whiteness, racism, and the republican party
By now I’m sure everyone has heard about this racist button that a Texan, Jonathan Alcox, sold at the Republican Party Convention.
The Republican Party is, of course, trying to distance themselves from this guy as much as possible. They pledged never to use his services again and said that he would never be allowed to sell Republican merch at their conventions again. He also got a lot more of what he had coming to him.
He said after the blog post, his Web site was hacked, he was threatened, and the Texas Republican Party – his biggest customer — said it would never use his services again. He received so many abusive calls that he had to disconnect his phone. It’s the strongest reaction he’s gotten in 17 years in the business, he said.
The most interesting thing about all this was his explanation.
Mr. Alcox said he made 12 of the pins after seeing a comic strip where Barack Obama was standing in front of a sign saying “The White House,” with the building behind him. Mr. Obama is depicted thinking, “That’s the first thing we’ll change.”
“We just changed it around a little bit and everyone went crazy. I was shocked,” Mr. Alcox said.
When he “changed it around a bit,” he obviously didn’t (and presumably doesn’t) understand the difference between the two examples. I wish I could see the cartoon he’s talking about, but based on its premises, it’s clear that the first is a necessary attack on a dominant white patriarchy, not white people. Here, “white” is an ideology tied to social status, to power. His rendition, which he obviously feels is equal, is actually a reinforcement of that power structure.
I think studies on “whiteness” and “white privilege” is really interesting. I hope Alcox reads up on it.
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