Islamophobia, xenophobia and racism are alive and well in the GOP as the presidential primaries take place today in Alabama and Mississippi.
Let’s look at the facts:
Only twelve percent of GOP voters in Mississippi think that President Obama is a Christian, and a shocking three out of ten GOP voters in Mississippi want interracial marriage to be ILLEGAL while another two out of ten aren’t sure if interracial marriage should be legal. In other words, only half of Mississippi GOP voters are comfortable with interracial marriages.
National Public Radio (NPR) had a piece this morning titled, “Romney’s Rivals Try To Woo Southerners,” which in part covered voters reactions to a discussion with Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich yesterday in Alabama.
Regarding how entrenched Islamophobia is within the GOP in Alabama, one misguided soul named Judy Sellers made a statement related to President Obama, “I really don’t think that a nation that falls on Muslim leadership, potentially, is going to be a nation that’s going to survive.”
Not to mention last night that birthers are still questioning if Obama was even born in America.
Notice that many Islamophobes such as Pamela Geller are also birthers, and many of these Islamphobes identify with the politics of the GOP.
Given that many of the bigots within the GOP don’t want to be seen as anti-Black given that it’s not politically correct to be overtly anti-Black (just make Reagan-esque comments like “food stamp president”), using Islamophobia and xenophobia have a level of socio-political tolerance in America. It’s a strategy that Islamophobes have used for the last four years such as with the anti-Muslim movie “Obession” to rally the GOP voters against Obama.
As far as the reflection of anti-Black sentiments and the interracial marriage issue, which more overtly reflects the racist mindset still held by many Whites in the Deep South, they attempt to cover their racism with saying that they aren’t anti-Black but have concerns for the children of such marriages being confused about their identities. Islamophobia and xenophobia need no explanation, however.
Let’s see in the summertime with the Super PAC money flowing into the election if they will run ads in the South exploiting Islamophobia and xenophobia to get voters out to the polls against Obama. If so, they will be continuing the message that Obama is not like you, and he’s soft on Muslims, which implies that he might be one and also whispers that he’s Black.
