I was reading a rather partisan website and came across this quote: "benefiting from the votes of racist and crypto-racist constituencies ". “Crypto-racist”? Is that like a “crypto-fascist”? Not that I’m sure what that is either to be honest, but I have seen that term around.
What do these terms mean and where did this all come from?
He told me he was going to New York so I would think he was going to Philadelphia but I know he was going to New York.
“Crypto-” is a combining form meaning “hidden.” Crypto-racists are those racists who lie about it, or who try to obscure their leanings by using innocuous-sounding language that, when you finally work it out, means “keep 'em darkies away from me.”
In this case, he’s talking about people who, while disavowing racism, always seem to gather in groups of their own color and favor policies that “well, whaddya know, my moral and principled support for policy X promotes segregation! Howzabout that!”
A flat-out racist is easy to spot- he still uses all the offensive racial terms (the N-word, etc.), he has a KKK bumper sticker on his pickup truck, he belongs to organizations that proudly exclude Jews and blacks.
But of course, there aren’t many of THOSE folks any more. Does that mean racism is a thing of the past? Hardly. Many people still harbor the old attitudes but have learned to couch their prejudices in more pleasant-sounding language, while using certain “code” words to express their old, racist beliefs. (“Crypto” is a prefix meaning “code”).
When blacks hear a white person use certain words or phrases, they go on the alert. They’re suspicious when a politician uses phrases like “states’ rights,” or “preserving neighborhoods,” or “getting tough on crime,” or “getting deadbeats off welfare,” because politicians who toss such words around are often (subtly) pandering to racist voters.
A guy like Trent Lott, for example, may never have used any racist epithets in public, but almost every time he’s opened his mouth before white audiences, he’s given signals that say “We white folks have to stick together, and not let those uppity coloreds take over.” It’s those signals that make a “crypto-racist”, as opposed to a plain old bigot.
www.m-w.com tends to support Nametag’s definition over astorian’s. Search for crypt- with the hyphen at the end to avoid getting the word crypt. A crypto-racist would be a hidden racist.
You can find this at a number of places on the net:
Ah, that never-to-be-forgotten (on live tv) political dialog during the 1968 election campaign:
from James Wolcott:
Now those were the days of intelligent political debate.
A good example in context, from the American Prospect weblog:
The Southern Partisan is an organ of the Council of Conservative Citizens.)
Are you sure about this? CoCC is based in Missouri, while Southern Partisan is [or at least used to be] published in South Carolina. And while SP’s views are at least wildly politically incorrect, I don’t think their leanings approach the overt racism of CoCC.
It doesn’t sound like a very reliable description. While I recognize that there are all kinds of double-talk bandied about on all sides, the “I’m reading your mind and telling you what you really said” headset of “code word” interpretation has always left a lot to be desired. Then interpreter can’t interpret without their own bias.
Ringo, we risk error any time we judge another’s motives.
With that said, there are still language clues that understandably make the ears perk up:
One that I particularly remember was Ross Perot’s addressing a predominately African-American group and using the expression “you people.” He would probably never realize that that is a red flag.
“A credit to your race” is another
Um, no, actually-- I was confusing Southern Partisan with The Citizen’s Informer.
I don’t think that their agendas are that far apart though, and there’s certainly a certain amount of crossover.
Samuel Francis, for instance, is active with the CCC and a contributor to SP.
Rep. Richard Hines is a funder of the CCC and an editor of SP.
This CNN article from last year simply notes that two regular SP columnists are CCC members.
My apologies for the gaffe-- a few associations certainly do not “an organ” make.
(Though I doubt you could pee on the CCC without splashing Southern Partisan.)
Ringo does have a point – I’ve heard some activists, full of youth and high spirits, (or p;ss and vinegar, sometimes it’s hard to tell them apart,) accuse people of “crypto-fascism” on the most ridiculous pretexts: “We don’t want X involved with this action because he has a history of starting fist-fights at our rally’s.” “You’re denying me my right to freedom of association! Crypto-fascists!” Uh, yeah, buddy.
Some things can properly be called crypto-racist, though. This Southern Partisan T-shirt has no overt racism in any way. After all, the neo-confederate position is that Lincoln was a bad, bad man-- because he threatened the civil liberties of American citizens. That Tim McVeigh thought it was a cool shirt, and happened to be a devotee of William Pierce is a meaningless coincidence. Of course.