Jimmy Carter not only sees apartheid when it isn’t there, he also sees racism:
Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter said a congressman’s outburst directed at President Barack Obama during a speech to Congress last week was an act “based on racism” and rooted in fears of a black president.
“I think it’s based on racism,” Mr. Carter said Tuesday in response to an audience question at a town hall held at his presidential centre in Atlanta. “There is an inherent feeling among many in this country that an African-American should not be president.”
Carter himself does not hesitate to call George Bush a liar, something he presumably would not have done were Bush black. So who’s the racist?
Jimmy Carter, the former US president, has strongly criticized George Bush and Tony Blair for waging an unnecessary war to oust Saddam Hussein based on “lies or misinterpretations”. The 2002 Nobel peace prize winner said Mr Blair had allowed his better judgment to be swayed by Mr Bush’s desire to finish a war that his father had started.
I think Carter is probably right. Don’t forget, he is from the south. A friend of mine is married to a white US serviceman. He was travelling with a couple of other members of his unit, one of whom is black. This is what happened to them in Virginia (last month, not in 1962):
“These men who sat down next to you are not only all amazing individual men, but they are also soldiers. They are the very men who fight for the freedom you have to speak openly in this country. They may be varying shades of color, but they don’t see that. They see unity, friends, hearts. They had come there to celebrate the end of a mission far from their families, and their last day before heading home. When they sat down, they were only wanting to share some good memories together, talk, laugh. Saying that Sgt. G was “too dark” to sit next to you was a slap in ALL their faces, but especially his. They are one unit, and will never leave one of their team out. You insult one of them, you insult them all. Shocked, and confused they stood there for a moment, and when they didn’t move, you got up in Sgt. G’s face and began calling him names and threatening him. When the waitress told them that they’d have to leave if they were staying in a group because of “that dark boy,” they proved their worth by acting honorably and simply walking away when all they wanted to do was defend their own from this shockingly open discrimination and hate.
Later that evening, when they went as a group to the store to pick up some provisions, the cashier pointed to two of the white men saying “you and you can stay, but he (Sgt. G) has to leave. We don’t serve his kind here.” Again shocked to silence, a woman from down the aisle came out and looked at the group and told them, ”y’all won’t last long around here if you keep hanging with that colored boy.” They didn’t buy a thing, the only words they said in support to Sgt. G. They continued to show their honor and dignity and unity by not giving in to goading words, not fighting as much as they wanted to, and walking away.”
So yes, I do think that some of the opposition to Obama is racist.
I agree with Kate-its not that the individual called Obama a liar so much as where he did it. I have always been impressed by the Americans ability to treat their President with respect no matter what political views they held-the President is the President. A white President would not have been treated that way.
I’m not so sure about that, but I do think that some of the opposition in general to Obama is racist.
A couple of points:
Kate:
Carter was referring specifically to the Joe Wilson incident; to call Wilson’s outburst something that was motivated by racism is absurd. The fact that racism still exists in the USA is neither here nor there – Carter has no way of knowing what motivated Wilson, other than the obvious rudeness.
Sarakc:
“I have always been impressed by the Americans ability to treat their President with respect”. You missed the numerous times that Bush was booed by Democrats in Congress and Clinton by Republicans, then.
No, Carter wasn’t specifically talking about the Joe Wilson incident. Whoever wrote the article wanted us to think that, by juxtaposing the quotes. Carter was talking about the opposition to Obama in general.
He did refer to the Joe Wilson incident in the context of racism in this video. He also lumped him in with the nut cases who are calling Obama a Nazi etc.
Carter wasn’t quite so fastidious when Bush was called a Nazi, of course.