At first glance, the media firestorm over Touré, an MSNBC commentator who used the the n-word to describe Mitt Romney’s campaign tactics against President Obama, is just the latest political controversy to generate heat but little light.
Yet Touré’s blunt assessment of Romney’s “ni**erization” of Obama, and the sanctimonious outrage it triggered, illustrated a disturbing trend in American politics: white conservatives have hijacked the debate on race in America.