Steve King, congressman from Iowa, has a special relationship with his own whiteness. It comforts him. It sustains him. And, in his mind, it makes him superior to anyone who doesn’t check ‘Caucasian’ on their census form.
King doesn’t come out and argue for white superiority directly. At least not in public. God only knows what spews forth from his mental recesses in the privacy of dinner conversation.
In public, King practices the modern art of the dog whistle—the technique of obliquely referring to racially charged issues in such a way as to clearly get your point across to the faithful while summoning hyperventilating outrage whenever someone directly calls you on your racism.
So in 2009, he referred to President Obama as “very, very urban” and implied the Department Of Agriculture program charged with making restitution to black farmers for past discrimination was simply a backdoor method of implementing slavery reparations. Even more worrisome, according to King, was the “at least 75 percent” of applications that were apparently fraudulent.
He even went so far as to offer a fictitious anecdote about “Johnny”—a drug-addicted son of a farmer who left the farm for the decadent city life and now wants a piece of the USDA action to buy crack and booze.
The translated version of King’s spiel is pretty simple: Barack Hussein Obama has a scheme to advance the radical black agenda by using the USDA to give hard-earned white money to undeserving crackheads like “Johnny.”
You know how those people are.
The coded meaning of King’s message becomes even more apparent when the merits of his argument are scrutinized. The eye-popping percentage of fraud cited by King comes from a dubious anecdote involving an unnamed USDA official who—allegedly overcome by civic duty in the face of Washington corruption—returned to Iowa with a box of photocopied applications, at least 75 percent of which were fraudulent.
Or so claims the anonymous (possibly non-existent) government official. We don’t know this person’s name, or his specific position with the USDA. Nor has King produced this mysterious box of paperwork which would provide the smoking gun for his fraud claims.
This is to be expected. When dog whistling, the actual facts of the matter are beside the point, and potentially counterproductive to the agenda at hand. Because of the controversy generated by King and his conservative allies, the FBI conducted an investigation into the USDA program. Out of over 70,000 applicants, they found exactly three prosecutable cases of fraud. If only Wall Street could claim similar integrity.
But King’s message was targeted to people for whom evidence that contradicts belief is irrelevant. They know in their hearts that white people are smarter, richer, more ethical, and more civilized. And that black people are, by and large, unintelligent, lazy, and prone to corruption and violence.
They are the modern day racists, and King is among their most prolific spokespeople. They know they can’t come out and verbalize their beliefs publicly. They would claim this is due to the tyranny of political correctness that keeps honest white folk from speaking their minds. Others would argue it has more to do with the ignorant and reprehensible content of their ideals.
Either way, when confronted on the threadbare substance—and ugly racial undertones—of his accusations, King executed the classic defense of a dog whistler. When his facts were challenged, he simply ignored the counterevidence and repeated the words “75 percent” and “fraud” in various combinations.
Again, the people he was speaking to already believe the fraud happened. Not only do they not need to be convinced, but they will take it upon themselves to reject anything that contradicts their preconceived notions.
And as to the blatant racism of his allegations, King predictably exhibited red-faced outrage at the implication. How dare anyone accuse him of being that horrible monster known as a racist? After all, racists are people who run around wearing sheets and burning crosses, and since he doesn’t do any of that nonsense, he can’t possibly be a racist.
Even though, earlier this year, he suggested the United States should choose which immigrants to accept the same way a hunter would choose a good bird dog. In no way should that be construed to imply that Steve King views immigrants as animals to be used for the benefit of their white betters.
And just a few weeks ago, at a town hall meeting, King targeted the multicultural student organizations of Iowa State University—claiming the groups indoctrinate vulnerable freshman into a victim mentality.
An interesting argument, and one that goes a long way towards drawing the curtain back on King’s true attitudes. A brief perusal of Iowa State multicultural student organization webpage hardly reveals the victimhood philosophy of King’s imagination. Rather, the student groups use words such as “support” and “empower” to describe their objectives.
Only in the minds of people like Steve King does this imply an attitude of victimhood. White superiority is so ingrained in his perception of the world that any recognition of the particular challenges faced by others is simply preaching “victimhood” and failing to recognize the “blessings” offered by this country.
For King, the natural order of things is for white people to dominate society. Anything that goes against that status quo is, by definition, wrong and un-American.
And that makes him a racist, as well as an idiot.
