In liberal eyes, Moynihan became an effigy, a disgruntled intellectual who used ingenious phrases to convey a racist message.
Whatever he said, on whatever issue, contained a coded racist message.
Justice Breyer asked whether the Constitution required the endowment to make a grant for otherwise deserving art that nonetheless contained a racist message.
Other songs were more subtle, couching racist messages behind social critiques and political action calls.
Coeur d'Alene, the resort town a few miles south of here, has tried in recent years to counteract racist messages.
And if it is true, was Gore's 1988 campaign guilty of injecting cryptic racist messages into the debate?
One faction seems to have abandoned the crude racist message and concentrates on antisemitism, whilst the other seems to be taking the opposite position.
Next my Twitter account was compromised and used as a platform to broadcast racist and homophobic messages.
Last week, for example, a Nottingham policeman was reported to have left racist messages on someone else's phone.
That's a racist message and I disagree with it.