Uppity niggers got killed, for real ...

digby has a post (Smears R Us) discussing what she calls 'dog whistles' that call the racist to attention.

Some don't think certain words or images that the McCain campaign are using are racist. I think they are and I think the Republicans know they are. My father was from Georgia (and Alabama). Once he left he never went back except to visit family. I remember some of the conversations from some of those visits. My father's family referred to the former slaves as negroes or my negroes or the good negroes (which they 'took care of) or the bad negroes (who were at fault for whatever happened to them). Negroes were more or less invisible (good) except if they were 'out of their place (bad).' After one conversation I remarked to my mother that they (my grandmother and uncle, I think) talked about 'their negroes,' like I talk about my dog but I don't view my dog as a human being and that's the point. They didn't view those who did not qualify in their eyes as 'white' as full human beings. They really cared about some of them as I really care about my dog.

By invisible, I mean that in certain situations the white people really did not 'see' those classified as black. For example it was literally possible for a white person to look at a stretch of beach and say 'no one lives here.' There could be dozens of shacks on the beach with children running around etc. Point to the shacks and the children and say, 'but what about all those people?' The answer was who ya' talking about? Those blacks? They don't count.

Obama knows McCain's campaign is using racist messages.

Uppity niggers got killed, for real ... Being classified as uppity was not just a political dispute. It was a death sentence and McCain is playing with that message. I see no reason to pretend it's not happening just because Obama doesn't feel he can deal with it head on and the majority of the press is so rotten and corrupt that they let the GOP do their thinking for them.