Janet Yellen will become the chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank beginning February 1, 2014. Was the Senate premature in choosing her? Is there racism in her past?

I’m writing this article as if I were a racialist. A racialist is someone who looks for any reason to sabotage a conservative political candidate by dredging up any scarp of “evidence” that might intimate racism no matter how many years have passed even if racism is not indicated.

It’s a favorite and overused but effective tactic of the Left. When the Left doesn’t have an argument to end the political career of a conservative, they bring up race or “homophobia.” Texas Governor Rick Perry was made out to be a racist by tying him to a hunting spot “known by the name painted in block letters across a large flat rock standing upright at its gated entrance,” a story in the Washington Post reported. “‘Niggerhead,’ it read.”

It didn’t matter that Perry had nothing to do with the name. It was called “that name well before Perry and his father, Ray, began hunting there in the early 1980s.”

There are hundreds (maybe thousands) of articles posted on the internet about the story. Even Herman Cain got in the act of condemning his then political rival for not doing something the rock and the name. It makes a person wonder if people are concerned about the name or the political damage it can bring since there are numerous places in the United States and in other parts of the world where the name is used. As of this date, I don’t see much evidence that many of the places have changed the name.

I wonder what will happen or has happened to high school reading lists that include Jack London’s To Build a Fire:

“He held on through the level stretch of woods for several miles, crossed a wide flat of niggerheads, and dropped down a bank to the frozen bed of a small stream. This was Henderson Creek, and he knew he was ten miles from the forks. He looked at his watch. It was ten o’clock. He was making four miles an hour, and he calculated that he would arrive at the forks at half-past twelve. He decided to celebrate that event by eating his lunch there.”

While it wasn’t about race, it didn’t stop the Left from attacking Mitt Romney for something that is becoming just as effective as race: “homophobia.” It seems that when Romney was in high school — in 1965 — he cut off the hair of a fellow student because it was thought he was “gay.”

Now back to Janet Yellen. An article appeared a few days ago citing the recollections of one of Yellen’s former classmates. The classmate was surprised at her meteoric rise and her interest in economics. The NY Post reported the following:

 “She graduated in 1963 as class valedictorian. Yellen’s yearbook entry shows she was editor of the school paper, The Pilot, as well as a member of the Arista honor society, the Boosters basketball program, the Minutemen history club and that psychology club that still sticks in Vincent’s mind.

“Her school photo depicts a serious young woman with a demure bob hairdo and intense eyes.

It’s the content of the description under Yellen’s senior picture that caught my attention. There’s the phrase “Great White Father.” As a racialist, I would view this as a racial superiority remark. Then there’s this one: “whistlin’ Dixie in History 2.” “Dixie” was the Confederate States of America war song. Here’s the second stanza:

Advance the flag of Dixie! Hurrah! Hurrah!
In Dixie’s land we take our stand, and live or die for Dixie!
To arms! To arms! And conquer peace for Dixie!
To arms! To arms! And conquer peace for Dixie

Is there a reasonable and nonracial explanation for Yellen’s yearbook comments? Most likely they are innocent entries. Do I think Yellen is a racist? Not at all.

But if Yellen were a conservative you can bet that those two phrases (and maybe even “black ribbons”) would be used against her. Only conservatives – black or white – can be racists.