KOS: "Why in the hell would anyone try to rationalize racism?"

A fellow DU’er shared this powerful piece from Kos with me.

The photo is egregious and racist. His statements and attempts to deny and deflect are deplorable

None of this can be “explained away”. Racism has no place in the Democratic Party.

He must resign.



https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/2/1/1831572/-Why-in-the-hell-would-anyone-try-to-rationalize-racism

Why in the hell would anyone try to rationalize racism?

kos
Daily Kos Staff
2019/02/01

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Yet comments in that “you must resign” post have been a real shit-show, a painfully embarrassing one, proving that even among progressives, we have a long way to go on the issue of race. So let’s talk about some of those arguments:

”No forgiveness after 35 years? Nobody can grow? Change? Develop? Learn? Become better? Wow.”

“Growth” would be admitting to this before he ran for governor, using the incident as an example of why we have so much work to do as a society, and how it informed his own personal growth. That’s what a mature, conscientious person would do. Instead, he hid it. And why did he hide it? Because he knew it made him look like shit. And he had zero interest in trying to explain it to the Virginia electorate—especially a Democratic primary electorate that is disproportionately black.

Let there be no doubt—had this come out during the primary, no way Northam wins. He hid his past precisely because it is so outrageous, so damaging, so disgusting, that Democratic voters would not have looked kindly upon it.

<snip>

I see lots of white people saying they “forgive” Northam. But it’s not white people’s forgiveness that Northam needs.

Aside from the morality of the situation, it’s a political death sentence to the Virginia Democratic Party, in a state in which 20 percent of the population is black. White voters voted for the Republican candidate for governor 57-42. It was black voters—choosing Northam 87-12—who elected him governor. Same story in the 2016 presidential election: White voters opted for Trump 59-35, yet black voters opted for Hillary Clinton 88-9.

Even if you’re so tone-deaf on race that you don’t realize how damaging the facts of this case are (and too many of you distressingly are), then at least be motivated by the simple need to actually win in Virginia, both this November and in next year’s presidential contest.

If Northam stays, it’s not just morally repugnant, but electorally idiotic.

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