Dog Whistle Politics of Race Brief

In the beginning of this video, Ian Lopez brings up a good point when defining the term racist. It reminded me of the point I was trying to make in class the other day about Sal from Do the Right Thing. Lopez describes a modern day racist quite well and if we’re using that definition (which I am) then it describes Sal to a t. He says, “Look, here’s a hard, difficult truth. Most racists are good people. They’re not sick. They’re not ruled by anger or raw emotion or hatred. They are complicated people reared in complicated societies. They’re fully capable of generosity, of empathy, of real kindness, but because of the idea systems in which they’re reared, they’re also capable of dehumanizing others and occasionally of brutal violence. And that’s an important truth. Most people are not racist out of some sort of a sickness of the soul. They’re racist because of the society in which they operate”. Sal was definitely generous and kind to Mookie, Jade, and pretty much everyone in the neighborhood. He wasn’t angry or filled with hate like Pino was. He was just a regular guy running his business, and he was also a racist. Because of the world that he was living in in New York in 1989, he was the way that he was. A dead giveaway should’ve been when Sal yells “You black cock sucker, I’ll fucking tear your fucking nigger ass” or “You nigger mother fucker”. This racially charged anger shows his capability of dehumanizing other and being violent. I thought that it was interesting how this video tied well into Do the Right Thing.