THE "N" WORD FOR WHITE PEOPLE

From the AP via the Houston Chronicle:

Alito's wife leaves hearing room in tears

After sitting behind Samuel Alito for two days of intense questioning at his Supreme Court confirmation hearing, she left the room during questioning of her husband by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

And Graham was trying to vouch for him.

Mimicking questions from Democrats, Graham asked Alito: "Are you really a closet bigot?"

The nominee said no.

Graham said, "No sir, you're not."

With that, Alito's wife began to cry. Then she left.

"Judge Alito, I am sorry that you've had to go through this. I am sorry that your family has had to sit here and listen to this," said Graham.

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Well, I'm sure that the overall stress from a couple of days of watching her husband being grilled like a tuna steak contributed to her breakdown, but it's very interesting that the straw that broke the camel's back was the suggestion that Alito might be a racist. Full disclosure: I very firmly believe that Alito is a racist. However, I also acknowledge that he's also probably the kind of guy who has no issue with race on an interpersonal level; Alito is an institutional racist. That is, he supports governmental policies which result in continued difficulties for people of color trying to advance their social status. He may very well just loooove black people, but clearly his legal philosophy is that they are essentially on their own, despite the fact that they didn't end up in their current position on their own--don't look to the government to help you out; it's not our problem.

It's amazing how so many white people refuse to acknowledge this kind of racism. To them, to us, the word "racism" is synonymous with Simon Legree, and white people just don't want to think of themselves that way. Thing is, at this point, I think most white people really aren't that way. Sure, there are still pockets of vile racial hatred here and there, but that sort of thing is far less of a threat today than it was fifty years ago. Why, the fact that whites so fear being called racist is evidence that American social norms no longer accept plain old fashioned racial hatred. But that fear has consequences: it enables the institutional racists to do their thing without criticism.

It works like this. Whenever some governmental or corporate policy is criticized for having racist consequences, the authors and executors of such policies shreik with outrage and indignation. "What do you mean? Let me tell you, I'm no racist." And they mean it. They're just fine with people of color. And their outrage is genuine--they don't want anybody thinking of them wearing robes and hoods. So the debate then becomes about whether or not the institutional racists like or dislike people who aren't white, rather than about how their policies screw people over. All substance is lost while the angry white people work out their emotional issues on cable news shows. This is a pretty fucked up dynamic, and this country's never going to get anywhere as far as racial healing is concerned until we can find a less cartoonish way to talk about race.

And that's not going to happen as long as "racist" amounts to the "N" word for white people. It's time to get over it, admit to this country's racist history, it's racist present, and get on with the task of changing things for the better. It's much better to ask "why do you think I'm racist?" than it is to freak out and say "I am not a racist!!!"

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