"Here's my problem with this, I'm just going to come out and say it. If I have anything to say against Obama it's not because I'm a racist, it's because I don't like what he's doing as President and anybody should be able to feel that way, but what I find now is that if you say anything against him you're called a racist."—Republican actress Angie Harmon.
You know, Harmon's not the first person I've heard to make this complaint. The thing is, I've criticized Obama and/or his policies a good few times already since he's become president, and no one (that I recall) has accused me of racism. So it's not really true that one can't "say anything against him" without being called a racist, so maybe Harmon needs to take a look at the way she's criticizing him and see if there isn't some internalized racism there.
Then again, during the primaries, I was called a racist pretty routinely if I criticized Obama, but it generally wasn't by people of color who were making substantive critiques of my posts and pointing out expressions of unexamined privilege; it was by fauxgressive white dudez who had no other ammunition in their arsenals. So I didn't give a fuck. I certainly didn't feel obliged to make a public announcement insisting I wasn't motivated by racism.
Because I knew I wasn't, and that was good enough.
Just saying.
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