I will give David Brooks credit for trying to figure out the roots of prejudice in America, but to say that now it’s less about race and more about class skates by the fact that poor white folks are still treated better than middle class people of color.
This class prejudice is applied to both the white and black poor, whose demographic traits are converging. But classism combines with latent and historic racism to create a particularly malicious brew. People are now assigned a whole range of supposedly underclass traits based on a single glimpse at skin color.
Really? So a twelve year old white kid playing with a toy gun on a playground is just as likely to be shot by the cops as a white kid? That a white guy is going to be stopped by the cops for taking a walk with his hands in his pockets, too?
Somehow I don’t think so.
Check out Leonard Pitts discussing the same issue in today’s Miami Herald.
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/leonard-pitts-jr/article4249431.html
“People are now assigned a whole range of supposedly underclass traits based on a single glimpse at skin color.”
This is TABMITWH in a nutshell. They can’t just come out and say Obama can’t be President because Blah; but it’s never far from the surface, and challenging his citizenship, his faith, his scholarship, his execution of his duties, his parenting skills and just about anything else right down to his wardrobe is all dogwhistle for “that uppity niCLANG needs to go back where he belongs.” It’s also why they like programs and proposals right up to where he agrees with some part, why they never read any of his work or listen to his speeches (remember “You lie!”?) and why any attempt he makes to work across the aisle is never visible: they know all they need just from one look.