Race-ing Against Social Justice–Farrakhan’s Racist Words

On Sunday afternoon, “An estimated 20,000 people” gathered to hear religious leader Louis Farrakhan speak.  Salon reports that Farrakhan “predicted trouble ahead for President Barack Obama and urged him to do more to improve the lives of blacks and downtrodden.”  In elaborating on what those troubles would be, Farrakhan said “the ‘white right’ was conspiring to make Obama a one-term president.”  The association of ‘blacks’ with ‘the downtrodden’, and the assertion that political lines are divided by race only perpetuate the fear and hate that advocates for social justice and racial equality seek to eliminate.  If our nation is ever to overcome racial prejudices and discrimination, we cannot overlook such language nor allow it to be disguised as anything other than what it is–blatant racism.