Dog Whistle Politics

Dog Whistle Politics

Adult nonfiction
Many people think we're in a post racial society. We aren't
running around in robes burning crosses. We've elected a Black
president. Isn't it about time to stay playing the race card? Ian
Haney Lopez begs to disagree.
"Dog Whistle Politics [Lopez's book] explains how politicians
backed by concentrated wealth manipulate racial appeals to win
elections and also to win support for regressive policies that help
corporations and the super-rich, and in the process wreck the middle
class. The book lays out the details. For now, though, the bottom
line is that Professor Bell was correct: racism is not disappearing;
it's adapting..."
In the 1920s the KKK, bouyed by the popularity of Birth Of A
Nation (movie), was enjoying a resurgence and going mainstream.
Appealing to racial fears was a winning strategy for candidates
running for office. A few decades later things were not so simple.
Candidates wishing to appeal to the fears of a large segment of the
population to glean their votes had to add the element of plausible
racism denial to avoid alienating another large segment.
The solution to this dilemma was what Lopez calls dog whistle
politics. For example, rather than acknowledge resistance to school
bussing because Black and White children might be in class together, a
politician might phrase opposition in terms of states' rights or
taxes. Those who also didn't want their White children that close to
Black peers would hear the intended undertone. But the stated reasons
would sound totally race free.
Ronald Reagan was a master of dog whistle politics. He made
much political mileage out of his depiction of the Welfare Queen,
fraudulently collecting enough benefits to maintain a life of luxury.
"...Beyond propagating the stereotypical image of a lazy, larcenous
black woman ripping off society's generosity without remorse, Reagan
also implied another stereotype, this one about whites: they are the
workers, the tax payers, the persons playing by the rules and
struggling to make ends meet while brazen minorities partied with
their hard-earned tax dollars. More directly placing the white voter
in the story, Reagan frequently elicited supportive outrage by
criticizing the food stamp program as helping 'some young fellow ahead
of you to buy a T-bone steak' while 'you were waiting in line to buy
hamburger.'"
Although Republicans were the first to adopt this technique of
subtly playing on racial fears to win elections, Democrats are not
innocent. Bill Clinton was one of the most skilled practitioners of
this nefarious skill. He campaigned on promises to end welfare and be
tough on crime (preying on fears of violent Black males.) "...Clinton
bit down on that whistle and blew. At root the 'racism' in dog
whistle racism is the 'strategy' in the Southern strategy: the racism
lies in provoking racial animosities in order to gain votes and
power. Under this definition, Bill Clinton was as deft a dog whistle
racist as Wallace, Nixon, or Reagan before him."
Dog Whistle Politics: How Coded Racial Appeals Have Reinvented
Racism & Wrecked The Middle Class is a must read for anyone who seeks
to understand how politics these days are anything but post racial.
On a purrrsonal note, I hope your work week was good. Mine was
routine except for Adam stopping by. My Katie turned 28. When I
called she said she was having a good birthday. Otherwise:
statistics, blogging, writing, binge reading, cooking, cleaning,
crafting, playing with Tobago. (Jules)
I saw Adam. (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to our beautiful birthday girl, Katie.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway


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