Rush Limbaugh called the First Lady uppity. OK technically he said of the NASCAR fans who booed her and Jill Biden, "They understand it's a little bit of uppity-ism." So yeah, he called her uppity.
Now, let's get past the sad, pathetic attempts to deflect attention from what Limbaugh might have meant. Because he meant to say that Mrs. Obama is uppity. Don't kid yourself and most of all don't kid me. I know a dog whistle when I hear it.
At some point we're going to ask ourselves why this is acceptable in our day and age, aren't we? Rush hates Mrs. Obama because of her race. I mean, her husband's political vies help too but a lot of the attacks are racially based. In 2011, uppity is still something that a professional person with a public job says out loud.
And people are acting shocked; as if Rush Limbaugh saying something horrifying is a new phenomenon. It is, in fact, his bread and butter.
But there is something that we can do. Honestly I think it's something that everyone has a responsibility to do and it's long past time we started doing it.
Learn to speak the following sentence: What you just said was racist. Then refuse to back down or apologize for it. You know racist things when you hear them. You also know, because I assume that you live in the world, that people will do almost anything to avoid taking responsibility for their racist comments. Don't let them. It might behoove you to learn this sentence as well. You know that it was racist. That is why you said it. The best possible thing you can do in this situation is let people twist in the discomfort of their own words until they learn or go the fuck away.
Be part of the solution.
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