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The Racial Dialectic: President Barack Obama and the White Racial Frame

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Abstract

This paper introduces the concept of the “racial dialectic” to describe the ways racial dialogues and policies have transformed in the wake of Barack Obama’s historic election to the presidency of the United States of America. Using public statements and behaviors from elected officials, pundits, and Obama himself as case study data, we examine the tension between what we term the hard racial frame, the soft racial frame, and the racial counterframe in the public discourses. We conclude that these competing frames produce a dialectic that has transformed the way racial issues are discussed and interpreted in the wake of Obama’s election.

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Notes

  1. “President-Elect Obama: The Voters Rebuke Republicans for Economic Failure,” Wall Street Journal, November 5, 2008, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122586244657800863.html (accessed December 28, 2008); Dowd, Maureen. “Dark Dark Dark,” New York Times, February 21, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/22/opinion/22dowd.html?_r=1&ref=opinion (accessed July 19, 2010)

  2. Nick Wing, “New Hampshire State House Candidate Running On White Supremacist Platform,” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/13/new-hampshire-state-house_n_644619.html (accessed July 14, 2010).

  3. Heather Hollingsworth, “NAACP Condemns Racism in Tea Party

  4. POTUS is an acronym for President of the United States.

  5. “Free Republic Pulls/Restores/Pulls Thread Bashing Malia Obama, FR Responds,” DailyKos, July 10, 2009, http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/10/752031/-*UPDATE-III*-Free-Republic-Pulls-Restores-Pulls-Thread-Bashing-Malia-Obama;-FR-Responds (accessed October 20, 2009)

  6. Hoover, Ben.“GOP Activist Says Escaped Gorilla Was ‘Ancestor’ of Michelle Obama,” WISTV, June 19, 2009, http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=10526195 (accessed October 4, 2009)

  7. “New York Post Political Cartoon Raises Concerns. “NPR, February 19, 2009, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100875822 (accessed October 20, 2009)

  8. “Tea Party Washington DC Photos: Conservative Protestors Rally Against Big Government.” Huffington Post, September 12, 2009, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/12/taxpayer-March-on-washing_n_284477.html (accessed October 20, 2009)

  9. “Ten Most Offensive Tea Party Signs,” Huffington Post, June 8, 2009, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/16/10-most-offensive-tea-par_n_187554.html (accessed October 20, 2009)

  10. “Glenn Beck: Obama Is a Racist.” Cbsnews.com, July 29, 2009, http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/07/29/politics/main5195604.shtml (accessed July 29, 2009).

  11. “Lecture: ‘A Latina Judge’s Voice,’” NY Times, May 14, 2009 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/15/us/politics/15judge.text.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all (accessed October 20, 2009)

  12. Ibid

  13. Condon, Stephanie. “GOP Pushback Continues, with Limbaugh Calling Sotomayor a ‘Reverse Racist,’” CBS News, May 5, 2009, http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/05/27/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry5043597.shtml (accessed May 27, 2009); Froomkin, Dan. “Obama’s Real Life Justice,” Washington Post.com, May 26, 2009 http://voices.washingtonpost.com/white-house-watch/2009/05/obamas_real-life_justice/pf.html (accessed October 20, 2009)

  14. Buchanan, Patrick J. “A Quota Queen for the Court,” VDare, June 1, 2009, http://www.vdare.com/buchanan/090601_sotomayor.htm (accessed June 1, 2009); Krikorian, Mark. “It Sticks in My Craw,” National Review Online, May 27, 2009 http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MzkwYzY3ZTc4NTkwZjRiMjM3OGVlMzlmNTZjYmY2ZDI= (accessed October 20, 2009); Terkel, Amanda. “Conservatives Blast Obama’s Hispanic SCOTUS Nominee as ‘Not the Smartest’ and an ‘Intellectual Lightweight’” Think Progress, May 26, 2009, http://thinkprogress.org/2009/05/26/sotomayor-lightweight/ (accessed October 20, 2009)

  15. Condon, Stephanie. “GOP Pushback Continues, with Limbaugh Calling Sotomayor a ‘Reverse Racist,’” CBS News, May 5, 2009, http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/05/27/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry5043597.shtml (accessed May 27, 2009). Limbaugh is not the only public figure to follow this line of argument. Sean Hannity also contended that Obama’s “radical associations” with Reverend Jeremiah Wright minimzed Obama’s qualifications for the presidency. Similarly, Glenn Beck cited Van Jones as an example of one of Obama’s “radical appointments.” As with Justice Sotomayor, these arguments use these figures as a way of maligning President Obama.

  16. McPhee, Michelle and Sara Just. “Obama Criticizes Police in Henry Louis Gates Case,” ABC News, July 22, 2009, http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=8148986&page=1 (accessed October 20, 2009)

  17. “Boston Cop Used Racial Slur in Gates Email,” WCBV Boston, July 29, 2009, http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/20215609/detail.html (accessed October 20, 2009); Weisman, Jonathan and Simmi Ajula. “Obama Scrambles to Defuse Race Flap,” WSJ Online, July 25, 2009, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124844815302279253.html (accessed October 20, 2009)

  18. ACLU, “Racial Profiling Alert,” http://www.aclu.org/racialjustice/racialprofiling/index.html (accessed May 15, 2009).; David Harris, “Driving While Black: Racial Profiling on Our Nation’s Highways,” (New York: American Civil Liberties Union, 1999), as cited at http://www.lwvcincinnati.org/publications/Driving_While_Black.html (accessed February 2, 2006). See also Feagin forthcoming, Racist America 2nd edition, New York: Routledge.

  19. “Joe Wilson,” wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Wilson_%28U.S._politician%29 (accessed September 21, 2009).

  20. “White House disputes Carter’s analysis,” MSNBC, September 16, 2009, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32869276/ns/politics-capitol_hill/ (accessed September 21, 2009).

  21. “KO Documents Racist Attacks on Obama,” firedoglake.com, http://firedoglake.com/2009/09/17/early-morning-swim-ko-documents-racist-attacks-on-obama/comments (accessed September 21, 2009); “White House disputes Carter’s analysis,” MSNBC, September 16, 2009, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32869276/ns/politics-capitol_hill/ (accessed September 21, 2009).

  22. “Obama Blames Media, Not Race,” cbs2.com, http://cbs2.com/national/barack.obama.race.2.1194842.html (accessed September 21, 2009); Stanley, Alessandra,“The TV Watch: For President, Five Programs, One Message,” New York Times, September 21, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/21/us/politics/21watch.html?_r=2 (accessed September 21, 2009).

  23. Democrats Ramshield. “CNN's Rick Sanchez in a startling video reports threats against President Obama are up 400%.” Cnn.com, September 12, 2009, http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/9/12/780953/-CNNs-Rick-Sanchez-in-a-startling-video-reports-threats-against-President-Obama-are-up-400-percent (accessed on September 21, 2009).

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Correspondence to Adia Harvey Wingfield.

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Wingfield, A.H., Feagin, J. The Racial Dialectic: President Barack Obama and the White Racial Frame. Qual Sociol 35, 143–162 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11133-012-9223-7

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