We Are Not Racist

Last month, former President Jimmy Carter announced “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 he’s African-American.” He claimed to have a special viewpoint on this anti-Obama racism since he is from the South. President Carter’s statements reflect a general media assumption that always appears in stories: conservatives are racist.

From the very beginning of Obama’s campaign for President, the media constantly brought race into the picture. They went well beyond the usual “he could be the first black President” template, moving to a viewpoint of “anyone who is against Obama is a racist.” Before the election even occurred, the media argued that if Obama didn’t win, it would prove America was a racist country. As the polls tightened close to the election, a stunned Jack Cafferty of CNN stated, “Yet the polls remain close. Doesn’t make sense…unless it’s race.”

As conservatives attempted to warn America about the extremist viewpoints of Barack Obama, their rational persuasions were claimed to be racism. By definition, Obama is a socialist, that is, he supports the government takeover and ownership of many vital industries. But even before the election, the word “socialist” was said to be racist. Lewis Diuguid, of the Kansas City Star, attempted to tie the socialist label to anti-Civil Rights era politics, calling it “an old code word for black.” Never mind the fact that the founder of the socialist theory was white, or that the first socialist/communist countries were in Europe and then Asia, or that almost all socialist countries today are in Europe or Central America. Forget all of that. Here is the template: Obama is black, and conservatives are racist, therefore “socialist” MUST be a racist word.

This media viewpoint is applied to any and all news stories where a minority is involved. Conservatives oppose Sonia Sotamayor for the Supreme Court because she believes the court should legislate from the bench? They are racists. White cop arrests a black professor for unruly conduct? Must be racism. People across the world are shocked that Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize for doing absolutely nothing? Clearly, they are racists. No matter what the issue, as long as it involves a representative from any currently or previously disadvantaged racial group, this old template is dusted off, reapplied, and sold to the public like a Christmas gift from Goodwill.

Some media reporters are so good at the thought-crime detection that they can find racism even in a mere 2 words. When Congressman Joe Wilson yelled out “You lie!” in opposition to Obama’s magical healthcare speech, it did not matter that there were lies and inconsistencies strewn throughout Obama’s message. Joe Wilson could not have been talking about the issues, according to Maureen Dowd. After the outburst, she wrote “But, fair or not, what I heard was an unspoken word in the air: You lie, boy!” She does admit that her assumption might not be fair, but her article went on to describe exactly why Joe Wilson is a racist and that he isn’t just opposed to Obama on ideological grounds.

In his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke these famous words: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Has this dream come true? As far as conservatives are concerned, this dream is a reality. We have been looking past Obama’s race from Day 1 to see his dishonest, power-hungry, and Marxist character. By continually bringing race into every single issue, it is the media who is actually judging based on the color of skin, rather than the content of character.