Racewire Blog

Terry Keleher

“Gook: John McCain’s Racism and Why It Matters.”

In this short 3-1/2 minute video, Racewire contributor and author Irwin Tang discusses his new book, “Gook: John McCain’s Racism and Why It Matters.”

Tang looks at the origins of the term and how it has been used to dehumanize people of color around the world including Vietnamese, Filipinos, Haitians, Chinese, Japanese, Koreans and others.

It’s a term McCain used freely for 27 years in the mass media, prior to his presidential campaign, which he didn’t want to jeopardize, according to Tang.

“It’s both a term of war and racism,” says Tang. “It’s a term that you use towards people that you’re willing to kill,” he adds,

Tang also examines some of the language of McCain’s current campaign, and makes an ominous parallel to how he dehumanizes Iranians, as if to prepare the American public for the target of a potential future war.

Posted at 8:30 AM, Oct 21, 2008 in Elections | Permalink | View Comments


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This is a very informative video. It really exposes John McCain's personal prejudices. If he is comfortable using slurs with the mass media, I can only imagine the things he says in private.

Posted by: The Silverback | October 22, 2008 7:20 AM