*This letter was initiated by several women in response to a racist mailer sent by Irene Smith. We decided that these race baiting mailers cannot stand without us speaking up. It is particularly incumbent on white women to address this coded racism by other white women.

*By adding your name and email address to this form, you are agreeing that your name can be included as a signatory to the letter in public contexts like social media and traditional media such as the Mercury News.

*We have asked for your email but your email will not be published and will only be used to communicate with you about this letter.

LETTER:

A recent mailer sent by the campaign for Irene Smith, a candidate for San Jose City Council District 3, which includes downtown and surrounding neighborhoods, shows that the long tradition of racist dog whistles being used in Santa Clara County campaign mailers is still with us.

For those who benefit from photo descriptions, the mailer depicts a large photo of Ms. Smith, a white woman, flanked by two white female council members on one side of the mailer juxtaposed against a smaller photo of her opponent, Omar Torres, who is standing with Sajid Khan. Mr. Torres and Mr. Khan are men of color. The bottom of the mailer says, “The two candidates running for District 3 couldn’t be more different.” The back of the mailer says, “Smart, Independent Change vs [sic] Dangerous Partisanship.” 

This mailer is classic old school race baiting. Race baiting is the incitement of racial resentment and unconscious racial bias for political purposes and it is odious. For example, when the George W. Bush campaign in South Carolina accused rival John McCain of fathering a black child out of wedlock, that’s race baiting. When business organizations supporting San Jose City Council Member Dev Davis used a photograph of Black men involved in what appeared to be a riot in South Africa with the caption “Do You Really Want to Sign onto This?” to imply that her opponent’s policy positions would lead to riots, that’s race baiting. When campaign mailers darken the faces of candidates of color–as has occurred several times in recent years in our County–that’s race baiting. These tactics play on racist stereotypes that are recognized by some people looking at the mailer, inciting and reinforcing their conscious resentments and implicit biases.

Scholars like Dr. Apryl Williams have documented the long history, rooted in the slavery era, of racist stereotypes positioning white women as innocent, virtuous, and victimized and men of color as dangerous and predatory. That history includes white women deploying their power and these narratives to directly endanger men of color.

So when a mailer depicts a group of classily-dressed white women on one side and a pair of men of color on the other (one of them in a t-shirt), it literally and metaphorically pits these groups against one another based on apparent race and ethnicity. And, when on the opposite side of the mailer the word “smart” is used to refer to a white woman and the word “dangerous” to a man of color, it engages in racist dog whistling that draws on those centuries of racist imagery suggesting that white women need to be protected from men of color.

If you have heard the term dog-whistle but never been quite sure about what it means, it’s a metaphor drawing on the idea that there are whistles that only dogs can hear. Dog-whistling is a term applied to political messages that one particular group is likely to “hear” more clearly (and therefore react to). Again, in our country, to apply the term “dangerous” to a man of color in opposition to white women is to play on associations that go back as far as the origins of white supremacy itself. It is a racist dog whistle to white women (and the white men who position themselves as protecting white women).

We condemn this mailer in the strongest possible terms. We call on Irene Smith as the architect of this offensive message to publicly renounce it, apologize to Omar Torres and communities of color, and cease distribution of the mailer. We further call on others involved in the creation and approval of this mailer to apologize to Omar Torres and communities of color. 

In closing, it is important to make clear that the signatories to this open letter are primarily white women. That is not to center ourselves in the pain this mailer undoubtedly caused to Black and Brown members of our community. It’s because we believe we owe a debt. The privilege of white folks is predicated on the oppression and exploitation of Black and Brown people. (Let’s not forget that fifty-three percent of white women voted for Trump, perpetuating centuries of internalized oppression coupled with deep collusion with the system of white supremacy.) And perhaps we have some hope that our white sisters will read this piece and take another look at this mailer with open eyes and open heart and also say, as we are saying: Irene, not on our watch, not in our name.

INITIAL SIGNATORIES

Shiloh Ballard

Danna Bunnett

Leslye Corsiglia

Marci Gerston

Shawn Gerth

Anjee Helstrup-Alvarez

Kyra Kazantzis

Jen Myhre

Ashley Raggio