Inappropriate behavior and obvious disrespect directed at the Commander-in-Chief is more evident under the current Administration than it has ever been in the past. Many people believe that the acts of incivility against the president, by members of the opposing party as well as grass-roots and extremist groups, are not so much motivated by anti-government hostility as it is by transparent racism. You are what you are. Opponents of the president do not have to like him but he deserves respect, particularly for the office that he holds.
Millions of Black people as well as non-racists members of other ethnic groups take offense to the ongoing racists’ attacks on the president and many see the feeble excuses offered after the fact as a mere attempt to whitewash the obvious.
The commonly, overused excuses offered by the offenders are (1) they were unaware of the racial stereotypes (2) it was intended as a joke and (3) it was taken out of context. By the way, has any other U.S. President been harassed about producing his birth certificate?
Since Obama’s election, disgruntled adversaries have used racist imagery unrelentingly, including depicting the president as an African witch doctor and imposing his face on a food stamp bill. Additionally, they employ other long-held, commonly known and recently contrived racial stereotypes to disrespect the man who has too much class to address their narrow-minded antics.
Some of the blameworthy have bowed to the pressure of their more open-minded peers and apologized or resigned from their positions. Others simply deny that they are racists and offer what they believe is the infallible ace-in-the-hole defense, “I have black friends.”
Most of the offenders “outed” in this post are Baby Boomers or they were born prior to the Boomer years; that makes them all old enough to know that their pretense of not knowing that their actions or statements were racists nonsense. Black people are sick of the race-based diatribes and weak excuses given for demeaning and disrespecting the African-American president. And by the way, a lot of us have white friends.