Framing the issues and Arguements...

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Professor Lakoff, a professor at UC Berkley has taken note of how Republicans have used “framing” to beat back progressive ideas and keep progressive men and women on the defensive. What he articulated in an interview he did back in 2003 about politics is also the same formula used by conservatives on issues of race.

Understanding how framing has been used in regards to race is simple but easily overlooked. In a discussion or debate about any issue “Every word is defined relative to a conceptual framework” as noted by Professor Lakoff. Take for instance the use of the phrase “Democratic Plantation” used by Negro-Cons and Republicans alike. We all know Black men and women were enslaved on white plantation, thus by referring to the Democratic Party in reference to Black men and women as the Democratic Plantation it is understood and conceptualized as Black men and women are being enslaved by the Democrats or Democrats are enslaving us.

Other acts of framing the argument and the issue can be witnessed with the use of words like “Victim” “Race Card” “Angry Blackman” etc. The idea is to put the opposition on the defensive before the debate starts such that they are working from a disadvantage. I noted sometime ago after watching a sixty minutes special on the “I have a dream program” that grants scholarships to “disadvantaged children” that the use of the phrase “disadvantaged children” is used only when those who are supposedly helping the “disadvantaged children” are being painted as saviors of these children. However, these same children are not referred to as “disadvantaged children” when the media and others are beating them down. They are referred to as inner city kids which carry the connotation of violence, poverty drugs and many other things but do not in any way say of them as being disadvantaged. That’s because the term “inner city” is another example of framing. Imagine if the headlines read “drop out rate at disadvantaged schools are growing” versus “drop out rate at inner city schools are growing”. Both say the same thing but by simply changing “disadvantaged” to “inner city” the connotation has changed.

We must be able to frame our own arguments and put those who are in opposition to our position on the defensive; we can not and should not adopt their terminology that is meant to put us on the defensive. Today instead of saying race is not at issue someone will simply say he or she is using the “race card” and automatically the person being accused of such is put on the defensive and will be dismissed. Understanding linguistics is important in the framing of our arguments and issues. One of the many reason some Black folk do not support Affirmative Actions and Reparation is because of the framing done to these issues by those who oppose them. Instead of dealing with rather or not reparations is deserved, the issue of reparations have become one that deals with where will the money come from, how it will be used and how will white folk react to it as if any of these things are relevant to the fact that Reparations are do and just. The same with Affirmative Action, it has been framed as being a quota system that put unqualified Black men and women in positions that should have went to a “more” qualified white person. Pay attention to those who oppose our issues and how they articulate that opposition and you will see the use of talking points centered around framing the argument to put us on the defensive when truth is on our side.