Reagan, Race and Remembrance - Reflections on the American Divide

[Q]

Issue 94 - June 10, 2004
The Black Commentator

http://www.blackcommentator.com/94/94_wise_reagan.html

Reagan, Race and Remembrance

Reflections on the American Divide

by Tim Wise


If one needs any more evidence that whites and people of color live in two totally different places, politically and psychically, one need only look at the visual evidence provided by the death of Ronald Reagan.

More to the point, all one needs to know about this man and his Presidency can be gleaned by looking even haphazardly at the racial and ethnic makeup of the crowds flocking to his ranch, or his library to pay tribute. So too will it be apparent from the assemblage lining the streets of DC for his funeral procession, or gathering in the Capitol Rotunda to pay respects to their departed hero. They are, and will be – in case you missed it or are waiting for the safest prediction in the history of prognostication – white. Far whiter, one should point out, than the nation over which Reagan presided, and even more so than the nation into whose soil he will be deposited within a matter of days.

While persons of color make up approximately 30 percent of the population of the United States, the Reagan faithful look like another country altogether. As they gathered in Simi Valley – home of the 40th President’s library, as well as the jury that thought nothing of the police beating of Rodney King – one wonders if they noticed the incongruity between themselves and the rest of the state in which they live: a state called California, where people like them are slightly less than half the population now.

Doubtful. Most of them, after all, are quite used to never seeing black and brown folks, since the vast majority of whites live in communities with virtually no people of color around them. That the mourners wouldn’t notice the overwhelming monochromy of their throng is no surprise. But it has been more than a little interesting that no intrepid reporter - or at least someone pretending to be such a creature – has thought to ask the obvious question about the racial makeup of those losing sleep over the death of Ronald Reagan, versus those who frankly aren’t.

After all, there are really only two possible interpretations of the sanguine reaction by people of color to Reagan’s death: namely, either black and brown folks are poster children for insensitivity, or perhaps they know something that white folks don’t, or would rather ignore.

[Q]

1. More: "May they have burned in their memories...

"...Maybe they have burned in their memories the way Reagan attacked welfare programs with stories of “strapping young bucks” buying T-Bone steaks, while hardworking taxpayers could only afford hamburger, or how Reagan fabricated a story about a “welfare queen” from Chicago with 80 names, 30 addresses, and 12 Social Security cards, receiving over $150,000 in tax-free income. That Reagan picked Chicago as the site of this entirely fictional woman, and not some mostly white rural area where there were plenty of welfare recipients too, was hardly lost on African Americans.

Perhaps black folks and other people of color remember the words of former Reagan Education Secretary Terrell Bell, who noted in his memoir how racial slurs were common among the “Great Communicator’s” White House staffers, including common references to Martin Lucifer Coon, and “sand niggers.”

Perhaps they recall that Reagan supported tax exemptions for schools that discriminated openly against blacks.

Perhaps they recall how his Administration cut funds for community health centers by 18 percent, denying three-quarters-of-a-million people access to services; how they cut federal housing assistance by two-thirds, resulting in the loss of about 200,000 affordable units for renters in urban areas.

Or how Reagan opposed sanctions against the racist South African regime, and even denied that apartheid, under which system blacks could not vote, was racist, noting that its policies were “more tribal than racial.”...

[bread_and_roses]

2. Thank you, Tim Wise

I have been engaged for three weeks in interviews of politicians seeking endorsement from an openly Progressive group. Some of them make comments that are racist and poor bashing with a total lack of self-consciousness, a seeming expectation that these sentiments are universally shared. They don't even seem aware that what they say IS racist and full of stereotypes about the poor. THAT is part of the legacy this man left behind.

(edit: added "and")

[KharmaTrain]

3. The Lack Of Any Minorities At The Funeral Was Glaring

There were times when you'd see a camera shot of mourners...maybe 75 or 100 in view and not a single black or Asian face among the group. Or those that you saw were either in a uniform or of the "elite" like a Bernard Shaw who looked like he was going to break down and flagilate himself. Sheesh.

The view we saw last week was an America that the Repugnicans think we should live in. One that's dominated by old white men with money and not questioned by the masses...who must assume that all the oligarchy decides is good without question. This is an America where everyone wants to be just like those white men and mold to a form that is then manipulated without these souls realizing they've been possessed. We saw a class-less society...the ultimate display of how a "victory" of the Culture Wars resembles. Hopefully the nation got a good dose of this and rejected it. Falling ratings say so.

Hopefully there was a larger America watching this "pagent" in disgust. I know I was. And I know many blacks who were as well...and your post well notes. It reminded a lot of us of those times of the 80's that weren't that "shiny city on a hill"...it was a damn tough time, only to be eclipsed by the corruption and ineptitude of this regime.

I'd love to see Ragyun's death to be a rallying point among Democrats to cherish the diversity our party represents and not let it destroy our common vision of a fair and compassionate society where all rights are respected...not just old white men.

[Brewman_Jax]

4. He was also the great white redeemer

Cover of the June 10, 2004 issue of Black Commentator, see http://www.blackcommentator.com/94/94_cover_reagan.html

At a crucial point in time when the country needed time for soul searching after Vietnam and the civil rights struggle, Reagan came along to turn back the clock to the "good ol' days" when everybody, especially "those people" knew their place. The damage he did will be with us for decades to come.

[Q]

5. Thanks...you properly pointed out the title of the article...

The Great White Redeemer