Althouse: Think Progress sees fit to disparage the statement: "Today we remember Rosa Parks’ bold stand and her role in ending racism."

December 1, 2013

Think Progress sees fit to disparage the statement: "Today we remember Rosa Parks’ bold stand and her role in ending racism."

Can you see why this is worth scoffing at, other than that it's a tweet from the Republican National Committee?

First, you have to be enough of a douchebag to act like you don't see that "ending racism" is a process and that a person might have a role in that process even though that role didn't go so far as to entirely complete the process.

And then you have to think, here on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, that it's worth exploiting Rosa Parks for one more opportunity to bray at Republicans. Over nothing!

Utterly pathetic. Show some respect. (Hey, remember "civility"?)

73 comments:

JohnG said...: I thought the joke was going to be about her taking a stand when clearly this is about where she chose to sit.; 12/1/13, 2:23 PM
Original Mike said...: This is Think Progress' stock and trade.; 12/1/13, 2:26 PM
Alex said...: Racism is quite alive and well over in the black community. They hate whites, Jews, Asians and basically everyone except themselves.; 12/1/13, 2:30 PM
Rusty said...: The left needs racism, Ann. if they can't find it, they'll manufacture it.; 12/1/13, 2:38 PM
Skeptical Voter said...: Tsk tsk tsk Anne. Such language. But when you say "douchebag" to describe a Democrat, you are repeating yourself.; 12/1/13, 2:40 PM
Anonymous said...: GOP needs to know:

Every action - every thing - will have an impact for 2014 and 2016.

GOP needs to have a dashboard - like chess, think of every move they make with counter-moves from Obama, NYT, NPR, PBS, etc.

There is no way out for GOP.

Why?

The Clintons are coming.
The Clintons are coming.
To the White House. To the White House.
No one can stop them.; 12/1/13, 2:40 PM
YoungHegelian said...: Oh, because we all know that Republicans are racist. Racist to the core. Racism is in their very marrow. It's what they're all about.

So this means that the Republicans are being hypocrites, and Lefties just hate hypocrisy. Being upfront with one's nastiness is fine, but hypocrisy is a mortal sin.

I've said it here before, and I'll say it again: race is to the modern Left was class was to the Marxist Left. Without racial consciousness, the modern Left has no reason for being.; 12/1/13, 2:40 PM
Anonymous said...: Hopefully, this is a teachable moment when it comes to how Leftist ideology often treats individuals: like pawns on a chessboard.

This seems to be the greatest danger at the moment.

If the people you support politically haven't solved such contradictions in their own thinking, you can rest assured they're not going to resolve such contradictions when they make laws, play politics and become leaders.; 12/1/13, 2:43 PM
traditionalguy said...: It took courage to defy the segregation system, but after WWII and Truman it was ripe for a fall as soon as the blacks said no more.; 12/1/13, 2:45 PM
bbkingfish said...: Much better, on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, to exploit Rosa Parks to bray about liberals. Oh, the outrage! And, in this case, I think "bray" is precisely the correct word.; 12/1/13, 2:47 PM
Wince said...: Heck, wasn't it was Democrats that wanted to keep her at the back of the bus.; 12/1/13, 2:57 PM
n.n said...: Some people bray, while others trumpet, and others yet stand their ground.; 12/1/13, 3:10 PM
William said...: Many New Deal Democrats were virulent segregationists. The Democrats made Lyndon Johnson their Senate Majority Leader. He used that post to block civil rights legislation favored by Eisenhower's AG, Brownell during the time of Rosa Parks. The Democrats were the party of Jim Crow, not the Republicans......It's painful to see not only such a clumsy rewriting of history but to realize that they'll get away with it.; 12/1/13, 3:20 PM
Mark said...: It's much better to spend the weekend braying about Obamacare, from what I see here.

And the braying about union thugs and Amazon book reviews. Can't forget that Thanksgiving tradition.

When what you do is bray a couple times a week for years, it's kinda funny to have your undies in a bundle over this.; 12/1/13, 3:30 PM
Alex said...: Mark - one can also bray 7x a week trolling like you do. Bray bray bra away, troll.; 12/1/13, 3:42 PM
YoungHegelian said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/1/13, 3:47 PM
Mark said...: Must have hit close to home if the donkeys quite their braying convention to speak up.

You know you are winning when they come with the personal attacks.; 12/1/13, 3:50 PM
YoungHegelian said...: @mark,

We're sorry if we disappoint by not reflecting back to you the image you have in your mind of what wonderful, moral people people you are.

If only we understood...

PS: Of course, it's just the miscreants here who are braying about the ObamaCare train wreck. Senate & House Democrats aren't braying. They're praying.; 12/1/13, 3:51 PM
Alex said...: Well I think it's officially time for Ann to bring moderated comments back.; 12/1/13, 3:53 PM
heyboom said...: Rosa Parks certainly helped to highlight the need to end institutional racism. Individual racism will never be eradicated.

As an aside, I remember in the movie Barbershop when Cedric the Entertainer's character riles everyone up by saying "Rosa Parks ain't do nothin' but sit her black ass down!"; 12/1/13, 4:04 PM
Birkel said...: Mark:
I suppose when people lose their health insurance, their doctors (and before too long their lives) mentioning the death and destruction that the Obama Administration has wrought will simply be more "braying".

I can't wait for the "braying" about the trillion dollar deficits Obama has given the country.

I can't wait for the "braying" about significant inflation.

I can't wait for the "braying" about the inability of the Fed to undoing QE.

So much braying, so little time.; 12/1/13, 4:04 PM
harrogate said...: It is more than a bit of a stretch to assert that the Republican Party "see[s] that 'ending racism' is a process."

What one hears from the Right--not just pundits, bloggers, and internet commenters, but from the politicos themselves--when the topic of racism comes up, almost always has some version of "race card" snark. Because racism is over now, apparently, and all that's left is the dreaded "playing of the race card."

To be sure, if you are waiting for a frank acknolwedgment from prominent Republican politicians that racism is alive and well in the United States, I hope you brought some magazines, because you'll be waiting a while.; 12/1/13, 4:11 PM
Birkel said...: harrogate:
Your confused assertions are so hilariously incompetent I can only assume you are writing to amuse me. Now please dance a jig for me.

Racism is such a bad problem that news crews must be sent to NASCAR events and lie "for the greater good" in hopes of generating racist responses. And still the hoped-for responses are oddly unavailable.

Racism is such a problem BAMN-types must allege racism through hoax.

Racism is such a problem an entire school of thought has been generate to allege micro-aggressions because there are not enough macro-aggressions to protect the phoney-baloney jobs.

Racism is so bad that South Carolina elected Nikki Haley who placed Tim Scott in the United States Senate.; 12/1/13, 4:25 PM
Paco Wové said...: Surely you're intelligent enough to realize that "that 'ending racism' is a process" and "racism is alive and well in the United States" are two entirely different arguments that have nothing to do with each other.; 12/1/13, 4:25 PM
Birkel said...: Racism: Because shut up, harrogate explained.; 12/1/13, 4:26 PM
bbkingfish said...: Speaking of standing one's ground, and the absence of racism (not a subject I'd ever bring up, but since you did), why the radio silence on this blog about the latest victimization of Conservative Hero, George Zimmerman? George seems especially an apt counterpoint Rosa Parks (since you mention her name), don't you agree?; 12/1/13, 4:30 PM
Birkel said...: Racism: Because only the GOP ever does it.

But don't ask the Chinese about their feelings toward the Japanese. Or the Koreans. Or the Vietnamese. Or vice versa.

And keep any talk about racism in Brazil quiet. Or Colombia. Or Venezuela. Or Argentina. Or Mexico.

After all, Democrats must be allowed to use "racism" against the GOP as a political tool or Calamity! So unless it can be definitively proved that racism ceases to exist in America in a way that it has never ceased in any other part of the world, ever, then the GOP is awful. Because shut up, harrogate explained.; 12/1/13, 4:31 PM
Birkel said...: bbkingfish:
The man with mixed ethnic/racial heritage, George Zimmerman, is an odd person to insert when discussing "racism".

Would you please elaborate on the racist stereotypes the press used to criticize Mr. Zimmerman.

Or are you simply saying that any interaction between people with mixed heritage is somehow racist by definition?; 12/1/13, 4:35 PM
Paco Wové said...: I think bbkingfish is saying that conservatives stuck up for the rule of law in the Zimmerman-Martin case, and therefore anything Zimmerman does reflects badly on conservatives, or something. Bbkingfish's thought processes aren't very clear.; 12/1/13, 4:42 PM
YoungHegelian said...: @Birkel/Paco,

In defense of harrowgate, what you guys bring up are examples of racism as "acts of will" and what harrowgate would point to are the continuing disparities in income, wealth, & education between blacks and whites as evidence of "systemic racism".

These disparities are empirical facts, and they cannot be wished away by "Let's remember Rosa Parks" bromides. But, conversely, the Left's reliance on such an amorphous concept as "systemic" racism leaves an unsympathetic listener in the position of thinking that the Left has, at best, mistaken effect for cause. At worst, one thinks that the Left's honest admission that it has no clue as the hows & whys of black poverty would destroy the backbone of its political coalition, and therefore must be avoided in public discourse at all costs.; 12/1/13, 4:42 PM
Birkel said...: YoungHegelian:
The Scots and Irish who settled in Appalachia and remain the poorest demographic in America are interested in your theories and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.; 12/1/13, 4:44 PM
YoungHegelian said...: @Birkel,

We're talking average whites vs blacks here, and my point holds for the groups discussed.

And, Birkel, the poorest people in the US are probably not Appalachians. The dirt poorest, so poor they're off the radar, are American Indians on reservations in the SW. Now, that is 3rd world poverty.; 12/1/13, 4:49 PM
Birkel said...: Young Hegelian:

Why should I let you determine the white-black dichotomy is the one I must use when discussing race? I do not remember acceding to that proposition and I will save you the trouble by specifically rejecting it.

Having spent years in Appalachia, I will only agree that Native Americans (who are not part of the dichotomy you would foist upon me) are also -- including those in Appalachia -- very poor. Odd that they remain incredibly poor even as the amount of yearly income has risen with the construction of casinos. Odd that something beside income would influence poorness. If only there was an explanation...

Now that I think of it, I am perfectly willing to concede the communism that early Americans forced on Native populations has performed in America exactly as it has performed when it has been tried elsewhere in the world.; 12/1/13, 4:58 PM
YoungHegelian said...: @birkel,

Did you simply fail to read my second paragraph in my 4:42 post after the first paragraph pissed you off? Well, go read it again, because it's a pretty nasty take-down of Left-wing racial politics.

And, birkel, it really isn't up to you to determine how sociological & demographic categories get parsed up. Yeah, Appalachians are poor, but Jews & Irish are rich. So what? No where in the US are blacks well-educated & wealthy relative to their white peers. Even in Appalachia. I honestly don't know the fundamental reason for that racial disparity, and rather than say "Squirrel!" while pointing at the Appalachians, you might just want to admit that too.; 12/1/13, 5:07 PM
The Godfather said...: You can't have lived in the US as long as I have (I'm 70 and native-born) and not appreciate that anti-black racism has been drastically reduced. Compared to 1955, when Rosa Parks was arrested for not giving up her seat to a white, racism IS ended. That doesn't mean that blacks don't have severe problems, and it doesn't mean that the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow (and welfare and affirmative action) doesn't contribute to those problems, but it's a very different kind of problem.

To the extent that some surveys show that whites display more animosity toward blacks now than they did a decade or two ago, don't you think that the constant playing of "the race card" by liberals, which has become almost a reflex action in the Obama years, exacerbates racial tensions? Here's an idea if you care about reducing tensions between the races: STOP THAT!; 12/1/13, 5:11 PM
Birkel said...: YoungHegelian:
I won't do your homework for you, no matter how badly you wish it so. That you cannot fathom the reason I mention one subset of "white" people in a discussion of racism must hurt your big brain. You do the hard work.; 12/1/13, 5:15 PM
Birkel said...: And let me not leave this little bit untouched:
It's not up to me to determine how bits of information are parsed?

Then prey, tell, Young Hegelian, who gets to make such a determination?

Are you really trying to convince me I must play on the uneven playing field conceived by those who would exercise power and dominion over me? Because I should confess now that you are unlikely to convince me that I must play on those terms.

I'm not sure you understand just how easy it is see the assumptions you've received so willingly into your thinking. It's not your thinking, I'm sure. And the fact you cannot see that it's received cant is sad.; 12/1/13, 5:32 PM
YoungHegelian said...: @birkel,

I have no idea why you have such a bee up your butt about this, I really don't. And I don't care to find out.

You may think you have some clear point to make here about the abuse of sociological/demographic categories, but it just isn't so. If the fact that you can't make this point to a fellow conservative, who should be a sympathetic audience, without invective doesn't alert you to the fact that you're probably barking up the wrong tree, I don't know what will.

I've leave it to you for the last response if you wish, but I'm done with you.; 12/1/13, 5:54 PM
Lucien said...: Another example, on both sides, of using the word "racism" to cover too many concepts. (This has been happening a lot with "rape" too.)

While I personally use the term to describe the idea that what race a person belongs to has something to do with what kind of person they are, reasonable people may differ.

But once one gets to the point of saying that voting for or against a person because of their race counts as racist one is stretching the word to the point of covering "in-group" versus "out-group" sentiments that really don't get to the heart of a reasonable definition of racism.

More nuanced terms would make things more clear, but at the cost of using an inflammatory term -- something which partisans on all sides seem to find more valuable than precision.; 12/1/13, 5:54 PM
Lucien said...: Another example, on both sides, of using the word "racism" to cover too many concepts. (This has been happening a lot with "rape" too.)

While I personally use the term to describe the idea that what race a person belongs to has something to do with what kind of person they are, reasonable people may differ.

But once one gets to the point of saying that voting for or against a person because of their race counts as racist one is stretching the word to the point of covering "in-group" versus "out-group" sentiments that really don't get to the heart of a reasonable definition of racism.

More nuanced terms would make things more clear, but at the cost of using an inflammatory term -- something which partisans on all sides seem to find more valuable than precision.; 12/1/13, 5:55 PM
Anonymous said...: They regret the passing of the era when white Democrats could send the boys to the back of the bus.; 12/1/13, 6:08 PM
Birkel said...: Young Hegelian:

Try harder.; 12/1/13, 6:18 PM
Gahrie said...: To be sure, if you are waiting for a frank acknolwedgment from prominent Republican politicians that racism is alive and well in the United States, I hope you brought some magazines, because you'll be waiting a while.

And you should be. The idea that mainstream and/or instiutional America is racist against Black people is absurd.

Rather than make an arguement you would reject without consideration, how about I give you an opportunity to describe an America that is no longer racist, and compare and contrast it to today?; 12/1/13, 6:25 PM
Gahrie said...: To be sure, if you are waiting for a frank acknolwedgment from prominent Republican politicians that racism is alive and well in the United States, I hope you brought some magazines, because you'll be waiting a while.

And you should be. The idea that mainstream and/or instiutional America is racist against Black people is absurd.

Rather than make an arguement you would reject without consideration, how about I give you an opportunity to describe an America that is no longer racist, and compare and contrast it to today?; 12/1/13, 6:26 PM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: When racism has ended the Democrat Party is finished. Therefore, it must continue. Never mind that no one is more deeply, destructively racist than the white, middle-class Liberal.; 12/1/13, 6:34 PM
Alex said...: Racism exists in the mind of the white liberal just because.; 12/1/13, 6:38 PM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: More African-Americans will die this year from the pathologies fostered by white liberal policies, than all the African-Americans ever lynched by Klansmen. I believe that America is deeply racist, at least in the way it views Black men, but that racism springs overwhelmingly from the cynical, opportunistic viciousness of white liberals.; 12/1/13, 6:50 PM
Mutaman said...: They're the kind of people who would se the letters "N-i-g" on a pair of pajamas.; 12/1/13, 6:51 PM
Mutaman said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/1/13, 6:54 PM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: In the late '60's African-Americans were presented with a choice, independence and communitarian pride or endless dependency as hostages of the white Left. In desperation, they chose the meat-grinder. Imagine how much better off they (and America) would be today had they chosen the more difficult, yet infinitely more rewarding, road.; 12/1/13, 7:06 PM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: It can't go on forever though. In a generation or two it will no longer be possible for them to ignore how the Left has used them. When that time comes, the Democrats are done.; 12/1/13, 7:12 PM
Michael said...: Broomhandle. The black community was also presented with the choice of following Dr. King down the integration road or the Malcolm X road. The latter made it clear that no integration was necessary since the black community had its own singular and, to many, superior culture. The former path required some work.

Many chose poorly.; 12/1/13, 7:22 PM
Michael said...: Broomhandle. The black community was also presented with the choice of following Dr. King down the integration road or the Malcolm X road. The latter made it clear that no integration was necessary since the black community had its own singular and, to many, superior culture. The former path required some work.

Many chose poorly.; 12/1/13, 7:24 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: Dammit, 53 comments so far and JohnG's, top of the list, says what I was going to say.

Rosa Parks took a bold sit.

That said, ThinkProgress is, yes, just mad that the RNC said it. All heroes of the Civil Rights Movement are the exclusive property of the Democratic Party.

And we will all do our level best not to notice what the Democratic Party's stance was at the time. All water under the bridge, innit?; 12/1/13, 7:27 PM
Renee said...: African American community is very much annoyed by the Democratic Party, but too powerless to do anything about it. Obama bailed on them.; 12/1/13, 7:29 PM
Michael K said...: "To be sure, if you are waiting for a frank acknoledgment from prominent Republican politicians that racism is alive and well in the United States, I hope you brought some magazines, because you'll be waiting a while."

Racism is interesting. It is crippling US born and raised blacks. Yet it does not seem to affect blacks born in other countries who find no obstacles to their progress.

It may be, you say, because they have not lived in the ghetto. So Trinidad, where one of my black medical students came from, is better ? How about Eritrea, where another of them came from ?

Racism is mostly, in my opinion, within the minds of American born blacks who drink the Kool Aid of Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and Barak Obama. It doesn't seem to affect those who have not had the benefit of American affirmative action and race hustling.

You may say they are a select group. That is probably true. What does that have to do with race ?; 12/1/13, 8:10 PM
Anonymous said...: I Would Like to Know What the Agreed-Upon Signifier for the End of Racism would Be.

It is Not a Black President.

It is Not a Black Congressman or Congresswoman.

It is Not a Black Millionaire.

It is Not a Black Athlete with Sports Endorsements.

It is Not Welfare (more Whites than Blacks).

It is Not Opportunity on the Elite Scale (Minority Hirings, College, etc)

Is it Proportional Results?

Is it Class Warfare of Which Black is a More Powerful Signifier Than Simply Poor?

Is There a Goal Post That Does Not Move?

Is There an Answer That is Not Just Reframed as the New Question?

I Like Michael Jordan. And Charles Barkley. And James Earl Jones. And Charles Nelson Reilly.

I Am Self-Refuting.; 12/1/13, 8:25 PM
Irwin Chusid said...: For grievance hustlers, perseverance of racism + denial of progress = a jobs program.; 12/1/13, 8:43 PM
Bill, Republic of Texas said...: I would rather be born a black man in a middle class family than a white man. But I would rather be born a white man in a poor family.; 12/1/13, 9:10 PM
Diogenes of Sinope said...: So many on the Left know all Republicans are bigoted stereotyping haters, so the Lefties hate all Republicans. In Leftists' hatred they feel compelled to show how everyone how hateful and bigoted Republicans are by their complete over reactions like this Rosa Parks non issue.; 12/1/13, 10:05 PM
WhatWasLost said...: The very name "Think Progress" is a study in irony as it is a group comprised of individuals who do not think and are not interested in progress.

They scheme, at best, and are interested in socialism and other leftist canards, which are the very opposite of progress.; 12/1/13, 10:16 PM
Steve said...: Racism in America as an institutional process is effectively dead. And good riddance. But the newly manufactured outrage of Think Progress is a complete fabrication. During the height of Jim Crow there were more black college and high school graduates than today. Marriage rates and out of wedlock births were not as destructive as they are today.
As someone else noted, blacks from other countries don't suffer the same as native born ones do. You could argue the stigma of slavery, but when does slavery affect genes? It is a wholly fallacious argument.
The racism today is limited to a few individuals (usually without power) and the Left who need to stoke animosity or they lose any reason to be taken seriously.; 12/1/13, 10:48 PM
Real American said...: racism ended? nope, the Democrat Party still exists, as racist as ever.; 12/1/13, 11:18 PM
MD Greene said...: We all seem to have forgotten Colin Powell and the excitement over the possibility he might throw his hat in the ring and run for President.

I understood his dismay and anger at being sent to the UN to sell the WMD argument and that he did not want to put his wife (after a career of constant military deployments hither and yon) through a long political campaign.

But he rose to the top of the military, an organization composed of hundreds of thousands of individuals. He insisted that no military adventure be undertaken without an exit strategy. He served with distinction as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and Secretary of State. Like Eisenhower, he had the sort of experience that suggested he was qualified for the job.

I was sorry he didn't run. I think Americans would have elected him with pride and that he would have been an excellent President.

If that makes me a racist, so be it.; 12/1/13, 11:57 PM
MayBee said...: This American Llfe did a story last week about housing discrimination in government redlining programs, and George Romney's work to stop it. Yes, he sought to end the long practice started and promulgated by Democrats.

It frustrated me that the story didn't run during the last election. But of course, it wouldn't have.; 12/2/13, 2:38 AM
Brando said...: From the article:

"Some research contends that “racism cost the president more than five million votes in 2008 and 2012″".

This is an often repated line--that Obama lost more votes than he gained due to his being black. However, consider what this implies--that more than five million voters would have voted for the liberal Democratic nominee (with Obama's record and platform) but chose not to because of his race.

These are not conservatives or Republicans we're talking about--surely they wouldn't have voted for a liberal Democrat anyway--but instead left-leaning voters who decided to stay home or actually vote for a Republican or a third party simply because Obama is black.

So what I'm waiting for is the liberals who believe this statistic to start chastising other liberals who let Obama's race prevent them from voting for him.; 12/2/13, 7:23 AM
harrogate said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/2/13, 8:22 AM
harrogate said...: Seems like a lot of commenters here, for example, tend towards the idea that for all intents and purposes, racism has "ended." Perhaps because there aren't any spectacles on the news that look like clips from *MIssissippi Burning*?

And perhaps the RNC's tweet was offered in the same spirit as so many of the 'racism as an institution or system is over' comments presented here? To be sure, the more one looks at the rhetoric surrounding this story, one increasingly wonders why you find it to be so very very inaccurate for Think Progress to suggest the RNC literally means its tweet?

Or consider it this way: If, as you write in your post, it signifies being a "douchebag" to "act like you don't see that 'ending racism' is a process," then what if you truly don't think ending racism is a "process" but that said "ending" has been pretty much accomplished at this point in the game? Does that make you a Double-Douchebag?; 12/2/13, 8:24 AM
Birkel said...: Harrogate:
Everybody here agrees Democrats no longer act like actors did in a movie. These days Democrats take school vouchers from needy students in DC-- a majority of whom are black.

What should one do if they believe ending racism is an impossibility,as demonstrated by human behavior worldwide? Should one admit that all society can do is end institutionalized racism and leave it at that?

I expect nothing from a douchebag like you. Not reason. Not honesty.; 12/2/13, 9:38 AM
fit2post said...: Well, guess the Republicans can't celebrate Lincoln and his role in ending slavery either (I'm sure some progressive somewhere will note that slavery goes on in this world).; 12/2/13, 10:42 AM
harrogate said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/2/13, 3:52 PM
harrogate said...: "Well, guess the Republicans can't celebrate Lincoln and his role in ending slavery either ."

See, Profesor? The RNC was right! Just like slavery ended in the United States at the hands of Lincoln and the North, so too did racism end, thanks to the roles played by figures such as Rosa Parks!; 12/2/13, 3:53 PM
Birkel said...: Harrogate, you douchebag, what would the end of racism look like in your view? How would we know it had been achieved? What would the benchmarks be?

Or, because you cannot define it (and we both know you cannot) and will always think it exists, perhaps you can be safely ignored. Douchebag.; 12/2/13, 3:59 PM