Racial attitudes revealed by Fox News in Obama interview

[Vernon Windsor]

"Here is how racism finds expression in the United States in the
21st century. You can tell it is racism because the only thing that has
changed between that period when there was no protest and the current
one is the anxiety of a segment of the population because of race."
—Vernon Windsor blog post March 16, 20010

Fox News' Bret Baier interrupted President Obama so many times during Wednesday's interview
that Newsweek described the enounter as a "interrupt-a-thon."

Baier acknowledged his repeated interjections at the end of the interview, by
interrupting the president once more to apologize. Baier told Obama "I
apologize for interrupting you, sir. I tried to get the most for our
buck here."

MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell said that he could not recall a reporter ever questioning or interrupting an American president
in such an aggressive way. Certainly, O'Donnell argued, Fox News never
took that approach with former President George W. Bush.

(Full article)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/17/obama-fox-news-interview_n...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/22887392#35922807

You have to know how many people of color (black people in particular) will
view this exchange. This is another example of how people of color are
slighted in ways that diminish the respect they have should be accorded
due to their office, their titles, or their accomplishments. All you
have to do is to look at how this same interviewer treated George W.
Bush to understand what is really going on here.

We have seen this kind of thing for years in both the South and the North. White
doctors are introduced as Dr. Smith, Dr. Bannock, and Dr. Taylor, while
the black doctor is introduced as "John," stripped of both his title and
the formality of his last name. This is no different. Nor can one
compare European style interviews with those in this country. They are
two separate traditions. The overall message is "you can be interrupted
because of who you are as opposed to who I am, and furthermore, I owe
you absolutely none of the deference normally afforded this office for
exactly the same reason."

[Boothby171]

Did he say "The most FOR our buck" or "the most OUT OF our buck"?

[cynthia Hunter]

GET 0VER YOURSELF! I cannot believe that someone who is intelligent would see this as racism! He interrupted trying to get answers. Which Obama skirted around.
It is this kind of remarks that obscure real racism.

[Boothby171]

It may not actually be racism (per se), but it is disrespect. Read the article.

[Vernon Windsor]

Who is supposed to "get over themselves," Cynthia?

[cynthia Hunter]

I read the interveiw,bad manners at the most.

[Vernon Windsor]

Cynthia, I believe that you beautifully illustrate the following sentence from a letter to the editor I had written to a local newspaper.

"The problem with the argument of the largely white people who are vigorously denying that race plays a role in the lunatic fringe so prominently displayed at many of the so-called “tea parties” and 9/12 events, is that most white people wouldn't recognize racist intent if it was standing on their necks with golf shoes. "

[Vernon Windsor]

Sounds like a good comeback to me, Rob. Might get a little dicey, depending on the context. Racist language usually leaves us stunned. Your reaction seems perfectly typical to me, although I'm not sure what that encounter has to do with this discussion.

[cynthia Hunter]

I'd still say bad manners! I'm getting so sick and tired of well your a racist cause of the questions or because you don't like his policy. That is wearing very thin! I think the man is an awful president plain and simple.
Every time some one yells racism it takes away attenion frtom where it needs to be.

[cynthia Hunter]

Sorry my BB messed up. I meant to say I'm tired of people yelling racism it takes your attention away from the real pockets of racism. To the point that when it is a real problem no one will listen. As in the Boy who cried wolf.
I see racism and have had to deal with it up close and personal.
The answer is education*education*education.

[Vernon Windsor]

More questions, Cynthia. Who is yelling racism? What is a "pocket" of racism? Who gets to decide what constitutes "a real problem?" What happens when the people who need to be educated, aren't interested in being educated?

If part of the answer is education, then there needs to be confrontation. Without confrontation, the opportunity for education is lost with every incident that gets ignored.

[cynthia Hunter]

Normally Jaquin I wouldn't even bother answering you but in this case I will.
15 years ago my son was murdered some idiots came in to our town and caused trouble. Because of these idiots my son ended up dead. My son ( who rallied against the Klan) was mistaken for someone else* who was a Racist!
Three young men broke into my sons friends house,which he was at cleaning up after a wedding shower. The one young man asked my son why did you dis my grandmother. My son replied I don't know who she is.at that point the person pulled a bat out from behind his back and hit my son in the head fracturing his skull into 12 pieces.
The person who murdered my son was black. That is the beginning of the story.
I had to deal with the klan to deal with they wanted to go to the town that the young man came from and burn it down, so I had to call the family of my sons murderer and offer to hide them in our home.who would think I'd hide them there. I had to deal with others who threatened to do a drive by shooting at my sons funeral. I had to hide my children from fools on both sides. My middle daughter it hit the hardest because her best friend was the murders sister.
We raised our children not to judge people by their skin but by chacter. So I know what racism is I know how it can tear a town apart. I know more about it than you ever will!

[Vernon Windsor]

Cynthia, race and racial attitudes come into the picture long before someone is murdered, joins a gang, or dons a hood. This is the continuing myth that so many people keep perpetuating—racism doesn't occur until there is a murder between people of different races, or racism doesn't occur until someone uses the N-word, or racism doesn't occur until there is a black body swinging from a tree.

If that is your threshold, it is no wonder you think this interview was just "bad manners" that had nothing to do with the racial background of the president. Yes, racism can tear a town apart, but is can also do many more things—things which are obviously not on your radar screen. Millions of people in this country live with the results of a racism which is so far below your detection level, as to be invisible to you. Carbon monoxide is also invisible to you, yet in sufficient concentrations, it can kill you.

Racism has killed many, many people of all colors, in this very country. It has condemned others to live lives of desperation, face an unfair justice system, be denied employment opportunities and career advancement, receive inferior educational opportunities and texts, and be exposed to environmental dangers and corresponding disease rates that most United States citizens would find appalling. None of this is likely to change until enough people can recognize both personal and institutional racism when they see it. This interview is a prime example.

If you were to ask President Obama if this interview was an example of racism in terms of the disrespect to him personally and the office of the president, he would say no. When you start to understand the real reason he has to give such an answer, you might be on your way to true understanding. Until then...