Overplaying the Race Card

After watching video after video of ACORN employees "helping" two people posing as a pimp and a prostitute looking to get a home loan to start a brothel with underage illegal immigrants, ACORN is fighting back. They've already suggested that they would file suit against Fox News Channel and the aforementioned actors/filmmakers, and...they're claiming racism.

The Tea Parties have been covered somewhat derisively or dismissively by the mainstream press, using terms that describe the protesters as "angry conservatives." Some commentators, including Janeane Garafalo, have said that they felt these protests are...racist.

Representative Joe Wilson (R-SC) made quite a stir by yelling "You lie" during a health care reform speech before a joint session of Congress. Although he was reprimanded by the House of Representatives, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd suggested that Wilson's outburst was tinged with...racism.

Then there's Representative Henry Johnson (D-GA). When asked about whether Wilson should be reprimanded, Johnson suggested that if Wilson wasn't punished, he suggested it would be...racist.

Then, there's the commentary about criticism of President Obama. The content of the criticism doesn't seem to be considered. Instead, this criticism is being dismissed as...you guessed it, racist.

After President Obama ran as a "post-racial" candidate (and was dubbed as such by those in the media), watching the Left play the race card as frequently as they have is both funny and disturbing. It's funny because the Left has turned a vital weapon in their rhetorical arsenal into a subject of ridicule. Seriously, crying "racism" in lieu of a response these days will garner more snickers than shock because of the absurdity of the circumstances in which it's most often being cried these days. Next time a Leftist calls you a racist for one reason or another (unless you actually are being a racist, mind you), ask them to produce proof. They'll get that "deer in the headlights" look because the Left isn't ready to defend the accusation; they've gotten used to making the accusation and letting the target go on the defensive.

Where the playing of the race card today is disturbing is in the area of race relations. At some point, we all have to realize that calling someone racist when there is no basis for it cheapens the concept to the point of ineffectiveness. Is there real racism out there? Absolutely, albeit at a far lower level than some would lead us to believe. Does every criticism of the President or of ACORN find its basis in race? Absolutely not. Does even a majority of this criticism qualify as racist? Absolutely not. But to hear the Left talk about it, racism is everywhere and we're just too blind to see it.

The irony is that these are the same folks who claim to be keeping up Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream...of colorblindness. Calling someone racist with no basis in fact hurts that dream and it doesn't help race relations in the least because both sides may start to believe it's real. Blacks have used white guilt for decades, and it's time to stop because it ultimately hamstrings you, just as Affirmative Action has. As for my fellow whites, we need to stop feeling guilty for racism that we didn't have a part of and didn't do because when we accept blame for it, we empower those who would use it against us.

Fortunately, I think we're seeing the tide turning on that front, due in no small part to the overuse of the race card by those who have relied upon it working to get what they want. Not everything done is due to race, and the sooner the race hustlers and white guilt crowd figure this out, the sooner we'll be able to call out the real racism going on out there.

And then, maybe we'll see Dr. King's dream become a reality.