The Grio

On MSNBC’s Morning Joe, RNC Chair, Reince Preibus called it a “moment of levity” and he can’t fathom why anyone would read and/or interpret Romney’s comments as anything other than a gentle ribbing of this nation’s first black president. Hardball’s host, Chris Matthews was quick to take Preibus to task, asserting the seriousness of the racialized nature of the “birther” movement and continuous attempts by a cast of characters from Donald Trump to the Arizona sherriff Joe Arpaio, to an assortment of Republican lawmakers, who are politically committed to “othering” Barack Obama.

All of this is to say nothing of the fact that jokes are the spinal cord of racial animus in our country – both historically and in the current Obama-era moment.  People say things joking around that they really mean.  And too many racial jokes or racialized jokes are just that – mean.  Romney’s joke about not having to verify his birthplace/nationality, is essentially a joke about the privilege to not show his papers – birth certificate or taxes.  It has a dark immediate history in birther attacks and their willful refusal to accept the facts of President Obama’s identity, but it also captures the longer arc of history where people of color in this country have had to craft origami models of their IDs in order to navigate these United States without undo harassment by the state.

Racism in the 21^st Century, broadly speaking, aside from discrimination and systemic bias, is also very much about the inherent suspicion directed at certain groups of people.  That a presidential candidate would delve into these problematic discourses is not funny at all.