My friend and Racialicious blogger Latoya Peterson has a fascinating new piece up on the main site exploring the ways race has been discussed in the context of the presidential election. Maybe the most fascinating section of her piece is the one examining the way in which the contest has, on some level, forced whites -- or at least some whites -- to reevaluate their own racial identity, specifically in terms of the election season stereotypes trotted out each year:
Who exactly is the mythical Joe Six Pack (or Joe the Plumber, for that matter)? What happened to the soccer moms, NASCAR dads, and hockey moms? For far too long, these shifting labels have masked the political identity of white voters, who have had the luxury of not having to deal with the issue of their race in past presidential elections. For the only ethnic group that was permitted to be split into unique demographics instead of a monolithic voting block, Obama changed the game forever. While some whites -- like Time Wise, antiracist activist -- debated the nature of whiteness and white privilege, others denied race was a factor. The GOP held tightly to the ideas of whiteness at the Republican National Convention, holding a convention with the lowest number of minority delegates in years. Even white supremacists were torn! There were racists who would not call themselves racists, but who openly explained how they were not voting for Obama because of his blackness, while whites with negative views toward blacks urged others (or themselves) to look beyond race and vote for the best qualified candidate.
That "soccer moms" "blue collar voters" and all the other reductive turns of phrase political observers have adopted are always exclusively white is as someone once said, a mystery without any secrets. Everyone knows these voters are white, but no one ever really talks about it openly. There are no black, Asian, or Latino NASCAR dads or soccer moms in our political mindset.
Somehow, we managed to get through the entire season talking about race almost exclusively within the context of horse-race politics, eschewing the in-depth conversation Obama urged in his Philadelphia speech. Whether he wins or or not, I'm not really optimistic that it will happen. The nature of race relations in America simply encourages dishonesty in conversations about race, the better not to implicate one another.
--A. Serwer
