Currently politics is wrapped up in discussing the economy, whether it's the Occupy movement or vigorously cutting taxes on the right. What I think is particularly egregious is recent remarks essentially criminalizing the 47% of people who are the poor, disabled, and the elderly. This article provides the basis for my post. How is status quo politics framed in a way to alienate people? Why is a discussion about structural inequalities so absent in US discourse?
This post drew my attention, as I've just finished reading an article about Herman Cain, and how he's suddenly gained quite a bit of popularity as a GOP candidate. The article explained how he grew up poor in Jim Crow South, that he worked extra hard, went to college, worked part-time jobs and paid for his tuition, became a successful businessman, and so on. It also quoted his position on the poor (or the 47%), which -- I'm not even kidding here -- is that poor people are poor because they're not trying hard enough.
The way I see it, Cain is the White People's Black Man. He has a rags-to-riches success story -- he is the embodiment of the American Dream. He makes white people feel less racist about opposing/criticizing Obama. Cain gets to say all the racist stuff they want to say, but aren't allowed to say. He's a black man white people love because he is, in their eyes, essentially white. He thinks like them, talks like them, and he's the perfect figure for them to point at and say, "See? Racism doesn't exist. Look at how successful this black man is. Any black person could do it!"
That's why I think discussions of systemic inequality aren't discussed in America. The American Dream is so ingrained into our social psyche that systemic inequality is almost completely unfathomable. Individual success stories like Herman Cain (and even Obama) solidify the myth and make us believe in it.
I believe Herman Cain worked hard. I think it is impressive how he managed to achieve success with the odds against him. I believe he has strength and determination and intelligence and skill.
But, you know what? Lots of people work hard. Lots of people work hard all the time and, despite that, things don't work out for them. I believe that success stories like Herman Cain can happen, but I don't believe that just because he made it means that everyone else can.
Awesome comment Nyssa. I think you provide a lot of queer potential as to how race is viewed by larger society, and most evidently by the conservative right in American politics in light of the American dream. Herman Cain and other exceptional narratives like his serve to trivialize structural inequalities. The act of criticizing the 47% as individual failures within the system ignores the way the system has failed individuals and conceals that white privilege even exists. Exceptional stories about black success within racial structure enacts violence on those that do not succeed. It also serves to ignore how people must work hard in order to merely survive and how people in places of privilege inherited their success or were afforded opportunities based on identity.