tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6326147.post-1157819909321702772006-09-09T09:37:00.000-07:002006-09-09T09:38:29.383-07:00The unconscious racism that many conservatives will demonstrate only in private (that <a href="http://buckshotmagoo.blogspot.com/2006/08/uncovering-republican-agenda.html">I wrote about only weeks ago</a>), trusted circles has reared its ugly head again. This time, the darling of many "moderate" Republicans, our governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, has taken a page of his Nazi father's eugenics textbook and linked having mixed black and Latino blood as being "hot."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-090806gov,0,1729126,full.story?coll=la-home-headlines">Governor Apologizes for Remarks About Latina Lawmaker</a> - LA Times<blockquote>On the recording, Schwarzenegger describes Republican legislators as the "wild bunch" and refers to Garcia, casually saying that "black blood" mixed with "Latino blood" equals "hot."<br /><br />"I mean, they are all very hot," the governor says on the audio recording. "They have the, you know, part of the black blood in them and part of the Latino blood in them that together makes it."</blockquote>The lawmaker Schwarzenegger refers to as "hot" is a Republican and has graciously accepted Schwarzenegger's apology, even going so far as to suggest that it wasn't needed. <br /><br />Questions of which flavor of Kool-Aid she is drinking went unanswered, but she can rest assured that many brown and black Californian women I talked to aren't as satisfied with Schwarzenegger's apology.<blockquote>Schwarzenegger said he had called several Latino and African American community leaders to discuss his taped remarks with them, but did not name them. They understood the remarks were part of an "off-the record conversation, and it was not meant to be in any negative way," Schwarzenegger said.</blockquote>Off-the-record or not, this is a dangerous precedent and is merely more proof of the unspoken racism that many on the right (and in that group I include Arnold) demonstrate. While of course Schwarzenegger should be surprised that his comments, taped for his posterity and his speechwriters, appeared in the largest newspaper in California, it should give him no less cover in defending his racist beliefs.<blockquote>"The fact is that if I would hear this kind of comments in my house, by my kids, I would be upset, and today, when I read it in the papers, it's something when you say things, but it is another thing when you read it in the paper. It made me cringe. It made me feel uncomfortable. And so this is why I thought I should come out and address the issue right away." [Schwarzenegger said.]</blockquote>This again is a half-apology and does nothing to dispell the notion that he actually feels this way. If Arnold thinks it is okay to describe these feelings in private with other elected officials, it's simply another indication, along with the recent missteps by other Republicans like George Allen, that racial issues have not disappeared in this country and that many Republicans from all sections of their party are harboring the racist beliefs.<br /><br />Statements like this should make Arnold more than just uncomfortable, they should be cause for self reflection. That he can jump from the characteristics that one of his Cuban bodybuilding buddies had in the 1970's to group a significant portion of his state's population is as appalling as Allen's comments. Just as I questioned Allen's fitness to be a senator from Virginia, I question Schwarzenegger's ability to govern this state, home to millions he immediately deems and dismisses as "hot."Ryan Dunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18048908498378089621noreply@blogger.com