What is racism, what is not? Where is the line in the sand drawn. That image of drawing a physical line in the dirt with a stck or a shoe brings back a little nostanlgia. Reminding me of hot summer days at my local recreational centers summer camp. Young middle school boys all pumped up by others watching and geering
“Cross this line and I’ll whoop your ass.” Anyway, doesn’t that same kind of line exist in the adult world in regards to racist remarks? The whole reason I bring this up is because (besides the fact that its something I often wonder about) I was listening to the radio this morning while doing some inanely tedious titrations, and the host of the show made a comment that I was instantly taken aback by.
The reason I for my strong reaction was because of the blatant racistness of the comment.
The whole discussion was about Colen Powel’s recent endorsement of Barack Obama. Anywhoo someone called in and said something along the lines of his endorsement will have the effect of getting more support for Obama in the
black community. After this the host apparently disagreed with the caller and made a statement, I don’t remember the exact words, But it was something like
“Oh yea sure, cuz all the black guys on the south side drinking there forties really care about political issues” Or something like that. Well that truly struck me as racist and I really couldn’t believe he said that on the radio (what racist remarks he makes in his own bedroom….who knows).
But then just when I was about to once again settle on my opinion that most white people really are racist, another caller called in. The guy was a another white republican just like the host and he sort of chided the host in saying “ Hey that comment you just made was kind of messed up.” And the host quickly responded in a tone that said NO IT WASN’T “ Oh haven’t you ever heard of sarcasm man, If you listen to my show you know I use it all the time”
So that sort of calmed me down a little and made me think, hmm maybe he was really being sarcastic not racist. And now that I think about it I’m sure he was. But does that mean the comment still isn’t racist. And does that mean that I as a black American should be upset about it, or should I let it go. How much is too much? I don’t know.
And that made me think well what really is racism. And because someone says something that is racist does that make them a racist.
A lot of people like to go around thinking that racism doesn’t exist, and others like to think that if you ignore it, it will go away (my sister). Well I fully acknowledge the fact that it exists and I can say with honesty that I have been guilty of making certain remarks and having certain thoughts and feelings that are racist. But am I a racist? I don’t think so. I like to try to view people on an individual basis. You can’t group all people into one category just because of the color of there skin, religious background, where they were rased and on and on…But I also believe in statistics so…you know what that means I would say that many people of the opposite skin color of mine (aint that cute) are probably ignorant, and their ignorance may make them racist by default.
And the radio show host, he knew what he was saying would have been a racist remark outside of the context of that whole discussion, but he thought his use of it in a sarcastic way made it ok.
And Im sure he tells himself not all black people act that way and drink forties and are lazy and don’t give a crap about important current events and issues and government (unless they’re inline to get their new EBT card). But so what. And does it make it worse because he said it in public. No I think its bad all around but when its made as a public statement it just magnifies it.
What if it was a white friend of mine (I can’t say that I have any at the moment but if I did…) who made that comment in the same way the radio show host did, would I have been as upset. Probably not. Why because they are my friend and we would probably joke about this kind of stuff all the time (as I do with my friends now).
So that brings up another point, maybe the racism thing is taken too seriously sometimes. But I have a feeling as soon as we start thinking that way we might end up right back where we were and the little old ladies son that lives down the road from me could be entitled to lynch me just because I looked at her dog funny.
It needs to be taken seriously, and why? Because I’m sorry but we are not too far removed from that whole
SLAVERY thing. Hello! Both black people and white people and Hispanic and asian and whoever else is living in this country like to sort of forget that it ever happened. And its true it probably doesn’t affect some people as much as others. But it damn sure affects me and my PEOPLE a whole freakin lot!
And now I’m about to go into “hate white people mode” as my good friend likes to call it. But I won’t I’ll calm down because I have to go back to work and I don’t want to end up giving people undeserved evil glares stemming from the despicable thought running through my head….
TO BE CONTINUED
