Since his election, President Barack Obama has been opposed with blatant racism by the right. They have characterized him as a Muslim, said he was not born in the U.S., and mocked him and his family in racially charged pictures.

Republicans openly plot to block all the president’s legislation; they have tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act over 50 times. In this obsession, Congress has sunk to an all-time low in approval ratings, shut down the government, and threatened to sue or impeach the president —not caring how these action affect a country struggling in a deep recession.

Has this racial hatred filtered down?

Defending guilty white people has become part of a major television network’s programming. George Zimmerman’s exoneration in the Trayvon Martin murder comes to mind. With the shooting of Michael Brown, once again anti-black sentiment comes cascading down into the landscape of our politics. Our country’s Right Wing, in its zest to whip up its base, perpetuates the racism of more than a half-century ago. It motivates its base and its xenophobic tendencies to view people of color, immigration reform, and politics through the prism of “47 percent” being takers. They have lit a match and watched it incinerate the relative calm of race relations before the first black man became president.

The Right Wing might not have ordered a Ferguson policeman to shoot an unarmed black teenager, but it has fostered an atmosphere charged with the lightning and thunder of prejudice from the days of Selma, Alabama, and fiery crosses.

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