Barack Obama, John McCain and the Language of Race

Last month when I heard that Congressman Westmoreland from Georgia called Senator Obama "uppity," I shook my head amazed that an elected official would say that in public, yet unfortunately I really wasn't that surprised. It's Georgia. I spent a few years there. Racial disparities were always obvious to me and there was a racial caste system that is hard to not notice. Just walk around Hartsfield airport in Atlanta and look around at who is doing what jobs. Unspoken racial hierarchies permeate the ATL.

I was only in Georgia for three years, but I quickly picked up on the language and the culture there. I never felt comfortable there with the culture of denial over racial oppression and white supremacy. It was nearly impossible to have a critical discussion about racism and racial reconciliation. A perfect case in point is the Westmoreland's response to the criticism he received for calling Senator Obama "uppity." He says he didn't realize the racist history and context of that term. I doubt that's true. I am even more amazed at the strength that Senator Obama has not to fall into the thousands of racial traps that have been thrown his way in an effort to make him out to be "that" angry Black man. Props to Brent Staples at the New York Times for his recent op ed: Barack Obama, John McCain and the Language of Race.