It’s so sad for many Americans to see this new era in politics where there will be people who’ll passionately defend someone who goes way over the line no matter what if they’re members of their political sports team or friends. Still, given the Hollywood stars who actually defended convicted child abuser Roman Polanski with a straight face, perhaps it isn’t that new. But make no mistake about it: yes, some (obviously not all) of the people who detest President Barack Obama are indeed r-a-c-i-s-t-s. And, in New Hampshire, a police commissioner is under fire for calling Obama the N-word, is vocal about not apologizing it or taking it back, the town may not be able to remove him — and some residents are rushing to his defense. And, sure, it’s an unfair comparison, but to this Baby Boomer (me) hearing a law enforcement official use language like that and virtually bragging about it and being able to keep his job in 21st century America brings back images of this guy.
Hatred and racism are definitely forces out there motivating some of our politics. The good, ‘ol days when people just hated someone’s guts someone because of their policies or because of the views of their favorite talk show host best bud (people bond with their favorite hosts) are now supplemented by today, when the color of a President’s skin i-s a factor, in some cases, why some folks hate him so passionately.
Still, I’m sure there will be some readers and bloggers from other sites who’ll just INSIST this has nothing to do with racism:
Amid calls for his resignation, a New Hampshire police commissioner is refusing to even apologize for using a racist slur to describe President Obama. After a resident of the small and almost entirely white town of Wolfeboro overheard Robert Copeland in a restaurant loudly using the n-word to describe the president, she complained to the town manager, the AP reports. Copeland, 82, then emailed his fellow commissioners saying, “I believe I did use the ‘n’ word in reference to the current occupant of the White House. For this, I do not apologize—he meets and exceeds my criteria for such.”
And so you have it. If he remains in office without sincerely apologizing, then it’s a tacit endorsement by the town, even if residents want him out.
But he wasn’t done yet:
“While I believe the problems associated with minorities in this country are momentous, I am not phobic,” Copeland said, as per the Concord Monitor. “My use of derogatory slang in reference to those among them undeserving of respect is no secret.”
I suspect a good part of the country — and not just Democrats or independents — will feel Mr. Copeland is worthy of little respect.
Meanwhile, the town’s City Manager says there’s really no grounds to fire him. Which could mean the city will lose some tourism.
Still, it might gain some new tourism from people who enjoy wearing white sheets during their downtime.
And if Mr. Copeland does lose his job, he might get another:
Perhaps Donald Sterling will hire him.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.