Myths/racism is over

Myth: Racism is no longer a problem in the United States.

Myth

The election of a black man (Barack Obama) to the highest office in the land apparently proves that racism is no longer a problem, that we are now living in a "post-racial America".

Examples

• 2015-06-24 Is the problem 'racism' – or demonic evil? by Pat Boone (WorldNetDaily, via FtB) "As the president who came to office, a black man promising to bring people together, a man ideally suited for that job since you were born both black and white, you had a God-given chance to actually proclaim and demonstrate that racial divides and prejudice had greatly diminished and that our society was truly becoming colorblind. [...] you have continued to bring up and confess America’s past record of racial prejudice and indicate we “still have issues to resolve” pertaining to race – as if your very presence as twice-elected president of the United States doesn’t proclaim loud and clear that we as a people have largely, though not completely, put to rest any image of America as an ongoing "racist" nation. We are not!" -- apparently talking about racism is equivalent to nurturing it (though at least he admits that we haven't completely overcome racism)
• 2015-01-31 Erik Rush's Intentional Ignorance: includes both the claim and some counterevidence

Reality

Racism has, if anything, gotten worse since Obama's election in 2008. Where racists apparently once felt compelled to keep their sentiments to themselves or among those of like mind, Obama's candidacy and eventual victory seems to have inspired them to share their idiocy much more openly.

Evidence

• the many groups which pop up in support of the police any time a police officer wrongly kills a dark-skinned person
  • incidents include Ferguson, George Zimmerman vs. Trayvon Martin, many others
• the continued existence and activity of the KKK
• WHITE GOOGLE+ - observed 2015-06-28, posts go back to at least August 2014
  • Here's a racist hate group alert!: attempting to get it shut down
• 2015-06-30 Ku Klux Klan literature found in Wake County neighborhood (h/t)
• 2015-04-17 Phoenix Williams: 'I just felt betrayed' by bus bullying (via) "The taunting began during a bus ride to a band festival. Williams, the only black student in his band class, said he sat toward the front when one of the accused students sat behind him and asked what he thought about the n-word."
• 2015-03-19 Gun Show Vendor Sells ‘Running Nigger’ Targets and sold 500 of them at a South Dakota gun show before being kicked out
• 2015-03-10 Minnesota teens share Snapchat message showing noose around black classmate’s neck: "Gotta hang 'em all"
• 2015-03-09 Racists Put Up Pro-KKK Billboard at Selma Bridge
• 2014-12-30 New video: Racism in America by the Numbers - video, with text sources underneath
• 2014-12-26 Racism and creationism go so well together: creationists use racist caricatures
• 2014-12-17 The Obamas: How We Deal with Our Own Racist Experiences (h/t): the examples cited are relatively mild, but are symptomatic of the filters through which white people predjudge black people they meet.
• 2014-12-05 I offer my thoughts as an explanation, and I’m afraid it’s a bit lengthy.: one man's personal experience of persistent racism
• 2014-12-04 Minorities Trapped in Tropes: The Conservative Right’s Cognitive Dissonance on POC Humanity includes screenshots of several racist comments
• 2014-11-27 Being black(ish) in America "Instead of blaming us for how we dress and saying we dress like “gangstas,” why not tune your police and your fucking mind to understand that’s just how we dress?"
• 2014-11-07 When whites are guilty of colorism (h/t) " research in economics has shown that the wage gap between lighter- and darker-skinned African Americans is nearly as large as the gap between African Americans and whites. In our analysis of data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, we found that the darkest-skinned African American girls were three times more likely to be suspended at school than their lighter-skinned counterparts — a disparity that is again roughly equal to the gap between blacks and whites."
• 2014-10-10 A Concise History Of Black-White Relations In The United States: includes a cartoon that quickly explains why reverse racism is also a myth
• 2014-05-12 I Get Racist and Sexist Hate Mail: when called out on it, they just double down
• 2014-03-08 More hate from racists – Coalburner edition
• 2014-02-07 Racism and Homophobia Lose as Nearly 50% of Viewers Dump Duck Dynasty: it may be unpopular, but it still exists

Racism is alive and well in the UK, too:

• 2014-12-22 Subverting old tropes isn’t "PC" - Daily Mail readers react to speculation of a black actor playing James Bond

Side Note

Racism was of course a huge factor in drumming up opposition to Obama during the 2008 campaign, and appears to remain a major component of the unreasoning hatred many conservatroll followers seem to feel for him.

Discarded Evidence

• 2014-11-20 Top Nevada Republican Lawmaker Ira Hansen Called Blacks 'Simple-Minded Darkies': in context, the quote represents Hansen's opinion of how Democrats view Black people: "The relationship of Negroes and Democrats is truly a master-slave relationship, with the benevolent master knowing what’s best for his simple minded darkies." I was unable to find any overt racism in these quotes during a quick read-through; a more careful reading may find some.
  • Meet Nevada’s new Assembly Speaker

Links

Reference

• Issuepedia: US/racism
• Wikipedia: racism