It's been obvious to me that the Republicans who are asking for things like drug tests before people get their unemployment (because don't we all know that's where the money will go? *rolls eyes); that they're deadbeats who 'don't have to work because unemployment entitles them to stay home and live off the hardworking white workers' or one of the worst: "Unemployment benefits allow 'them' to breed! Allow people we don't want breeding - to breed."
*thud*
So when I heard about his remarks, I wondered at first if he was trying (badly) to say that the Republicans are refusing to extend the benefits because they're racists, because they believe they're talking to Americans who feel the same way: that it's only NON-white people taking this money. I wondered how do you say something like what he was attempting to say without sounding racist?
How do you say that the number of people taking advantage of this system have been doing so for far longer than our current troubles and are a very small percentage of those on unemployment and that they come in all sizes, genders, ethnic and religious backgrounds? And how do you say that we're talking about Americans of all sizes, ages, genders and ethnic backgrounds who, as of this Friday, will be in desperate need of this money because of our current economy and could literally be on the streets?
So was he clumsy in what he was trying to do, or unthinking and unable to realize that he might be just as racist as those he was decrying by making a point of saying that the people in his office, "...aren't minorities...." (could there BE a more racist statement?)
So yeah, I'm thinking a racist, but one who doesn't even realize it.
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I was torn on that one
Date: 2010-06-25 01:49 am (UTC)*thud*
So when I heard about his remarks, I wondered at first if he was trying (badly) to say that the Republicans are refusing to extend the benefits because they're racists, because they believe they're talking to Americans who feel the same way: that it's only NON-white people taking this money. I wondered how do you say something like what he was attempting to say without sounding racist?
How do you say that the number of people taking advantage of this system have been doing so for far longer than our current troubles and are a very small percentage of those on unemployment and that they come in all sizes, genders, ethnic and religious backgrounds? And how do you say that we're talking about Americans of all sizes, ages, genders and ethnic backgrounds who, as of this Friday, will be in desperate need of this money because of our current economy and could literally be on the streets?
So was he clumsy in what he was trying to do, or unthinking and unable to realize that he might be just as racist as those he was decrying by making a point of saying that the people in his office, "...aren't minorities...." (could there BE a more racist statement?)
So yeah, I'm thinking a racist, but one who doesn't even realize it.
God, we're so screwed.