Christopher J. Lee, assistant professor at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has an interesting op-ed piece in the Christian Science Monitor looking at the racist undertones of the rightwing shouts of socialism.
Yet, as seen at various town hall meetings and the Tea Party rally in Washington Sept. 12, a deeper sign of racial tension has emerged with the reappearance of a different inflammatory expression: socialism.
In the context of American politics, socialism has seldom been about the economy or state power alone, despite its political-economic roots. Instead, it has been a slur, synonymous with the charge of communism, but with meaning extending beyond this term as well.
I’ll let you read the piece to see Lee’s examples, but for now, chew on this for a bit.
Understanding this history also informs the present. The passion surrounding the expression “socialism” has less to do with the actual meaning of the word, than its associations with foreignness, anti-Americanism, and racial difference. If its reemergence and use sound antiquated and anachronistic, the motivations for its revival become clearer when placed in a context of latent white anxiety toward a black president. The “birther” movement and its concern over Mr. Obama’s origins were but an earlier sign of these race-based, xenophobic sentiments held by some.