Former Des Moines Register columnist Rekha Basu expressed concerns about racism in Iowa in a post-election discussion with other Iowa writers.
Basu said there is still “distrust” of foreigners or people with foreign names, especially in s smaller towns and rural areas of the state. She singled out Democrat Third Congressional candidate Lanan Baccam.
“I mean, I love seeing pictures of his parents and his family in his TV ads, but I also thought about the reaction of an everyday white Iowan from the rural areas thinking, you know, frankly racist thoughts that might come into their heads,” Basu said. “And I think that had to have played into it, just his background.”
Basu said her first thought when hearing Kamala Harris would be at Howard University for her campaign celebration on election night, was “Uh-oh.”
“That might actually turn off some voters from voting for her because they’re going to think she’s playing the black card or the minority woman card or whatever card it is, South Asian card,” Basu said. “And I just feel like you have to be so careful to be mainstream in this state, to appear mainstream, to appear mainstream, that you’re really at a liability if you’re not.”
It’s not shocking that Basu’s initial reaction is to blame racism — even when there is none. It’s much easier to complain about the perceived racism of others rather than the absurdity of the Democrat Party’s ideas.
As a matter of logic and science, it could be that Iowans are racist, but you can’t base that on whether Iowans vote for Kamala Harris or anyone else based on their name. Ms. Basu came to this conclusion based on her belief system lens and she offered no evidence for her position other than her perception of reality. I’m amazed at all the discourse about misogyny as though the only possible explanation for people to not vote for a woman is because of her gender. This is a logical fallacy as any married person can tell you; not all women are the same or else we could just marry any woman and could live happily ever after. Why can’t these assessments be based on policy? Could it be that the majority of Iowans disagree with the vision for America that Kamala wants us to support? In fact there was extremely little of her policy beliefs that she was willing to share, but her disdainful record of actions and inactions are the factors that led to her defeat. I believe we will one day support a woman for president, and I pray that this person would be worthy of the responsibility entrusted to her.