Silence is American

If you check out my sidebar there is an American flag in red, black and green. I stole that image from The Truth, a regular reader and blogger, because I found it really powerful.

See, when it comes down to it, I identify as a black man before I identify as an American. Lots of folks consider that blasphemous and proof that black people are all screwed up in the head. Whatever.

Anyway, according to this article Josh Howard of the Dallas Mavericks might share some of my views. At a celebrity softball game, Howard made a tongue-in-cheek comment about how he doesn't sing the national anthem because he's black. I say tongue-in-cheek because clearly the matter in which he delivered the message was joking, but I'm guessing he has put some real thought into why he feels that way.

Howard is a guy who counts graduating from Wake Forest as one of his greatest achievements because so few black men graduate from college. He's offered some on-point comments about the world in the past, and he seems fairly aware of political stuff.

Unfortunately, Howard also has admitted to smoking marijuana during the off-season and been caught drag racing. So, when his comments hit the mainstream media, well let's just say Josh Howard isn't exactly popular in the Big D right now.

I've had multiple arguments over the past few days about Howard's remarks and read several takes on what happened and what it means. Of course people have attacked Howard as an ungrateful pothead for what he said, but if that hadn't happened we wouldn't live in America.

See, Americans pride themselves on the right to free speech. Most Americans erroneously believe that the First Amendment grants them the right to say whatever they want. It doesn't, but that's the definition most people use when they talk about free speech. Unfortunately, those same people prefer to extend the right to free speech to people who say things they agree with.

This isn't a white thing or a black thing, this is an everybody thing. However, white people have set most of the parameters of what is and is not acceptable in America, so it's typically white people who are telling folks what they can say.

Now, some folks are rightfully upset with what Howard said. It's not surprising. If you see the national anthem as a symbol of everything that is great and wonderful with America, I can see how his comments might offend you. However, if you see the national anthem as a song sung about a mythical time when everybody was treated fairly and justly regardless of race, gender or religion, I can see why you might not be a fan of it.

And, to be honest, I have no problem with there being a controversy surrounding Howard's comments. He made a controversial, albeit justifiable, statement and if he is surprised that it generated outrage, then he really should have kept those thoughts away from a video camera. Anybody who knows anything about American history would have known that the vast majority of this country's population would have a problem with the statement.

Nope, my beef is that people have responded to Josh's comments by questioning whether he has the right to be disgusted with this country because of it's ITS past and present actions, particularly those towards black people. Apparently, once Josh Howard became a millionaire through basketball he lost the right to complain about racism or discrimination.

Ain't that a bitch?

I'm sure some of y'all can relate to this. I don't think any millionaires read the blog, (judging by my t-shirt sales I'm positive they don't) but I would wager that all of us have had a white person tell us that our lives are too good for us to complain about racism. Apparently, the trade-off for sucess as a black person is the ability to point out injustice.

Helluva bargain.

Well, I've taken to asking white people directly where exactly the threshold is for complaining about racism. I want them to explain how much money I can make, and what type of neighborhood I can live in. What jobs force me to give up my racism trumpet?

I've found that when I put things in those terms it makes folks uncomfortable. It forces them to think about what they're saying. See, I've been black my whole life. No matter what success I've attained, and it's only been meager success, I've had to get to where I am today while being black.

That means I've been harassed by the police, I've been followed in stores, I've called a nigger, I've been discriminated against and I've been scorned. More importantly, even if I haven't had every racist experience, people I know and care about have had them for me.

So, I find it incredibly arrogant that white people think that once a black person "arrives" he/she should just shut up and smile. I find it appalling that the pricetag for my success is my ability TO speak out about injustice.

Now some might argue that those who tell me to shut up are only exercising their right to free speech. And guess what, they are right. But, that doesn't make Americans' willingness to suppress and attack viewpoints that don't follow societal norms any less disturbing. When we attempt to drown out viewpoints that differ from our own, or even try to silence those voices, we are trodding on dangerous ground.

We cannot arrogantly assume that those who think like us are always correct. We cannot demand conformity as a down payment for being a "real American."

We just cannot.

(Update: Josh Howard's employer received a ton of emails about the incident. Click here if you would like read what people thought. Gird your loins though.)