As I predicted the other day regarding the racist depiction of Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele by a black blogger, the general response from the black community was minuscule in comparison to recent incidents of “racism” like the stamps issued in Mexico, William Bennett’s comments regarding crime and black Americans, or the Federal government’s response time to hurricane Katrina victims. The common denominator with all three of these examples is that the “culprit” in all cases were non-black. When these same instances of “racism” are pointed out in our own community, backyard, and even in our own homes, we either find some way to justify it or simply turn the other way.
What I find very saddening is that the very images and stereotypes our parents (and their parents before them, etc.) fought against many years ago, we reserve these demeaning references for our own usage as if it is part of black culture itself!
I am not convinced that we want racism to go away.
Think about it. As far as I know, we are the only racial group here in the United States that finds it acceptable to refer to each other by a name that was once used by those that hated us–slave captors. Think about it. Many Germans and others used to refer to Jews as bloodsuckers. Wetback is a derogatory term used to describe Mexicans who jumped the border to get into this country. Then there is Chinks for Chinese, Jap for Japanese, etc. etc. Yet, you will not here any of these groups use these very derogatory names on themselves. On the other hand, we have adopted the word “n****” as a term of endearment. I’ve even listened to debates by blacks with Phd.’s that will defend this terminology with much sincerity and emotion–giving deep explanations as to why words like n**** are an important part of black culture.
But what happens when a white person uses the word?
As a child of the seventies, I can honestly tell you that any white person that came remotely close to using this word would have set himself up for a serious beat down by blacks within earshot. Today, I can take you through many of the halls of middle and high schools throughout the US and you will hear the word “n****” spoken freely by not only blacks, but whites and other races as well. Grown folks who don’t want to be seen as out of touch with this generation will dismiss this whole deal as part of hip-hop culture (a culture that was birthed out of the black American community).
No, racism is not going anywhere for a very long time. “Why?” you ask? Because we have too much invested in this ugly devil to simply let it go. Consider just some of the things produced by us that have been influenced by what we deem as the effects of “racism”…
Music
Art
Books
Movies
Television shows
…and not to mention the countless number of jobs that have been secured in the name of “protection against racism” (a.k.a. affirmative action).
Take away the tension of racism in its entirety and all the things I mentioned above would be in serious jeopardy of losing its value unless other influences that can match to the power of racism can be found. Politicians who have built their entire career on exposing racism would have to frantically search for meaning elsewhere if they expect to stay in office.
I refer to racism as a power because outside of love, it is one of those things that can evoke all kinds of emotions and can be expressed in so many ways. For example, dwelling on the effects of racism can transform a mediocre public speaker into a passionate firebrand for the moment that has the ability to bring a crowd to its feet. Making fun about different ethnicities using stereotypes will have the crowd howling for more. Using images of racial injustice can produce a political power. It can also bring those with political power down. So as you can see, racism is a great power source if one knows how to wield it.
Victimhood is big business!
America is the most hypocritical nation in the world when it comes to how we view discrimination of any type. An executive can be slammed with a multi-million dollar lawsuit for making a pass at a female co-worker, but the same executive can go to just about any strip club in America and tuck a twenty in the thong of a dancer legally. A large company can freely advertise on a network that regularly portrays black men and women in stereotypical situations, but the same company can very easily be hit with a lawsuit that charges them with racist practices. Racism has become the tug-of-war match that we do not want to see end.
Each year there are literally millions of dollars that are awarded to people who claim that they were the victim of racial bias. While some of these claims are legitimate, there are plenty of cases that are never given the opportunity to go through the entire trial process because institutions that have been slapped with the “racist” tag usually want to settle out of court in fear of increased bad publicity which results in low profits. Then of course there are the many attorneys that are more than eager to try such cases to reap the rewards of calling a major company “racist” without having to prove the claim in its entirety in court.
I am a firm believer in capitalism with the aid of a moral compass. Unfortunately, we live in a world today that will use anything to make a buck. A woman can be gang-raped repeatedly or a child sexually molested –both cases captured on film and its called adult entertainment. A black woman can be referred to as a b**** (mind you, the same thing slave masters used to call our women) , or black men can be glamorized as sex-crazed thugs and pimps (again, images that used to come just from racist whites) in the part of the entertainment world WE control, and they are paid handsomely for such stereotypes. To add insult to injury, when one of our own is promoted in the very industry that is built on the promotion of stereotypes, and they do little or nothing to change the negative trend, we still celebrate their promotion and call it success.
Besides the racist insult against Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele, thought about another person prompted me to write this particular piece: My grandmother.
If you are reading this and you happen to be a race other than white, then I am quite sure that your grandparents have passed on loads of stories of how they had to deal with some form of racism on an almost daily basis. While my grandfather worked at the paper mill in a small South Carolina town, my grandmother cleaned houses to bring in income to help feed five children. I remember my grandmother telling me stories of how the children of these white homeowners would call her regularly by her first name while she picked up their dirty underwear, cleaned toilets, folded clothes and other house chores they were too lazy to do for themselves. Being called by your first name by children was humiliating enough. But to be called n**** , that was considered one of the ultimate forms of humiliation. I believe what kept my grandmother going was that she envisioned that one day her children and grandchildren would live in a day where we did not have to endure the humiliation of racism. Dirty underwear became her stepping stones for hope for the future.
By accepting these stereotypes as part of our culture, we have aligned ourselves with the same racists that lynched our people, the same racist that told our people that they were not even good enough to use their bathrooms or drink from their water fountains. The same racists that told us that our women were only good for birthing babies while telling our black men that they were incapable of being a father or dependable spouse.
If we really want racism to disappear, there must be a total denouncement of racial terminology on our part first. Once again, wrong has to equal wrong regardless of who its coming from. What’s at stake? The self-esteem of our children.
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