Here We Go Again
By CHARLES M. BLOW
NYT
This week, former President Jimmy Carter waded into the murky waters of racism: “I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man.” That was an overstatement of the role of race.
Michael Steele, the Republican National Committee chairman, shot back: “President Carter is flat-out wrong. This isn’t about race. It is about policy.” That was an underrepresentation of the role of race.
But that’s where we are with race in this country: exaggerations and blanket denials. Race has become a vicious game of bludgeons and crutches, where acerbic accusers run roughshod over earnest egalitarians and political gain is sought even at the expense of enlightenment.
It doesn’t have to be that way. Most Americans know that racism is an issue in this country. The question is how much (that’s where the arguments start) and if — and to what degree — that racism animates critics of the president.
An ABC News/Washington Post poll conducted in January found that 71 percent of whites and 85 percent of blacks think that racism in our society is at least somewhat of a problem.
(More here.)
NYT
This week, former President Jimmy Carter waded into the murky waters of racism: “I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man.” That was an overstatement of the role of race.
Michael Steele, the Republican National Committee chairman, shot back: “President Carter is flat-out wrong. This isn’t about race. It is about policy.” That was an underrepresentation of the role of race.
But that’s where we are with race in this country: exaggerations and blanket denials. Race has become a vicious game of bludgeons and crutches, where acerbic accusers run roughshod over earnest egalitarians and political gain is sought even at the expense of enlightenment.
It doesn’t have to be that way. Most Americans know that racism is an issue in this country. The question is how much (that’s where the arguments start) and if — and to what degree — that racism animates critics of the president.
An ABC News/Washington Post poll conducted in January found that 71 percent of whites and 85 percent of blacks think that racism in our society is at least somewhat of a problem.
(More here.)
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