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Focus
Bush's White Surpremacy Agenda
By Deborah Mathis
Special to BlackAmericaWeb.com
You can?t accuse George W. Bush of not being confident. His many critics around the world call it arrogance, which of course it is. But it is Bush?s confidence that gave birth to his arrogance. The question therefore, is what makes him so confident?
How can a mediocre student, gadfly businessman and former governor of a state where executive prerogative is subordinate to legislative power ? moreover, a man who showed no familiarity with nor curiosity about the rest of the world ? how could this guy muster the self-assurance to pick a fight with another nation, shrug off millions of protesters worldwide, thumb his nose at global conventions and treaties, and march his country?s young to the hell of war?
The answer, is white supremacy.
Now, this is not to be confused with white separatism and mere racism. That?s for the desperate, the threatened and the powerless. The white supremacist doesn?t have to take to the hills in quasi-military encampments, wallowing in a sty of hatred and spite. No, he may remain cool and collected ? confident to the point of arrogance ? because if he can?t get folks to do what he wants by mere command, he can always outwit or overpower them, thanks to his presumptuously superior everything.
It was white supremacy that fueled European colonialism and the agreements among Europe?s imperialists to carve up Africa and the Middle East and to claim slices of Asia.
It?s white supremacy that allows defenders to this day to even think, let alone to utter, the preposterous claim that, ultimately, the slave trade rescued black people from the mire that was Africa.
As a supremacist, George W. Bush has no particular fondness for the seething, frothy, invective-slinging separatist or mere racist who stir the nest conspicuously. After all, he has found black people useful, as in his appointments of Condoleezza Rice, the ?yes? woman of the Bush White House, and the pathetically effete Rod Paige who, on those rare occasions when he does pipe up, leaves the impression that, if corrected, his title would be secretary of miseducation.
Colin Powell, Bush has found, has been less reliable since the first black secretary of state actually challenges the president from time to time although Powell?s objections are invariably patronized, chastised or dismissed.
Bush?s black operatives buffer criticism that the country has been handed over to white men who are looking out only for themselves and folks like them. They help create an illusion of inclusiveness.
But there is no mistaking Bush?s affinity for men who, like him, believe their interests and ideas are more important and valuable than anyone else?s .The administration?s big boys -- Cheney, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, et al ? all came from a world impervious to civil rights, women?s rights and labor rights. These are let-them-eat-cake men with little patience for the hoi polloi who, in their view, came out on the losing end of natural selection. In their old world thinking, ?diversity? was a term related to stock portfolios and ?multiculturalism? denoted a mixture of art, music and literature. In their current contexts , the terms are nuisances to the ?Bushies.?
Bush?s supremacist complex was evident from the start. He emerged as the consummate supremacist. The convoluted and stubborn path he took to the Oval Office ? a road through, of all places, the U.S. Supreme Court -- showed he not only believed he was entitled to the office, but that his control of the world?s richest and most powerful nation was manifest destiny.
Since he took office, his supremacist tendencies have made him appear nationalist, elitist, and, yes, racist.
They showed up in the position he took on the University of Michigan affirmative action case.
They showed up in his snub of the U.N.-sponsored international conference racism .
They showed up on his refusal to back the Kyoto treaty on environmental protections.
And they showed up, in full bloom, in the global debate leading up to the war in Iraq ? a war that much of the world was at least skeptical of, if not downright opposed to. A war that is getting uglier and more awful by the hour. A war whose timing and tactics Bush has yet to justify.
But then, that?s the beauty of white supremacy. It shields you from the inconveniences of democracy, which is anathema to begin with. You don?t have to justify your actions because the folks who really matter ? the ones similarly afflicted with entitlement, self-righteousness and certitude ? they already get it.
They know this is about having it their way. In their world, that?s all that counts.
Deborah Mathis is a nationally syndicated columnist and former White House correspondent for the Gannett News Service. She is the author of two books, Yet A Stranger: Why Black Americans Still Don't Feel at Home and Sole Sister: The Joys and Pain of Single Black Women.
By Deborah Mathis
Special to BlackAmericaWeb.com
You can?t accuse George W. Bush of not being confident. His many critics around the world call it arrogance, which of course it is. But it is Bush?s confidence that gave birth to his arrogance. The question therefore, is what makes him so confident?
How can a mediocre student, gadfly businessman and former governor of a state where executive prerogative is subordinate to legislative power ? moreover, a man who showed no familiarity with nor curiosity about the rest of the world ? how could this guy muster the self-assurance to pick a fight with another nation, shrug off millions of protesters worldwide, thumb his nose at global conventions and treaties, and march his country?s young to the hell of war?
The answer, is white supremacy.
Now, this is not to be confused with white separatism and mere racism. That?s for the desperate, the threatened and the powerless. The white supremacist doesn?t have to take to the hills in quasi-military encampments, wallowing in a sty of hatred and spite. No, he may remain cool and collected ? confident to the point of arrogance ? because if he can?t get folks to do what he wants by mere command, he can always outwit or overpower them, thanks to his presumptuously superior everything.
It was white supremacy that fueled European colonialism and the agreements among Europe?s imperialists to carve up Africa and the Middle East and to claim slices of Asia.
It?s white supremacy that allows defenders to this day to even think, let alone to utter, the preposterous claim that, ultimately, the slave trade rescued black people from the mire that was Africa.
As a supremacist, George W. Bush has no particular fondness for the seething, frothy, invective-slinging separatist or mere racist who stir the nest conspicuously. After all, he has found black people useful, as in his appointments of Condoleezza Rice, the ?yes? woman of the Bush White House, and the pathetically effete Rod Paige who, on those rare occasions when he does pipe up, leaves the impression that, if corrected, his title would be secretary of miseducation.
Colin Powell, Bush has found, has been less reliable since the first black secretary of state actually challenges the president from time to time although Powell?s objections are invariably patronized, chastised or dismissed.
Bush?s black operatives buffer criticism that the country has been handed over to white men who are looking out only for themselves and folks like them. They help create an illusion of inclusiveness.
But there is no mistaking Bush?s affinity for men who, like him, believe their interests and ideas are more important and valuable than anyone else?s .The administration?s big boys -- Cheney, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, et al ? all came from a world impervious to civil rights, women?s rights and labor rights. These are let-them-eat-cake men with little patience for the hoi polloi who, in their view, came out on the losing end of natural selection. In their old world thinking, ?diversity? was a term related to stock portfolios and ?multiculturalism? denoted a mixture of art, music and literature. In their current contexts , the terms are nuisances to the ?Bushies.?
Bush?s supremacist complex was evident from the start. He emerged as the consummate supremacist. The convoluted and stubborn path he took to the Oval Office ? a road through, of all places, the U.S. Supreme Court -- showed he not only believed he was entitled to the office, but that his control of the world?s richest and most powerful nation was manifest destiny.
Since he took office, his supremacist tendencies have made him appear nationalist, elitist, and, yes, racist.
They showed up in the position he took on the University of Michigan affirmative action case.
They showed up in his snub of the U.N.-sponsored international conference racism .
They showed up on his refusal to back the Kyoto treaty on environmental protections.
And they showed up, in full bloom, in the global debate leading up to the war in Iraq ? a war that much of the world was at least skeptical of, if not downright opposed to. A war that is getting uglier and more awful by the hour. A war whose timing and tactics Bush has yet to justify.
But then, that?s the beauty of white supremacy. It shields you from the inconveniences of democracy, which is anathema to begin with. You don?t have to justify your actions because the folks who really matter ? the ones similarly afflicted with entitlement, self-righteousness and certitude ? they already get it.
They know this is about having it their way. In their world, that?s all that counts.
Deborah Mathis is a nationally syndicated columnist and former White House correspondent for the Gannett News Service. She is the author of two books, Yet A Stranger: Why Black Americans Still Don't Feel at Home and Sole Sister: The Joys and Pain of Single Black Women.
