Pete Hoekstra Knows That Racism Is Just a Ratio of Outrage to Silence

There are at least two reasons (or combinations of the two) why Michigan senatorial candidate Pete Hoekstra is staying mum on his racist ad [1].

1. “No comment” is safe, and controversies without a lot of anger from a lot of people will die more quickly if you just don’t say anything about them.

2. A lot of people agree with you.

As I’ve been thinking about this and getting angrier at Hoekstra myself, I've been thinking there may be more people in #2 than I thought. And if there are, where are they? Why haven’t we heard from them?

Because the racist majority is a silent majority. My guess – I’m speculating  – is that Hoekstra’s gotten lots of feedback that he’s right on the money and voters are behind him, just let it go and move on.

It’s safe to be racist against Chinese when it’s couched in language like “they’re taking our jobs.” Lou Dobbs did it until MSNBC finally dumped him. Conservatives sometimes single out the “mainland Chinese” or “Communist Chinese,” as if we are allowing for some nice Chinese that “aren’t like those bad people over there.”

The Washington Post gave Hoekstra it’s “Worst Week in Washington” award.➚Here’s hoping it grows into the “Worst Year in Washington.”

[1]
News stories have sometimes used the word “racist” regarding this ad and put the word in quotes, as if there’s some question about it. That’s why I’ve been using the word xenophobic, but in fact, I think Hoekstra’s ad is racist. If the ad showed a black man eating watermelon and talking like Amos and Andy, would that be offensive? Of course. Now put yourself in the shoes of an American Asian. Hoekstra has an Asian girl on a bicycle in a rice paddy speaking broken English and thanking you for giving her your job. You’re supposed to be afraid and angry. That’s how racism works.

Is Hoekstra a bad man? Probably not. Is he racist? Probably yes, and probably doesn’t even know it, or if he does now, doesn’t care enough to acknowledge a fundamental problem in himself and within his constituency, and that failure runs deeper than racism itself.