November 4, racism (and class) in the USA

Jan. 18 2009: I'm glad to have found some corroboration for this blog in an interview by Gwen Ifill (The Breakthrough) where a Sth. Car. State Representative said: "If you are poor and black in S.C. or poor and white, you face basically the same issues", i.e. inequalities in health care and education. This reminded me of an eye opener from my first encounter of a very white upper class Virginian woman (1960), who used the terms "redneck" and "white thrash."

January 26, 2009: On the news this morning some very disturbing reports about a Boston man shooting at non-whites and killing two, after having "instructed" himself on white-supremacist websites. An FBI spokesman said the Bureau was on heightened alert because of increased web activity by such groups.

Original blog:
After the celebrations over Obama's election were over and the amazement that civil right activists of the 60s and 70s could see a black president in their lifetime were no longer topics of discussion, an analysis of the voting patterns as tabulated in Sunday's NYT, suggests there is a good deal of racism left and probably not just among older white and less educated voters. There was a a significant anti=Obama vote splitting in states and regions where Democratic candidates for governor or senator won and McCain also got a majority. There is very likely a joining of racism and fear of the lower rungs of society, of the poor (many of whom are black).
When sociologists began to separate "society" into layers rather than simply into lower, middle and upper classes, it became evident that class antagonisms occurred at the edges of each layer and it was suggested that it may not primarily have been a desire to keep members of the lower level from entering the next higher, but rather a fear by members of the higher level of being relegated to the lower. There is a model of that in soccer where the teams at the bottom of a division fight even harder to not be relegated than the two teams at the top of the lower division to be promoted. (Since money is involved, this plays a role, but in my youth in Holland all were amateurs and it was the honor or prestige that mattered). The model in education has been destroyed by the practice of promoting every student and not to let the poorest double a year, (on the other hand high school seniors tend to bully 1st year students, etc.).
In the late 50s, when I arrived in this country, the terms "punk", "hoodlum" etc. were used without much distinction to all poor (and especially to ill mannered) white young males whether they were actually delinquents or not. Most of them were of Italian extraction or Irish (and all of them Catholic) and when we were looking for an apartment in the suburbs it was helpful that my wife was of an old family and I was an educated Dutchman (the real estate agent showed us better places as he found that out while driving around). He was confident we would get the necessary mortgage. A well to do, even self employed, workers would depress real estate values or lower the tone of the neighborhood if they moved in. There was a tacit (?) "red lining" in existing neighborhoods that later was practiced more brazenly against blacks. Yet, lawyers and other educated professionals could find houses in traditionally higher income areas.
One could argue that discrimination against Italians and other immigrants is a form of racism (especially if one equates race with ethnicity), but in the Holland of my youth (or in France and England) with a population that was not ethnically diverse) similar prejudices or antagonism prevailed. Eliza Doolittle comes to mind as I particularly liked one of my father's foremen who was much like Eliza's father in spirit although a hardworking craftsman. Perhaps out of loyalty to him (and some of my teenage friends from leftist families) I cultivated a real Amsterdam accent and lingo. While this came in handy when I joined the merchant marine "to see the world," each time I met a friendly person when back at home, I was told to give it up ("Be less red," some added) or I would not achieve the place in the world that my education etc. prepared me for.

Question:

Is it the level of income (with the concomitant levels of education and their implicit socializing training during 16+ years of schooling) that overcomes prejudice (or the fact that the higher the income the farther one is removed from the subjects of one's prejudices)? I.e. Does one really invite Sidney Poitier to dinner but not Jesse Jackson Sr. (or Rocky Balboa)?