In This Economy, Racism Is A Luxury

From FiveThirtyEight:

So a canvasser goes to a woman's door in Washington, Pennsylvania. Knocks. Woman answers. Knocker asks who she's planning to vote for. She isn't sure, has to ask her husband who she's voting for. Husband is off in another room watching some game. Canvasser hears him yell back, "We're votin' for the n***er!"

Woman turns back to canvasser, and says brightly and matter of factly: "We're voting for the n***er."

In this economy, racism is officially a luxury.

I've been thinking this myself recently. When their basic livelihood is at stake, racism is less of a force in determining who people will vote for. It is possible to have negative views of African-Americans and still think that Obama will be better for the economy and your own pocketbook. If it does anything, I hope this election puts an end to the idea that racism is an absolutely permanent and monolithic fixture in our society, particularly in the traditional working class and "middle" America. Even if Obama loses, he has already done more than anyone thought possible just one -- ONE -- year ago. That a black man is leading in national polls, in all the blue states and even in some red ones is proof that social values change. Yes, he may lose and racism is not dead in this country. (Just read down on the story I took the above quote from to see something really repellent.) But it is simply not the force it was.

And, if Obama wins, I think it's possible, particularly with the tough economic times ahead -- the kind of event that causes cultural dislocation, but also pushes a society in new directions -- that we may one day look back and talk about these next few years as the beginning of a new social era in this country. This won't be an era where racism doesn't exist, just one where racism, so central to much of the cultural evolution of the country, no longer plays the dominant role that it has for centuries, and where race is finally decoupled from so many other cultural issues.

UPDATE: Though I think the reason racism in society (as expressed by Obama's popularity) is changing is partially because people are simply more open to a black man being president, I have to admit that another reason is money.