Why do republicans try so hard to downplay racism in the US?

[Liberal Veteran]

Take a step outside DU to any of the other message boards (particularly the yahoo boards) and you'd have to be blind to see that racism is not only alive and well, but deeply embedded in our society like a festering thorn.

I know that part of it has to with social class. The poor in this country are America's dirty little not-so-secret, but even though I grew up in an area that was rife with bigotry and prejudice, I found myself aghast at some of the stuff I read.

It was like this disaster, and people fending for themselves while waiting for help and yes, the looting, gave a great many American's a flimsy excuse to rip off the facade of being color blind and just display some of the vilest comments I have ever had the displeasure to read. Honestly, it wasn't hard to imagine what the internet would have been like in 1950 or so if it had been around.

And yet still, the republicans want to deny that racism is huge problem in our society. With their silly Affirmative Action Bake Sales and claims that people of color in this society just want a handout, they seem to overlook the sheer volume of the kind of stuff I am seeing on various sites.

Somehow, they want me to believe that the same people who are tossing out racial epithets in their postings and sometimes their speech are going to fair-minded when it comes to dealing with the objects of their prejudice in daily life?

I just don't get it.

[Turbineguy]

1. Like a child with it's hand in the cookie jar

a guilty conscience

[Lindsay]

2. Denial.

Cover-up.

It's the Repugs' dirty little secret. (Or so they think.)

[rodeodance]

12. it is not part of their reality-so how can they think/talk about it.

[proud patriot]

3. because it's easier then facing it for some

racism lives in everyone whether you are a victim
of it or are white and dismiss or challenge or embrace it.

it's the elephant in the room that some just don't
want to see .

[lateo]

4. Because most racist people what to deny that they are racists.

[RagAss]

5. If you drove through a Red Light...

would you drive yourself to the Police Station to turn yourself in ???

[Gabi Hayes]

6. because they're.......

white?

[reality based]

7. Because racists are a significant part of their voting base

[MadeinOhio]

8. It is sadly because the leader like Tom DeLay and Norm Coleman are racist.

They are not only Racist KKK repubs they are fascist racist! :grr:

Those repubs are so bad they shouldn't be repubs. They spread their hateful criminal language against everyone by channeling Rush Limbaugh.

[PeaceProgProsp]

9. Because Republicans make a few rich by making many poor.

To take racism seriously would require the government to engage in wealth redistributive policies (minimum wage, good social services, progressive taxation, good schools) to which Republicans are opposed.

[The Backlash Cometh]

10. Because they would lose their moral authority.

For one thing, they couldn't continue to pillage social welfare programs if they had to recognize that the programs were needed because economic imbalances were occurring due to racism.

[cynatnite]

11. If you had told me a week ago that racism is still really bad in the US...

I don't know if I would have believed you. I'm a married white housewife living in a middle class neighborhood.

I've always believed it existed on some level in many areas of the country and sometimes those who denounce they are racist the loudest can be the worst.

After Katrina, and seeing those images on TV, the people crying for help, babies dehydrated and starving, people dying...

Racism is a disease that runs rampant through our highest levels of government. Poor and white can get more than poor and black. I'm sorry to say this, but I believe racism exists as bad as it did back in the 50's, it's just covered up with denials and pretense.

[Fridays Child]

15. Exactly! I'm in the same demographic as you and...

...this has had a very similar impact on me. I started a thread about this very aspect of the disaster, just a few minutes ago.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4649824

[mzteris]

13. because they really believe

that they are just "better" than everyone else - no need to put down anyone else and make them "less", of course......

To admit they are racist is to admit they are flawed.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

14. The present-day Republican party owes its power to a deliberate

courting of racists after 1968.

They didn't say they were against African-Americans; they were against "bussing," they were against "crime and drugs," and they wanted "law and order." But the racists knew their own, even if they were speaking in code.

Part of the racist mythology is that there is no racism, and that therefore, if people of color are poor, it's their own fault (or they're just genetically inferior).

If there's anything racists hate, it's being called "racist." They get incoherently angry and insist that they're not racist, they're just "not afraid to tell the truth."

[KittyWampus]

16. Because Hatred & Divisiveness Is All They Have To Manipulate People

with.

[bribri16]

17. Because it is so real. And they "make their own reality" you know? n/t

[sandnsea]

18. True Story

Heard in Arkansas.

"We don't treat black people bad."

Next day, this joke:

"What did Jesus say to the black people? Don't do anything until I get back."

From an upper middle class white guy who truly tries to be a decent human being. What do you do with that? :shrug: