Thursday, January 08, 2009

How Many Ways To Play The Race Card?

I learned about another one reading Andrew Reilly online at The Pheonix.

Reilly begins - - - -

Yesterday's [Boston] Globe "Names" column included a nugget re: Gwen Ifill's new book, The Breakthrough, on the new generation of black politicians.

After calling the flap over Ifill's role as presidential-debate moderator overblown, "Names" proceeded to pluck one--and only one--detail from Ifill's text:

One tidbit: Recalling the controversy over [Mass. Dem. Gov. Deval] Patrick's decision to replace [outgoing GOP Gov.] Mitt Romney's Ford Crown Vic with a new Cadillac DeVille DTS, the governor's wife, Diane, takes issue with the Boston Herald for calling the car "tricked-out."

The first spouse says the description is "frankly racist. . . . It didn't have boom boxes, speakers on the outside, but they called it tricked-out." Ifill, by the way, once worked for the Herald.

Reilly continues - - -

Now comes a little Herald push-back, in the form of a Hillary Chabot story that quotes Herald editor Kevin Convey on [Diane] Patrick's characterization:

Herald Editor Kevin Convey said the term “tricked out” had no racist implications.

“We’re sorry that the first lady feels the way she does, but the term ‘tricked out’ as a synonym for decorated or adorned is over 100 years old and has no racial connotation whatsoever. Moreover we meant none,” Convey said.

At this point Reilly says - - -

I don't know when "tricked out" first entered the lexicon, but I do think Diane Patrick is reaching here. …

Further along Reilly reminds readers - - -

Remember, it wasn't just the Cadillac. It was the Cadillac, and the drapes, and the furniture, and the $72,000-a-year-aide to Diane Patrick, and Patrick's difficulty grasping why this stuff struck people as problematic

Chabot's account says that the governor's office had no comment on Diane Patrick's accusation or Convey's response.

But let's remember what the governor himself ultimately said--and did--on this particular subject.

As Chabot herself reminds us, Patrick subsequently "admitt[ed] he misstepped" and moved to cover the cost differential between his car and the Ford Crown Victoria used by his predecessor, Mitt Romney.

Reilly’s entire post’s here.

Question: Is someone keeping count of all the ways you can play the race card?

Doesn't it seem like there must be at least 72,000?


1 comments:

Anonymous said...

It would seem that anytime anyone African-American is criticized for anything whether justified or not, the race-card is the trump card used to deflect that criticism. And once that card is played, it always successful since no one wants to be labeled a racist, the criticiser backs down or at the very least mutes the criticism and then apologizes for any hurt feelings he/she might have caused. However, while it is fine for African-Americans to use the race card, if does not work if whites or Asians try to use that same ploy -and that is because the deck of cards that they are dealt is missing the race trump card.
cks