Hmm, I don't know that I've ever focused specifically on the phenomenon of "the race card." Perhaps a chapter from Playing the Race Card would be good?
Or perhaps one of the political science articles out there showing that people generally reject racial claims out of hand in political discourse.
Obama described one sort of it in one of his books. Something about black politicians using it to defend themselves when caught in corruption?
For a recent overview, though written early in the 2008 campaign, see Sean Wilentz's "Race Man" reposted at http://davidmquintana.blogspot.com/2008/02/race-man-by-sean-wilentz-new-republic.html The subject of race begins at "To a large degree, the Obama] campaign's strategists turned the primary and caucus race to their advantage when they deliberately, falsely, and successfully portrayed Clinton and her campaign as unscrupulous race-baiters--a campaign-within-the-campaign in which the worked-up flap over the Somali costume photograph is but the latest episode. While promoting Obama as a "post-racial" figure, his campaign has purposefully polluted the contest with a new strain of what historically has been the most toxic poison in American politics."
I have not seen one. Though I've toyed with the idea of making one, plopping it down on the table at the beginning of the semester, and saying: "There; I've played the race card. Questions?"
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Or perhaps one of the political science articles out there showing that people generally reject racial claims out of hand in political discourse.
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Playing the Race Card: Melodramas of Black and White from Uncle Tom to O. J. Simpson
by Grace Elizabeth Hale; The Historian, Vol. 65, 2003
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Which looks like a pretty badass, and might be something to excerpt for your class.
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Obama described one sort of it in one of his books. Something about black politicians using it to defend themselves when caught in corruption?
For a recent overview, though written early in the 2008 campaign, see Sean Wilentz's "Race Man" reposted at http://davidmquintana.blogspot.com/2008/02/race-man-by-sean-wilentz-new-republic.html
The subject of race begins at "To a large degree, the Obama] campaign's strategists turned the primary and caucus race to their advantage when they deliberately, falsely, and successfully portrayed Clinton and her campaign as unscrupulous race-baiters--a campaign-within-the-campaign in which the worked-up flap over the Somali costume photograph is but the latest episode. While promoting Obama as a "post-racial" figure, his campaign has purposefully polluted the contest with a new strain of what historically has been the most toxic poison in American politics."
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