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September 15. 2010
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Public Discourse Driven by Race
A most despicable
tradition of
American history
society is flooded with virulent, racially-
driven images and rhetoric hurled against
the President, saturated with the demonizing
of undocumented Latino immigrants and calls
for scrapping the constitutional protection
all children bom in America should enjoy,
and degraded by cynical assertions that
by L ee A. D aniels
guilt-by-association is valid principle to
Do you remember when
apply to people who are not white.
many pundits and other com­
It has so infected the public mood
mentators were trumpeting
and mind that a recent survey from the
Barack Obam a’s spectacular
Pew Research Center found that since
rise as proof that America was
the President’s inauguration a substan­
about to jettison its obses­
tial and growing number of white Ameri­
sive, and, they claimed, out­
cans have come to believe a Big Lie:
dated discussion about race and color?
That Barack Omama is a Muslim.
My favorite was one columnist’s confi­
The Pew poll found that 18 percent of
dent declaration in January 2(X)8 just after Americans now say that Obama is a Muslim,
Obama had won the Iowa Democratic caucus up from 11 percent in March 2009. About a
vote that his victory in “a state that is 94 third of those polled say he is a Christian, a
percent white, is perhaps the clearest indica­ sharp decline from the 48 percent who be­
tion so far that the racial division Mr, Obama lieved so in March 2009; and 43 percent say
promises to end has largely been put to rest.” they don't know what Obam a’s religious
Such disingenuous pronouncem ents
beliefs are, up from 34 percent over the same
aside, it remains revealing how few of the period.
purveyors of those, at best, foolish predic­
The overall increase in the Obama-as-
tions have taken to their computers to ex­ Muslim notion is being driven by the sub­
plain how they could have been so wrong.
stantial increases in the number of Republi­
Today it’s obvious they were completely cans, those hostile to the administration,
off the mark.
who say so.
Today’s public discourse is more driven
These changes have occurred despite the
by issues of race, color and ethnicity than at denials of the White House, and the growing
any time since the 1960s. Today, American mountain of books written about his past.
better to the (3cditor
A Public Good
We need to ensure net neutrality and declassify the
Internet as a communications service under current
law. It should be declared a public good.
Google and Verizon are pushing to control which
websites load quickly and dump everyone else onto an
Internet slow lane. Under their plan, Internet service
providers would be allowed to charge steep fees to post
data on the Internet. Websites that don’t pay could travel
at dial-up speed or worse.
The FCC must act now to preserve the Internet as an
open marketplace of ideas and free speech. The web is
a public good, like libraries and public schools and should
be declared as much.
James Clark
Southeast Portland
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can history against many different groups.
White Anglo-Saxon Protestants used it for
centuries against Jews, Irish-Catholic and
southern and eastern European immigrants,
Native Americans, Japanese, Chinese and
other Asian immigrants, and Latino Ameri­
cans.
And, of course, until the m id-1960s, Ameri­
can society was rooted in the Big Lies about
African Americans.
No matter the group or the era, the essence
of the Big Lie is the same: “They” do not
deserve to be treated as fellow citizens, or
even with respect.
That is what the Obama-as-Muslim belief
represents. It is an attempt to, yes, attack him
politically. But itgoes much deeper than that.
It bespeaks a rejection of the reality of America
as a multi-racial nation — one now in which
Americans of color have an equal right to
compete for the status and resources of the
society. It represents a reverting back to the
most despicable tradition of American his­
tory - the labeling of someone or some group
as The Other in an effort to hide one’s own
fear of “the competition.”
This new outbreak of that virus is a test,
of course, not just of the President’s ability
to lead, but of the quality of the American
people’s character.
Lee A. Daniels is director o f communica­
tions fo r the NAACP Legal Defense and
Educational Fund.
Helping Americans in Need
Obama sits on
right side of debate
by J udge G reg
M athis
Over the years, many, if not most, Re­
publicans have gone on record protesting
federal funding of many social programs
designed to help Americans in need. With the country hit
hard by recession, the need for these types of programs
have increased and, you guessed it, conservative politi­
cians and pundits alike have made their displeasure
known.
Thankfully, President Obama sits on the right side of
this debate and has advocated for and signed into law
legislation that increases these public support programs.
If you were lucky enough to not have suffered a lay off
or home loss during this recession, it’s easy to overlook just
how many have fallen victim to the decline in the economy.
According to USA Today, government funded programs
designed to reduce poverty have grown during the reces­
sion; such programs now one in six Americans — a record.
Experts predict those numbers will continue to grow. Cur­
rently , close to 10 million Americans receive unemployment
Established 1970
USPS 959-680
And they have occurred despite the exhaus­
tive investigations into Obama’s past by
news media the world over since his electri­
fying speech at the 2004 Democratic Na­
tional Convention catapulted him into the
front ranks of American politicians.
Despite all of this, more white Americans
than before have chosen to believe The Big
Lie.
The Pew report makes clear that the
Obama-as-Muslim phenomenon is at work
among whites only. Just 7 percent of blacks
say they believe Obama is a Muslim, up one
point from March 2009.
That many whites look upon Islam and
Muslim Americans in negative terms was
underscored by another poll by Time Maga­
zine. It found that 43 percent of those polled
had a ‘somewhat or “very” unfavorable
opinion of Islam; that 25 percent don't be­
lieve most Muslims in the U.S. are patriotic
Americans who share American values; and
that a third would oppose a mosque being
located within two blocks of their home.
In one sense, it is astonishing that in the
American society of today white Americans
would be so susceptible to applying what
many of them consider a negative demo­
graphic characterization to the President of
the United States.
But, on the other hand, this development
shouldn't be so surprising. For the Big Lie
dynamic has been used many times in Ameri­
benefits, while the Medicaid rolls have grown 17 percent
since the recession began. That number, too, will rise as
the new health care law is predicted to add another 16
million recipients to the list in the next few years. The
number who receive food stamps has grown over the last
couple of years as well, nearly 40 million Americans - a
50 percent increase since the start of the recession -
currently receive food stamp benefits.
These numbers are sobering. It’s easy for Republicans
and others to talk about ‘small government’ and cry that
anti-poverty spending jeopardizes the future health of our
economy. The reality is that our present economy is in
shambles and we have no real idea of when it will rebound.
Americans are suffering and it is the government’s duty to
provide for its people until the economy gets to a point
where they can then provide for themselves.
We are entering a critical mid-term election period and
many offices across the country are up for grabs. As a
voter, you can support anti-poverty programs by sup­
porting those lawmakers who not only agree that govern­
ment should provide economic safety nets but fight to
make sure that it does.
Greg Mathis is a form er Michigan District Court judge
and currently is a syndicated television show judge.
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