Claiming to not understand how racism works (and lashing out at the “language police” when called out for it) has been a defining feature of American conservatism for eons.
The people who invented the term “partial birth abortion” and call anything they don’t like “socialism” also like to claim, as they do a racism, that “it’s just language, why do people think words are so powerful?”
The same people who get apoplectic if they see a parent set a bad example for a child, also want to think their actions as national leaders have no impact on the broader society. As if calling it a “Chinese virus” won’t give permission for racists to do more racism.
One key moment in this history of conservative racism (that pretends to not be racism) is the Goldwater 1964 campaign. One of his marquee positions was being *opposed* to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. But purely "on principle," not racism. Uh huh.
More on the absolute centrality of racism to Goldwater's appeal in 1964. Don't take my word on it, take the word of a lifelong, African-American named Jackie Robinson. You may have heard of him?
George Will, who has had a lifelong love affair with baseball and probably knows more of its lore than anyone else, published a book in 2019 called The Conservative Sensibility which is literally dedicated to Barry Goldwater. Hey George, Jackie Robinson would like a word!
George Will, who insists that every leftist who proposed Medicare for All must first apologize for the crimes of Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot before they speak, thinks, **in 2019** that Barry Goldwater and the movement he inspired have no racism to apologize for.
Seriously, f*ck these people like Trump who claim innocence when they do a racism. It must be called out for what it is every single time.
