missing Bush e-mails
Supports Eavesdropping on Americans without warrants.
Threatened to withhold Intel cooperation if England released records of a free Gitmo detainee
Allows war criminals to get away with their crimes thereby becoming an accomplice
Sells out the American public to the drug companies
Willing to sell out health care for political profit
Gives away the bank to the banks
Supports the patriot act against citizen freedom
No, that isn’t centrist! That is the “Good Negro” dancing the gig for the white power structure.
Why the guy that should be driving the bus keeps throwing himself under the bus is centrist!
October 7th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
Phew, Carine, just contemplating the issues you bring up makes me break out in a sweat. I feel so angry and sad that race still divides people in most countries in the world. At least in the US people keep confronting the issue, and overcoming it… we have a President who is a person of colour and he is working to get an incredible agenda passed a congress that can barely control its contempt for him and each other. I will make a stand on this point: The name-calling has got to stop on all sides. It does no good, reduces argument to verbal barroom brawls and furthers hate-filled jingoism.