African-American folktale, and race issues
The new priest at his first mass was so nervous he could hardly speak. He asked the old priest what he should do. The old priest said he should put a little gin or vodka in his water glass before the mass and this should relax him.
The next Sunday the new priest filled his water glass with gin and he talked up a storm. After the mass he asked the old priest how he did. The old priest said, "You were relaxed enough, but there's a few things we must straighten out:
- There are ten commandments, not twelve.
- There are twelve apostles, not ten.
- David slew Goliath, he didn't beat the shit out of him
- We don't refer to Jesus Christ as the late J.C
- Next Sunday there's a taffy-pulling contest at St. Peter's, not a Peter-pulling contest at St. Taffy's
- And we do not refer to the Father Son and Holy Ghost as Big Daddy, Junior and the Spook."
I have been having thinky thoughts about the American election, mostly dread as to the possibilities now that the Palin-tology appears to be skewing things, and it's interesting that considering all the stuff about feminism nobody is talking about race.
Cafferty raised the issue on CNN:
Click to viewI think it's important to at least consider the possibility that Obama's narrative and opposition is being shaped by his race - there's obvious parallels being made between him and the great African-American orators of the past like Martin Luther King, as well as the black preacher style that dominates American political speeches anyway. I would guess that his advisors are actually trying to present him more as a Bobby Kennedy type figure though.
What troubles me most is the way that Obama has been consistently represented by the Republicans as part of the 'elite'. The image that immediately springs to mind for me is that of W.E.B Du Bois who, admittedly was elitist in his view of the 'talented ten', but who was attacked on all fronts, particularly from whites, as being a uppity and too big for his boots. He was feared because he appeared to be an example of the way blacks, if given too much education, could become arrogant and rule the country to the detriment of the white folk. If we apply this to the current circumstance much of the same rule applies - Obama is part of the Washington elite and he is out of touch with ordinary Americans (ordinary Americans appearing to mean white soccer moms and farmers).
Race is still a massive factor in America and American politics. Another example of this is the astronomical reaction to the sentiments of Obama's pastor. There seemed to be a great fear in the reaction to his words, and Obama's involvement with him, that Obama was a part of a culture of black anger. This seems to harken back to racist views of black men as inherantly violent.
So instead Obama is reasonable, always diplomatic with interviewers and speaks with the authority of someone who has had years of education and social experience and for this he is labelled 'elite'. It seems that Obama is unable to escape from a racially based stereotype. He does not have a white working-class background, therefore he cannot represent the ordinary Americans that the Republicans critique him over, but if he harkens too much to his black roots he is liable to be labelled a radical, potentially dangerous for the country. Rock, meet hardplace.
I do not believe that McCain or Palin, or the Republican party as a whole is racist. But I do believe the language that has been used throughout the campaign to characterise Obama, is laden with historical meanings and a racial subtext. The only reason to focus on this more than any one other issue to do with the narratives that have been building up around the candidates, is the disgusting way that the Republicans have been exploiting the supposed 'sexist' sentiments surrounding Palin in order to drum up support for themselves while simultaneously criticising both Hillary Clinton and then Obama for using the same kind of arguments in order to further their campaigns. It is the same hypocrisy that showed when they tried to claim the sympathy vote for people picking on Palin's level of experience when they had been using the same argument to criticise Obama.
In short I am already sick of a Presidential battle in which once again, in this modern image-heavy, attention-span-short world, the construction of character and narrative is more important than the issues on which they are running.
And now I should stop before I spout off into rants about Palin's cavalier treatment of war, and how the way the whole American political system is constructed doesn't work anyway.
Hope you are all having a fine day if you are reading this.