| This may very well be the shortest column I ever write. Not at all because I have writer's block ... well, not in the traditional sense, anyway. There are just times though, when I just don't find there's a whole lot to be said about various topics. This? This is one of them: "Fifty years ago we'd have you upside down with a f***ing fork up your ass ... He's a nigger! He's a nigger! He's a nigger! A nigger, look, there's a nigger!" *sigh* You've seen the phrases by now ... I'm sure you've gotten the forward in your e-mail, seen the apologies, read about it in your local Entertain ... oh wait, nevermind; if you're not a victim of the digital divide you might have even seen the actual footage of comedian Michael Richards mouthing off at a group of Black patrons at his most recent comedy show. If you're like most folk I know you're shocked, outraged -- incited even; if you're anywhere close to where I am you're ... numb ... listless ... borderline nonchalant, if you will... With all due respect I politely demand you immediately remove your calloused hands from my pocket, as I will not be handing back my Black Card anytime soon; I'm still QUITE "down" for the cause, and I've got the massive afro with blackfisted blowout comb to prove it. I saw the original clips just like so many other people (thank you good ol' UW technology) ...- and I tell you that I just can't say I'm that that affected -- not in the way that folk might wish for me to be. Now, don't get me wrong -- I am not at all impressed by anything Mr. Richards had to say. He was outrageous, insensitive, and absolutely outrageous with both his antics and weak apology. At the same time though ... am I the only one who just wasn't surprised that a White person, in a moment of rage, went to using a series of racial epithets to "get back" at the people he felt wronged them? Like, seriously -- and I'm not sure if it's upbringing, or society or what -- but I have never given it a second thought to not put it past any White person to go "there," should I ever get into something heated with them. Why? Well, because that's where it usually goes --in barfights, in workroom brawls ... if Eminem were brave enough even 8 Mile might have had a different ending: two people have a disagreement -- one Black, one White --things get heated, and the next thing you know the White person's being carried out of the room with a black eye. Of course, I know this isn't 100 percent across the board, but think about the last time (Black people *raises fist*) you got into it with a White person -- like seriously, I'm about to snap on this chick/cat if they don't get out of my face, get into it; even if they didn't actually go there, wasn't there a small piece of yourself, buried down in the back of your mind under the MLK history lesson, that was waiting for -- EXPECTING even -- the shoe to drop, for at least something about you being a "Black" something or other to be hurled at your head at any moment? OK, OK ... maybe it's just me. Maybe, as one who's been on the receiving end of such hatred -- even in instances where there WAS no heat and I didn't even KNOW the person speaking -- I've managed to develop a thicker skin than I should've. Maybe I'm just part of a lost generation; hip-hop uses words and phrases all the time (and some of the exact ones that Michael Richards used in fact) that berate my identity and belittle my purpose, but that -- as I've been taught -- is just supposed to be culture. Perhaps I just don't care about the fact that Kramer from Seinfeld hates Black people; I mean, it ain't like it's Mister Rogers (God Bless his soul) -- I care about Kramer about as much as I now know he cares about me. Whatever it is y'all, all I'm asking now is "Where do we go from here?" I mean ... Michael Richards slipped up and put his hood on in mixed company; in Middle Tennessee some students are fighting to have a KNOWN inciter of the original Ku Klux Klan's name put BACK on a campus building, after those who were in their right minds voted to have it removed. KRAMER FROM SEINFELD (just in case you forgot who we're talking about) made racist and horrendously rude remarks; meanwhile, police are shootin' up grandmas in Atlanta, and still confusing "Black and male" with "armed and dangerous." "OMG I'm not racist," Michael Richards usurps his buddy's time on national television to eke out a weak "Let me not get my behind stomped" apology for his antics, while a capital city in THIS state is preparing to hold a meeting in the next three weeks to discuss the possible elimination of all Affirmative Action initiatives throughout the same area (and don't get it twisted y'all -- Ward Connerly is the one hosting). I'm just sayin' y'all -- in the land of milk, honey, and free speech, what really are the priorities we need to be focused on? OK, so maybe this isn't as short as I thought it would be. *smile* |
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| Random Order/Tracie Gilbert Kramer's a racist; and in other news ... We're still Black and poor |