bobbyw24
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The word "Racist" has no currency any longer--Over use has rendered it meaningless
Dueling 'racist' claims defuse once powerful word
By JESSE WASHINGTON (AP) – Sep 17, 2009
Everybody's racist, it seems.
Republican Rep. Joe Wilson? Racist, because he shouted "You lie!" at the first black president. Health care protesters, affirmative action supporters? Racist. And Barack Obama? He's the "Racist in Chief," wrote a leader of the recent conservative protest in Washington.
But if everybody's racist, is anyone?
The word is being sprayed in all directions, creating a hall of mirrors that is draining the scarlet R of its meaning and its power, turning it into more of a spitball than a stigma.
"It gets to the point where we don't have a word that we use to call people racist who actually are," said John McWhorter, who studies race and language at the conservative Manhattan Institute.
"The more abstract and the more abusive we get in the way we use the words, then the harder it is to talk about what we originally meant by those terms," said McWhorter.
What the word once meant — and still does in Webster's dictionary — is someone who believes in the inherent superiority of a particular race or is prejudiced against others.
This definition was ammunition for the civil rights movement, which 50 years ago used a strategy of confronting racism to build moral leverage and obtain equal rights.
Overt bigotry waned, but many still see shadows of prejudice across the landscape and cry racism.
The rise in whites accusing blacks of racism is the inevitable result of years of black identity politics, which created a blueprint for whites who feel threatened by America's changing demographics, says Carol Swain, a Vanderbilt University professor and author of "The New White Nationalism In America."
"We need to rethink what is racist and who can legitimately call whom racist," Swain said, citing the argument that blacks can't be racist because racism requires power.
"With a black president, a black attorney general, and blacks holding various power positions around the country, now might be a time when we can concede that anyone can express attitudes and actions that others can justifiably characterize as racist."
Perhaps this is a strange symbol of racial progress — equal-opportunity victimization, so to speak.
"In 100 years, when people chronicle how America got past race," said McWhorter, "the uptick in white people calling blacks racist is going to be seen as a symptom of the end."
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hgbvXT1pzalqgsKAEWJkqD2HVk6AD9APDLM00
Dueling 'racist' claims defuse once powerful word
By JESSE WASHINGTON (AP) – Sep 17, 2009
Everybody's racist, it seems.
Republican Rep. Joe Wilson? Racist, because he shouted "You lie!" at the first black president. Health care protesters, affirmative action supporters? Racist. And Barack Obama? He's the "Racist in Chief," wrote a leader of the recent conservative protest in Washington.
But if everybody's racist, is anyone?
The word is being sprayed in all directions, creating a hall of mirrors that is draining the scarlet R of its meaning and its power, turning it into more of a spitball than a stigma.
"It gets to the point where we don't have a word that we use to call people racist who actually are," said John McWhorter, who studies race and language at the conservative Manhattan Institute.
"The more abstract and the more abusive we get in the way we use the words, then the harder it is to talk about what we originally meant by those terms," said McWhorter.
What the word once meant — and still does in Webster's dictionary — is someone who believes in the inherent superiority of a particular race or is prejudiced against others.
This definition was ammunition for the civil rights movement, which 50 years ago used a strategy of confronting racism to build moral leverage and obtain equal rights.
Overt bigotry waned, but many still see shadows of prejudice across the landscape and cry racism.
The rise in whites accusing blacks of racism is the inevitable result of years of black identity politics, which created a blueprint for whites who feel threatened by America's changing demographics, says Carol Swain, a Vanderbilt University professor and author of "The New White Nationalism In America."
"We need to rethink what is racist and who can legitimately call whom racist," Swain said, citing the argument that blacks can't be racist because racism requires power.
"With a black president, a black attorney general, and blacks holding various power positions around the country, now might be a time when we can concede that anyone can express attitudes and actions that others can justifiably characterize as racist."
Perhaps this is a strange symbol of racial progress — equal-opportunity victimization, so to speak.
"In 100 years, when people chronicle how America got past race," said McWhorter, "the uptick in white people calling blacks racist is going to be seen as a symptom of the end."
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hgbvXT1pzalqgsKAEWJkqD2HVk6AD9APDLM00
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