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Executive Notes the “Post-Racial” Mainstream Media and the New American Racism

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Executive Notes the “Post-Racial” Mainstream Media and the New American Racism Kirwan Update November/December 2009 The “Post-Racial” Mainstream Media and the New American Racism Executive Jared Gardner, Associate Professor of English Notes john a. powell, The first nine months of Barack Obama’s presidency have witnessed accomplishments Executive Director (pulling the economy back from the brink) and disappointments (the broken promises to the gay and lesbian community). If you are of a certain age, you have seen this strange President Obama’s first and often dispiriting first-year blend of callousness, courage, and concession before, and summer saw the coun- it is too soon to know how this story will be told two or three years from now. try embroiled in intense But there is one story that can be told right now. This is the story of the resurgence debates on issues ranging of mainstream, Main Street racism in the wake of Obama’s election. For a surprising from health care, to the number of people in America, the election of the first African American president has environment, to concerns Professor become a license to print (and speak and circulate) hate. The testing of the new rules about “big government.” john a. powell began slowly at first: in February, a mayor in California sent an e-mail representing the Many protested health White House as surrounded by a watermelon farm (“No Easter Egg Hunt this year”); care reform by alleging President Obama in May, a Republican staffer in Tennessee circulated a “Historical Keepsake Photo” dig- is not a real American, his birth certificate nifying all the U.S. Presidents with official portraits or photographs—save for Barack is phony, and that he is a closet Muslim. Obama, who is represented by a field of black with two bug-eyes staring bewildered Others claimed that the White House from the shadows. Then, as the “tea party movement” heated up this summer, the wanted to kill the elderly or that health hate came spilling out onto the street: a litany of signs decrying President Obama as care reform was a way of giving repara- a “Lyin’ African,” the endless parade of “birther” signs suggesting that Obama “go back tions to black Americans. Talk show hosts to Kenya,” all taking their cues from the movement’s leadership—men like Dr. David called then Supreme Court Justice nominee McKalip who forwarded to his fellow “activists” a Photoshopped image of Obama as a Sonia Sotomayor a racist and said President bone-in-nose-wearing witch-doctor. “Funny stuff,” McKalip wrote to his correspondents. Obama did not like white people after he challenged the arrest of Professor Henry These “jokes,” all of them, are straight out of a long line of racist imagery going back to Louis Gates Jr. The tone and content of the the origins of the form, cartoons portraying uppity people of color mimicking the white- debates were far-fetched and hardly made folk—and making a travesty of everything in the process. Illustrated magazines in the any sense, but they were informed by deep 19th century (Harper’s Weekly, Life) ran these cartoons regularly, and I have for years emotions rather than facts. used them as a historical lesson in my classes on the power of racist imagery. Apparently, however, the election of the first black president, far from making these jokes unintel- Two main positions seek to explain what ligible or intolerable relics from a by-gone age, has made them newly (and newly accept- triggered this response. The first position, able) “funny stuff” for a growing number of people. held by former President Jimmy Carter among others, holds that racism is driving Of course, these jokes never went out of fashion—they just left the mainstream media the intensity of the debate. This position and buried themselves deep inside the institutions that govern society. It is this “joke” understands racism as intentional conscious that underwrites the violence directed at young African Americans guilty of the travesty racial animus and leads to questions about of driving while black, or the arrest of an African American man in his own home guilty whether Joe Wilson or the birthers are racist. of being an irate homeowner in a “nice” neighborhood. And it is the “joke” that empow- Not surprisingly, this is strongly resisted and ers a backbencher from South Carolina to call the President a liar in a congressional those who make such claims are accused of address. playing the race card. So, there is nothing surprising about seeing the resurgence of this brand of racism based (continued on page 2) on the “joke” (always a mask for the humorist’s deepest fears of a Black Planet) now that a black man is in the white (man’s) house. Nor is there anything surprising in the new media that has been used to disseminate them; all of these incidents began as “funny” (continued on page 3) INSIDE: Feature Articles • International Perspectives • Kirwan Institute Blog • GIS Update • Talking about Race • More Than Just Race • Call for Papers • Kirwan in the News • New Media Update • Events • Obama Reflections • New Faculty/Staff Executive Notes (continued from page 1) ABOUT THE INSTITUTE The second position, taken by NY Times columnist David Brooks for example, accepts that The Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race a nerve may have been hit, but rejects the role of race. Rather, it is simply that a large num- and Ethnicity is a university-wide inter- ber of Americans embrace the Jeffersonian or Jacksonian wariness toward federal govern- disciplinary research institute. Its goal is ment and desire for local control. to deepen our understanding of the causes A third viewpoint asserts that racial anxiety is likely part of the intense reaction dur- of and solutions to racial and ethnic dis- ing the summer, but this need not be conscious or racist. It emphasizes that cultural and parities and hierarchies. This includes an institutional norms in our society, such as local or state control, carry racial associa- explicit focus not only on Ohio and the United States, but also on the Americas tions. In addition, this position holds that the country’s mistrust of federal government is and our larger global community. Our pri- inherited from the fight over slavery, race, and the North/South division. This is not to say mary focus is to increase general under- that all opposition to big government is about race, but that there is a connection in our standing that, despite many differences, nation’s culture between race and anti-federal government, states’ rights, and local control human destinies are intertwined. Thus, attitudes. the institute explores and illustrates both A closer look reveals that these claims are supported by a growing body of research. Over our diversity and common humanity in 90% of our emotional and cognitive processes are not directly accessible to us. On mat- real terms. ters of race, we have unconscious or implicit attitudes and biases. These biases have strong The institute brings together a diverse and associations with ideas that are not explicitly about race. There are concrete ways of mea- creative group of scholars and research- suring our hidden associations, and this insight is not limited just to race, but impacts ers from various disciplines to focus on every aspect of our lives. the histories, present conditions, and the future prospects of racially and ethnically We can expose biases to our conscious mind and shift to make certain biases less domi- marginalized people. Informed by real- nant. However, not talking about race or focusing only on the conscious two percent is world needs, its work strives to meaning- not effective. Understanding race requires looking at the work of structures, institutions, fully influence policies and practices. and also our unconscious associations. The goal should be to become more skillful in con- The institute also focuses on the interre- structively talking about and engaging with race. latedness of race and ethnicity with other factors, such as gender, class, and culture, and how these are embedded in structures and systems. Collaboration with other john a. powell, Executive Director institutions and organizations around the world and ongoing relationships with real people, real communities, and real issues For more information: are a vital part of its work. Americans for American Values (americansforamericanvalues.org) The institute employs many approaches Harvard Implicit Association Test: (implicit.harvard.edu/implicit) to fulfilling its mission: original research, publications, comparative analyses, sur- veys, convenings, and conferences. It is part of a rich intellectual community and draws upon the insight and energy of the faculty and students at Ohio State. The Kirwan Update is produced by the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at The Ohio State University, 433 Mendenhall Lab, 125 South Oval Mall, Columbus, OH 43210. While the institute focuses on margin- alized racial and ethnic communities, it For questions or comments about this publication, please contact understands that these communities exist Kirwan Update editor Angela Stanley at (614) 247-6329 or [email protected]. in relation to other communities and that fostering these relationships deepens the Contributing Staff Editors possibility of change. It is the sincere hope Kathy Baird, Director of Communications and goal of all of us that the institute gives Philip Kim, Assistant Editor transformative meaning to both our diver- Rajeev Ravisankar, Research Assistant sity and our common humanity. kirwaninstitute.org 2 Feature The “Post-Racial” Mainstream Media (continued from page 1) e-mails forwarded to friends or listserv blogs, both delighted and outraged by the logic of “post-racial” racism in his own groups—but specifically designed (like messages. And increasingly they are bub- comic, “This Modern World” (9/22/09), con- racism itself) “to go viral.” bling back up into the accepted daily dis- cluding with a panel showing two Klansmen course of American life.
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