Racism...

Apparently it's still a problem here in America, and these past few weeks have proven that beyond a doubt. The Louis-Gate/Boston Cop scandal paired with the birther stuff is just too much for me.

Dr. Panza over at A Ku Indeed recently wrote a piece about the birther movement on his blog. As it turns out (or as a lot of us have known all along), the birther movement appears to simply be a mask people are wearing for various reasons. Many of them are simply angry righties who want to get Obama out of office using any means necessary (including, apparently, making things up). Many of them, however, appear to be racist and are using the birther cause as a means of making their racism more palatable.

After searching the web a bit, I found some really disturbing stuff on the topic. I started with this great article about the geographical stratification of the birther movement (kind of) and then moved forward from there, only to find myself more frustrated. I think that maybe by sharing it, I'll feel a bit better.

So let's start with some stuff from Fox News.



I'm not sure if I heard that right, Glenn Beck. Did you really just say that Barack Obama has exposed himself as a man who "has a deep-seed hatred for white people or the white culture"? Rush Limbaugh, did you really just mess with a MLK Jr. quote to relate yourself as a slave? I suppose I can understand how frustrating it must be to be both a member of the most powerful race AND gender on the planet and to have that power threatened by your president. It's a terrible thing. Personally, I think Rush has his strategy backwards. If he really wants to keep his God-given right to world domination, I think he should HOPE that Obama goes after the "Oreos." They're next on the list of currently oppressed minorities in this country who want to have a piece of the WASP pie!

Okay, so that was a bit of an invective rant, but I find it hard to take these people seriously. And I think Maddow hit the nail on the head with her analysis of the situation.

As I got further into my web surfing, I found some more really disturbing stuff about the state of racism in our country. Check out this article from the NY Times. The Deep South apparently didn't get the memo that the Supreme Court actually ruled on this issue IN 1952!!!! Brown vs. Board of Education established that separate is not equal. Yet still, we're separating things in our school systems by the color of our skin.

And by this point in my searching, I became really befuddled. I often find that when I'm doing research on world issues I become overwhelmed. I get hit with the true gravity of the situation and my optimism, which has become the fuel I use to keep me going throughout my day, temporarily evaporates. Apparently racism is still alive and well in my country, and apparently I'm naive enough to be surprised by that fact. Strange. (Actually, as it turns out, all I have to do to immediately lose the optimism I have for my country is look up the sales records for Ann Coulter's books. Augh.)

Oh well. At least my buddies over at Comedy Central are able to completely dispel this stuff while simultaneously making me laugh over the absurdity of it all. Check it out!

John Stewart Eviscerates the "Birther Movement"

AND

Orly Taitz Has No Idea Stephen Colbert Is Making Fun of Her