Reply #5: I'm not accusing progressives of "passive racism" [View All]

[Empowerer]

I do believe that we all are prejudiced and sometimes hold people to different standards based upon stereotypes and biases.

An example is the double standard that some people, including liberals, apply to President Obama. That has been the source of much anger and argument here on DU and elsewhere, but in my view, it is a reality.

I do not for one moment believe that every (or even most) criticism of, disagreement with or disappointment in the President is based on his race. But some of it is. The fact that it's not ALL based on race does not mean that NONE of it is. Yet, every effort I've seen here and in the real world to identify and discuss it has been met with such anger and pushback - to the point of accusing those of us who bring it up of being racist.

This was apparent in many of the reactions to Melissa Harris-Perry's piece. Instead of stopping to think about why she feels the way she does and wrote what she wrote, she and those of us who agreed with her were attacked.

I agreed with her that many progressives (again, not all or even, in my view, most) tend to have higher expectations of the President because he IS black. He is expected not just to be a president, but to be a civil rights leader. They are disappointed in him because he has not personally taken on certain causes or made an overt effort to usher in a new era of racial harmony, expectations they never had or would ever have of a white president, regardless how liberal he/she is. It's as if they are giving him an extra job to do - solely because he's black. And when he doesn't do this, they get angry and frustrated with him - feeling that they were instrumental in getting him in office and he didn't live up to their expectations - expectations that were unfair in the first place. They treat him as if they did him a favor by letting him into the White House and because he's not behaving the way they want him to, they have every right to speak to and about him as if he is an ignorant, ungrateful child.

This is not a mean-spirited notion or done with any malice, hate or racism. But it is based on racial stereotypes and prejudices that they probably don't even realize they had. And it also includes some elements of entitlement and, yes, even superiority, as if they are the ones entitled to decide how he should approach race and if he doesn't do it the way they think he should, they have the right to criticize and punish him for it.

I am very familiar with this concept since I have personally had to deal with it repeatedly throughout my career. I believe that many, many African Americans have had similar experiences and we understand this very, very shaky tightrope the President is walking because of his "firstness." Yet, when we refrain from criticizing him or, God forbid, actually defend him, WE are accused of playing the race card, pulling our punches because he's black, lowering expectations, etc. In reality, we fully get where he's coming from and are frustrated that, rather than consider our perspective, we are treated as if we couldn't possibly know what we are talking about because our perspective is not the same as that of whites, so it must be wrong.