I thought it was just me…and then I realized that maybe others are hearing it too. When Sen. Obama suggested that small-town voters where bitter and clinging to guns and religion as a way through the tough times, Sen. Clinton and Sen. John McCain immediately branded him as “elitist.” The first time I heard it, I thought nothing much of it. Every political leader in this nation is elitist, to a degree. “Elitism” is described as “leadership or rule by a choice part,” usually a group considered to be advantaged in some way. The second time I heard it, I found the suggestion extremely hypocritical. I mean, is it not elitist to lend your presidential campaign $5 million? Is it not elitist to dismissively excuse a refusal to commemorate a slain Civil Rights hero by saying, “we can all be a little late sometimes in doing the right thing“? I mean, really…

Then, I started to wonder whether there was more being suggested here than comments being “elitist.” Each time I heard the utterance of the word “elitist” used to characterize Barack Obama’s approach to leadership, I wondered whether it was an implicit way to publicly suggest that Sen. Obama is “uppity.” I hesitate a bit even as I write it here, because for many, “uppity” might be a benign word, meaning simply “arrogant or presumptuous.” But for many African Americans, “uppity” is a word that boils our blood. So I press on… “Uppity Negroes” were those who sought to challenge a racist ideology that reserved for people of African descent a normalization of ignorance, poverty, and social marginalization. Historically, “uppity” was used to suggest that a person of African descent was somehow out of his or her “place”–a suggestion that we hope Sen Clinton and others are not seeking to make.

Apparently, Sen. Obama has denied feeling that his political rivals’ use of the word has any racial overtones, but I’m not convinced. While the words “elitist” and “uppity” are different, we should all be mindful of the tone and context in which they are being used. Implicitly, we’re receiving a loaded suggestion, and it would not be wise to go there!

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