Avenue Q Had It Right: Everyone's A Little Bit Racist

The continuing saga of Shirley Sherrod provides an excellent starting point for something that has bothered me for a very long time. Her point is not my point, mind you, but it leads in to what I've though for far too long. There are far too many people willing to accept racism within their own ethnicity but will then cry foul when someone of a different ethnicity expresses even the slightest racist thought.

That mentality is what is at the root of the entire Shirley Sherrod scandal. Some white dude edits a video that ostensibly shows an African American government official admitting she had a racist thought at one point in her life, distributes said video, the news orgy erupts with outrage, and she gets fired in the process. A few days later, people take a look at the context of what she was saying and realize that she was actually admitting that she knew race had nothing to do with the situation at hand and that people needed to work together to solve societies ills, and now everyone is all apologizing to her and offering her new jobs. But why did people not take the time to go through all the information when the story first hit?

Here's the bottom line of it all though: there are racist white people and there are racist black people and there are racist Hispanic people and there are racist (insert ethnicity here) people. Until we can accept that and admit that, then the dialogue on race goes no where. As long as we pretend that members of a different ethnic background should be immune to racist thought while accepting it within their own, nothing moves forward.

Admitting that at one point in your life you had a racist thought is not the end of the world. Well, it should not be the end of the world. What it should be is an admission of fault which lead to a growing understanding. Saying that I once had a racist thought, but that I then examined that thought and it lead me to the conclusion that every one suffers and that we all should work together to resolve differences is the correct attitude. Racist thoughts are bred into us through our societies and the people we surround ourselves with and the media we consume. It will happen that, on occasion, a person will have a racist thought. The condemnation should not come at admitting that thought, rather the condemnation should come if a person chooses to act on or accept that racist thought. Do you act upon that thought negatively, or do you take the initiative to analyze it and work beyond it?

There is a psychological theory on racism (which I, of course, cannot find or remember the name of at the moment) which looks at racist thought as a forgone conclusion. It is not whether someone has racist thoughts that determines if someone is racist, because everyone has racist thoughts. Instead it looks at how quickly we move away from those thoughts. The theory goes that when presented with a situation, we immediately jump to our most basest thought first, then move to a more rational thought. When it comes to race, this is where racism is measured. We may think racist thought initially, but the measure of racism is how quickly we move beyond that thought to a more rational view of the situation.

If we cannot admit to having racist thoughts, how can we examine those thoughts for what they are and learn to grow beyond them? That, in a roundabout way, is what Shirley Sherrod was getting at in her video. If we cannot accept that racism is real and alive, we cannot fight against it. We cannot fight an enemy that we do not believe exists, and that includes a belief we hold.

I'll only give a passing mention to the hypocrisy of the far right holding this story up as a beacon as if they were revealing some seedy underbelly of the Obama Administration. One woman does not an administration make More importantly, one should always clean their own house before criticizing someone else's home. Using this woman as a smokescreen is pretty obvious and just a little pathetic.

But Shirley is right. We all need to move on, and we can't do that until we admit that there is a problem that needs to be solved.

Racism Is Still Alive And Unwell

An old friend from High School marching band and Church days posted an interesting video on their Facebook profile last night, and although I left a comment their speaking my mind on the video, I feel I have to address the video a bit more, and where better to do so than right here?

First, a prefix: I'm only going to comment on the video itself. There is no way for me to know what this person's intentions were in posting the video, whether they saw the whole thing or whether they agreed with any or all of it. That's not the point at all here. The point I want to make is strictly about the video. I also will not be posting said video in this blog or linking to it or even giving enough description for you to find it on your own, although I'm sure my readers are smart enough to be able to do so if they choose.

Now then, a brief description of the video: It's a video from C-SPAN, so it had to have been from some hearing of some sort. It features an African-American gentleman railing on the white people of America, calling white people "the real n*****s" and calling for the total eradication of the "white man" as the only solution to end the slight against the black man. Pretty intense stuff, and disgustingly racist, which is the general point the creator of said video is trying to make. The video is then interrupted with a splash screen declaring that the man is spewing hate speech, the man talks some more, another splash screen asking why this man isn't in jail yet, more of the man talking, then a final splash screen asking "do you still think black people are your friends?"

At first, I watched this video thinking "this man is pretty disturbing." Any time I hear people calling for the eradication of another group of people, I get concerned. That's some scary shit, and we're seeing it against the LGBT community right now as well. But then they creator starts to eek in their little thoughts, and I have to take a step back. Is this man using hate speech against Anglo people? Yeah, that's pretty much the classic definition of hate speech. Should he be jailed for it? Well, no, not unless he acts upon his convictions and commits an actual crime… Should we mistrust all black people based on this one lunatic's opinion? Wait, what?… WTF just happened there!

The video uses this classic baiting trick to get people to agree with the creator: start with something easy we can agree with then tangle this sweet fruit of conformity in front of the viewer till they get roped into thinking the same hateful thoughts the creator was thinking. Truthfully, both the speaker and the editor are on a level of racism we rarely see. But the creator of this video has a few things majorly wrong in their perspective. I don't agree nor do I sympathize with the man in the video, but as far as I can see in this video, he's just a raving idiot, while the video editor is a raving idiot trying to distort reality to justify their own racism.

Let's start with the "he should be jailed for his words" argument. So, we can jail black people for speaking negatively of white people, but lets continue to allow the KKK to hang a cross in a public square in Cincinnati and allow South Carolina to fly the flag of the South over their state building. We can jail a black man for insinuating that the extermination of all Anglos is the only solution for a better world, but it's perfectly ok for preachers the world round to call for the "rehabilitation" or out right murder of LGBT folk. Like it or not, free speech exists for a reason. We cannot lock someone up simply for having an opinion we disagree with. Period. Once that person acts upon that hate, that's a different story, but if you want to lock up this black man for his opinion, you better damn well believe a shit ton of preachers and pastors will be going to jail as well. Just a thought.

And I would take on the overtly racist "still think black people like you" question, but I feel pretty comfortable that anyone reading this post can understand why exactly that question speaks miles to the intentions of the video creator. That, also in it's purest form, is racism. Fear without justification. Does that person speaking like me? Nope. Do black people like me? Those that know me do, unless of course we don't get along, then they don't, but I hardly think the color of my skin affects their opinion.

What this video does show, in a very ironic sense, is that the extremists of the world still exist and are still very vocal. On all sides of hate. What this video does show is that those that support hatred are still trying to manipulate more people to their cause through various means of sympathy baiting. What this video does show is that listening to hate, on either side of an issue, is like watching someone yell at themselves in a mirror. The opinions expressed in that video are sick. All of them. But the people expressing them have the right to say them. It's up to us as educated individuals to say something to these people and fight the bigoted opinions and to help shine light on these hurtful words when we see them so that others won't be sucked into their way of thinking. It's up to us to peel away the layers of misinformation to see if any truth lies in their bile. And ultimately, it's up to us to say to the world that we will not accept hate on any level. Let them speak their idiocy. At least then I'll know who's opinion can be trusted and who's cannot.

It's Time For A TEA Party! And, No, It's Not The IML Kind...

I have to admit, I'm a bit amused by the newest sham being thrown together by the Conservatives of our country. On Tax Day, April 15, the right wing plans to protest all across the country at the same time to show their disgust for such things as:

- "How dare they let them there brown people into my country… that my ancestors stole from them…"
- "How dare the Gov'mint try to provide realistic solutions to the our farcical health care system" - "How dare them Warshinton Elitists attempt to tax themselves more so that we average Amuricans can pay our bills better."

And my personal favorite:

- "How dare them bastards support equal rights for them gays and them blacks and them Latinos! This is my country!"

They are calling it the TEA Party (how quaint), and acronym for Taxed Enough Already. Which you are Taxed Enough Already. If you make less than $150,000 a year, which is why your taxes won't go up with the Obama Administration's plan, but hey, who's actually taking the time to read things when it's much easier to listen to the Republican Savior Bill O'Reilly.

It simply amazes me that somehow, poor and middle-class white x-tians have convinced themselves that they should be fighting for the rights of rich white atheists instead of for their own rights and their neighbors rights. Or doing things like, I don't know, helping and loving your neighbor… or working to alleviate to that pesky poverty issue… or whatever.

To be honest, the above quotes are paraphrased. It seems that haters feel the need to hide their bigoted thoughts with as flowery a wording as they can manage. But, if you feel so inclined as to see the actual wording (and to be fair to the opposition… which is more than they'd consider), here's the link to Official TEA website. You can even get names and phone numbers of local idiots near you! Except Chicago, because the organizer is apparently to afraid to post his/her own information...

Is The End Over Yet?

Is Racism over?

This is the refrain repeated over and over again on news channels, spending endless ours interview black people and white people, old and young, in an "attempt" to divine whether the election of Barack Obama means that the U.S. has finally overcome it's bred-in Racism. It's also a question that infuriates me beyond comprehension.

Short answer: No.

Long Answer: Why the fuck are you wasting my time with this asinine questioning, you waste of air time and human flesh? Of course Racism isn't over! Did all the homos jump on the Republican bandwagon when Bush was elected? Nope. Did dudes stop smacking chicks on the ass in the office and at the bar when Condoleezza Rice became Secretary of State? Not at all. Did people stop mindlessly murdering queers for no fucking reason because Ellen became America's favorite talk show host? Sure as hell not.

So how in the world can you reason that because more than 50% of the country voted for Barack that Racism is over? Let's go back down South and ask that question. Check out You Tube for some videos of dumb-ass rednecks talking about him, then see if you can even consider asking that question.

It's not that Barack has been elected that indicates the end of Racism. When we no longer need Affirmative Action. When we no longer need to talk about how historic this election was. When we can move past racial politics. When the banks stop devalueing homes in traditionally black neighborhoods. When that happens... then we can start asking the question. But what I can guarantee you is that if we have to ask the question Is Racism Over, that should be a pretty solid indication that we aren't anywhere near the end yet.

Idiotic Poll Of The Day

No.