I wrote a lot about the racial rhetoric being espoused in the lead up to the recent mid-term elections. I was heartened to see a lot of people calling things like they saw them and labeling this garbage as the race-baiting it was.

So, as a sort of wrap-up, I bring to you the words of Frank Chi, the former president of the Bowdoin College Democrats and the Advertising Director for the College Democrats of America.

I appreciate they way he laid this piece out. I encourage you to read it in its entirety.

In rural Tennessee, the Republican Party’s subtle political literature read “preserve your way of life,” a slogan made infamous by men in white cloaks. On the radio, a Republican ad slammed Ford’s “liberal record,” accompanied by the sound of jungle drums in the background. But it was on television where the sting of race-baiting resonated most. The Republican Party’s ad that portrayed a half-naked blue-eyed blonde saying, “Harold, call me” sought to strike the fear of miscegenation into select white voters frightened by the taboo of interracial sex.

What exposed such race-baiting was not just the ad’s innuendo, but its targeted audience. The Republican Party bought this television spot during the broadcast of family shows, perhaps praying that the vulnerable white father they wished to persuade was watching the ad with his daughter at his side. After Republicans aired the ad, Ford began to slip in the polls, losing whatever momentum he had on the real issues at stake while voters were suddenly reintroduced to their base instincts and reminded once again that Ford was black.

Even in Massachusetts, a blue state, voters were not spared television ads tinged with racism. The Republican candidate for governor, Kerry Healey, produced an ad portraying a suburban white woman walking in a dark garage. Suddenly, the face of Deval Patrick, her African-American opponent, appears while a voiceover suggests that Patrick is supportive of rapists.

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