Until Katrina hit, it had become increasingly fashionable to talk about the U.S. as a 'post-racist' society (and that fashion continues, albeit in abated form). Unfortunately, forced marches of desperate black people have a way of putting the kabosh on that. By way of digby, comes this heartwarming story from Arkansas about 'post-racist' America (italics mine):
The chairman of the Republican Party of Arkansas called Wednesday for state Sen. Denny Altes, R-Fort Smith, to apologize for e-mail comments attributed to the Senate GOP leader by a television station.....In the e-mail on the television station's Web site, the message attributed to Altes states that he's for "sending the illegals back but we know that is impossible.
"We are where we were with the black folks after the revolutionary war. We can't send them back and the more we p *** them off the worse it will be in the future. So what do we do," the e-mail states. "I say the governor needs to try to enforce the law and sign the letter of understanding... and at least we can send the troublemakers back. Sure we are being overrun but we are being outpopulated by the blacks also. What is the answer, only time will tell."
There are some real problems with the Democratic Party (to begin with, it's largely a sane Republican party and not a Democratic Party), but Democrats do not say these things. If the state party chairman were actually serious about racism, he would call for the senator to resign. Instead, the GOP gets to denounce racism, while at the same time, keeping their racist base.
As usual, the Republicans are trying to have both ways on race. I guess post-racism is like post-modernism: racism is contigent and relative. So much for that Republican moral clarity...
Related posts: Cara at the Curvature and James Hannaham have much more to say about the ridiculousness of a 'post-racist' society.
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