Call Them Out
Brave words, words that we needed to hear have been spoken during the first 2 nights of the Democratic National Convention. I’ve heard endorsements of equal pay for equal work and praise for the end of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” in the military. I have been gratified by speeches from supporters of a woman’s right to choose how she will handle her pregnancy, and of a gay person’s right to choose whom they will marry. President Clinton tonight spoke the hard truths that a Romney-Ryan reign will bring us.
But who will be courageous enough to speak out against Republicans’ veiled racist attacks against President Obama?
Am I the only one who heard Republicans’ subtle emphasis–throughout their convention–on the first word of our country’s residence for the President? “The WHITE House,” speaker after speaker repeatedly said, as if from scripts signaling to all bigots that they share their prejudice and intolerance. The WHITE House.
It’s time to call them out, to call out that yes, we hear what you are saying and yes we know exactly what you mean.
When Clint Eastwood said so viciously at his surprise convention appearance last week “Look here: We own this country” how many of us cringed as we saw thousands of white people leap to their feet and roar with furious delight? One does not have to have ears tuned for racial insensitivities to understand the sickening subtext of a near hysterical non-diverse mono-cultural mass of people shouting in repeating unison “We (White People) own this country.”
That’s not exactly what they said. But that’s what they meant.
Mediaize 