The "Boring" Bob Herbert

By Big Tent Democrat, Section Elections 2008
Posted on Tue Sep 25, 2007 at 09:52:23 AM EST
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Yawn:

The G.O.P. has spent the last 40 years insulting, disenfranchising and otherwise stomping on the interests of black Americans. Last week, the residents of Washington, D.C., with its majority black population, came remarkably close to realizing a goal they have sought for decades — a voting member of Congress to represent them.
. . . This is the party of the Southern strategy — the party that ran, like panting dogs, after the votes of segregationist whites who were repelled by the very idea of giving equal treatment to blacks. Ronald Reagan, George H.W. (Willie Horton) Bush, George W. (Compassionate Conservative) Bush — they all ran with that lousy pack.

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. . . In 1981, during the first year of Mr. Reagan’s presidency, the late Lee Atwater gave an interview to a political science professor at Case Western Reserve University, explaining the evolution of the Southern strategy:
“You start out in 1954 by saying, ‘N*gger, n*gger, n*gger,’ ” said Atwater. “By 1968, you can’t say ‘n*gger’ — that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states’ rights, and all that stuff. You’re getting so abstract now [that] you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things, and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites.”

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The "Boring" Bob Herbert | 13 comments (13 topical)

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Gosh (5.00 / 6) (#1)
by Warren Terrer on Tue Sep 25, 2007 at 09:58:10 AM EST

that is boring. I want to read snarky, semi-literate columns on the candidates' apparel. Bad metaphors and similes are particularly welcome. But not this soporific dwelling on the issues.

Have I got a Media for you . . . (5.00 / 4) (#2)
by Big Tent Democrat on Tue Sep 25, 2007 at 10:05:13 AM EST

: Thanks (5.00 / 3) (#4)
by Edger on Tue Sep 25, 2007 at 02:08:20 PM EST

for not posting a link to it...... :-)

yep, (5.00 / 4) (#3)
by cpinva on Tue Sep 25, 2007 at 11:35:04 AM EST

i want to read fashion articles about the candidate's bust lines. now that's some hard core analysis! not this namby pamby stuff about issues of actual importance.

geez

overheard as a child (5.00 / 3) (#5)
by Joe Bob on Tue Sep 25, 2007 at 03:02:34 PM EST

I was once standing in line at a grocery store with my mother; I was 6 or 7 years old. This would have been in the mid-1970s. The woman in front of us was paying for her groceries with food stamps. The guy in line behind us mutters something along the lines of, "I'll be goddamned if I pay taxes so n**%$*s can eat ice cream." So, there you have a brutal translation of exactly what Lee Atwater was talking about.

Along those same lines, think of all the countries with a strong tradition of well-funded social welfare programs (e.g: public pensions, paid parental leave, universal health care): most of Western Europe, Scandinavia, Canada. What do all of those places have in common? Each of their populations are very homogeneous relative to the US. The sentiment articulated by Atwater has hobbled this country in ways you can't even imagine.

Not 40 years. At least 42 years. and much longer. (5.00 / 1) (#8)
by Edger on Tue Sep 25, 2007 at 06:13:25 PM EST

In 1965, a year after the Civil Rights Act passed, I was a grade 8 student at Williamsburg Junior High, Arlington, VA. 1500 white children. That was the year they started to integrate the school. The way they did it was to enroll 4 black children. 2 boys, 2 girls. They lasted about a week, if my memory is correct. That was as long as they could put up with being beaten up, spit on and having books thrown at them in the hallways between periods. Some days, since 2001, it seems like people are trying to resurrect the mindset that was so widespread in those years.

I lived in Norfolk, VA, for a year in the late (5.00 / 1) (#9)
by oculus on Tue Sep 25, 2007 at 07:53:46 PM EST

60s. Segregation academies were in full swing, with tuition pd. by the state.


: It was pretty sickening in Arlington (none / 0) (#10)
by Edger on Tue Sep 25, 2007 at 07:58:23 PM EST

The school used the fact that the kids were being beaten as their justification to basically say "See? Integration will never work, these kids don't belong here..."

i've lived in va (5.00 / 1) (#11)
by cpinva on Tue Sep 25, 2007 at 08:37:01 PM EST

since 1963. went from 3rd grade through college here. i witnessed the "mule train" traveling up rt. 1 to dc (my house was right on rt. 1, in dumfries), while some of our less genteel white folk took potshots at them. my older brother interviewed mlk at "resurrection city", on the mall, for his hs paper. i remember the "whites only" signs on water fountains.

there was a restaurant (the white restaurant, interestingly enough), whose owner's closed it, rather than serve blacks. i think it finally just collapsed from age and plant growth.

the whole desegregation thing was an ugly time. fortunately, went to a private, catholic school, in triangle. all the nuns were from boston, and couldn't figure out the whole racist bit, they were baffled.

i was in hs when t.c. williams desegregated, and won the state championship in football. oddly enough, the movie, "remember the titans", never mentioned the fact that the school was comprised solely of juniors and seniors. gotta love hollywood.

i still remember the near race riots, at gar-field, in the early days of desegregation. i was such a naif, i had no clue what was going on, or why. i do know i refused to participate. in part, because i thought it was wrong, in part because i figured my parents would kill me, if they learned i'd been involved.

it would seem that, the more things change, the more they still remain the same.


: We do seem to go in circles, don't we? (none / 0) (#12)
by Edger on Tue Sep 25, 2007 at 08:58:56 PM EST

History repeats, and all that...

Don't forget the DrugWar (5.00 / 3) (#13)
by SeeEmDee on Wed Sep 26, 2007 at 08:41:19 AM EST

Ever wonder why the penalties for illicit drug possession and dealing have gone up, up, up in severity...while their effectiveness at halting the behavior they were meant to curb is so beyond questionable as to be laughable? Look no further than the fact that the vast majority of those so negatively affected by the DrugWar have been minorities.

And who have been the greatest proponents of ratcheting up those penalties? Republicans. And who have, with disgusting regularity, been enabling that by playing one-upmanship in this game and pushing for even more harsh penalties? Democrats, for the most part. While ignoring the effect this has had on their voting base, namely, eviscerating it in the form of voter disenfranchisement courtesy of felony drug convictions. It's like Atwater saying 'N***r, n**r, n***r'" while slamming prison cell doors each time the word was spoken.

The 'Southern Strategy' has many dimensions; the racially discriminatory aspect of the DrugWar is amongst the dimensions least discussed, but most germane to the effectiveness of that 'Southern Strategy'. It's the least discussed because both sides of the aisle have a lot to atone for...

yup (none / 0) (#6)
by andgarden on Tue Sep 25, 2007 at 05:55:33 PM EST

I don't get it--where's the Britney photo? (none / 0) (#7)
by kovie on Tue Sep 25, 2007 at 06:10:03 PM EST

Huh? Not even a "Bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb Iran..."?

Man, you're no fun Bob. All this boring serious stuff.