November, 05 2009, 02:36pm EDT
Report Exposes Campaign of Racial Attacks From Far Right
People For the American Way today released its latest report,
"Right Plays the Race Card." The report covers the
Right's continued use of racially charged rhetoric to excite its base and
attack its opponents. It also explores the calculation that politicians
from both parties have made that it is advantageous not to confront racist
rhetoric from the far right.
WASHINGTON
People For the American Way today released its latest report,
"Right Plays the Race Card." The report covers the
Right's continued use of racially charged rhetoric to excite its base and
attack its opponents. It also explores the calculation that politicians
from both parties have made that it is advantageous not to confront racist
rhetoric from the far right.
The report maps out not only the consistent pattern of racially tinged
attacks against President Obama, but ways that the Right's rhetoric on a
wide range of issues plays on racial fear and misunderstanding, including:
-
Baseless claims from television commentators that
President Obama "hates white people." -
Claims that Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor was
an "Affirmative Action" pick who would bring a radical agenda to
the Supreme Court. -
Assertions that the Republican Party should ignore the
votes of African Americans and Hispanics. -
Attacks on ACORN designed to raise unfounded fears
about organized voter fraud by African Americans. -
Smears against African Americans who voted for
President Obama, accusing them of putting race over God. -
Using "race coded" attacks to brand Obama
as "foreign" and echo segregationist tactics as the appropriate
response to an Obama presidency.
"Far from being isolated incidents, these examples show a clear
pattern of racially charged attacks designed to undermine President Obama and
the progressive agenda," said People For the American Way President Michael B. Keegan. "Whether or not
individual right wing activists are motivated by racism is unimportant; the far
right is displaying a pattern of inflammatory rhetoric and astonishingly few
leaders in the GOP are standing up to it. That's a reckless
strategy, and members of both political parties need to stand up and put a stop
to it."
The report is the latest in a series of "Right Wing Watch: In
Focus" reports drawing on the reporting and expertise of People For the
American Way's RightWingWatch.org.
You can read it here
or download a PDF version here.
People For the American Way works to build a democratic society that implements the ideals of freedom, equality, opportunity and justice for all. We encourage civic participation, defend fundamental rights, and fight to dismantle systemic barriers to equitable opportunity. We fight against right-wing extremism and the injustice it fosters.
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