[Peace-discuss] Flag flap

[C. G. Estabrook]

[The weak pun in the subject line is mine, not Sam Smith's, but I'm
willing to defend it as appropriate to the seriousness of the matter. More
important are the two "factors" Smith mentions below (which indicate BTW
the real racism of the administration of the last Democrat president, who
was foolishly called "the first black president"). --CGE]


It is also interesting to note, as William Saletan does in Slate, that
Dean received quite a different reception before he was the frontrunner.
Here's what he told the Democratic National Committee last February:

"I intend to talk about race during this election in the South. The
Republicans have been talking about it since 1968 in order to divide us,
and I'm going to bring us together. Because you know what? White folks in
the South who drive pickup trucks with Confederate flag decals on the back
ought to be voting with us because their kids don't have health insurance
either, and their kids need better schools too."

Writes Saletan: "I have that speech on videotape. I'm looking at it right
now. As Dean delivers the line about Confederate flags, the whole front
section of the audience stands and applauds. It's a pretty white crowd,
but in slow-motion playback, I can make out three black people in the
crowd and two more on the dais, including DNC Vice Chair Lottie
Shackelford. Every one of them is standing and applauding. As Dean
finishes his speech, a dozen more black spectators rise to join in an
ovation. They show no doubt or unease about what Dean meant."

The Dean controversy is driven by several factors. One is the growing
liberal preference for proper language and symbolism over proper policy.
Thus confederate flags soar above such other possible issues as the drug
war with its disastrous effect on young black males, discrimination in
housing and public transportation, and the lack of blacks in the U.S.
Senate. Further, while liberals are happy to stigmatize certain
stereotypes, they are enthralled with others, such as the self-serving
suggestion that they represent a new class of "cultural creatives" saving
the American city. And from whom, implicitly, are they saving the American
city? From the blacks, latinos and poor forced out to make way for their
creativity.

Another factor has far deeper roots: our fear of public discussion of
class issues. Although this has repeatedly been noted by both black and
white observers, it has little effect on our politics or the media, both
of which project the myth that ethnic conflict occurs independent of
economic divisions.

One who understood otherwise was the black writer, Jean Toomer - who once
described America as "so voluble in acclamation of the democratic ideal,
so reticent in applying what it professes." Writing in 1919, Toomer said,
"It is generally established that the causes of race prejudice may
primarily be found in the economic structure that compels one worker to
compete against another and that furthermore renders it advantageous for
the exploiting classes to inculcate, foster, and aggravate that
competition."

Dean's real sin was that he got too close to that topic.

***

On Mon, 10 Nov 2003, Alfred Kagan wrote:

> Even the title of this message indicates a racial divide.  The word 
> "flap" denotes something minor, but the issue of race is anything but 
> minor. Politicians don't always plan every last word and action.  I 
> don't think Dean understood what he was doing when he made his 
> comment.  Sure he was trying to appeal to Southern whites, but I 
> don't believe he understood the effects he would have on black 
> people. If he had thought about it seriously, and if he had good 
> advisors, he could easily have come up with another statement to 
> appeal to white Southerners without alienating blacks folks. 
> Anit-racism means taking these kinds of issues seriously.
> -- 
> 
> 
> Al Kagan
> African Studies Bibliographer and Professor of Library Administration
> Africana Unit, Room 328
> University of Illinois Library
> 1408 W. Gregory Drive
> Urbana, IL 61801, USA
> 
> tel. 217-333-6519
> fax. 217-333-2214
> e-mail. akagan at uiuc.edu
>