I Have a Man Crush

I do.

It's on Tim Wise. Actually, it's not really a man crush, more like an anti-racist crush.

Tim, (I think I can call him Tim) recently wrote a post about the way a certain pill-popping, draft dodging radio commentator has been comparing the folks in Iowa to the the folks where I live based on how they handled flooding in their areas. It's the most recent entry under Essay Archives on his website.

Look, we all know the Iowa/New Orleans comparison is bullshit and we all know it's racist bullshit. There is no comparision; there are so many things wrong with even trying to compare the two events that it's not even funny. I don't have the time or inclination to debunk every racist myth because, well, life is too short.

But, dammit, Tim finds the time. In fact, Tim has made a full time job out of debunking racism and the pale brother is thorough. So thorough that every time I read something he writes I learn something new. I still use a statistic he dropped in a post about white folks in the 1960s believing that discrimination was no big deal when I'm arguing with white folks.

Simply put, Tim is a beast.

Anyway, I just wanted to put his work on blast after he dealt with something so close to home. Hope y'all find the time to read how he breaks it down.

peace

In a Small Room a Stupid Decision Was Made

Setting: Corporate boardroom. White walls with inspirational posters and old New Yorker covers. Plush leather seats surround and oval table with a large black phone in the middle. Several white men, a couple white women and one black woman surround the table. A large white poster board sits on an easel with a cover of Barack Obama and his wife Michelle. Senator Obama is dressed in traditional Muslim dress, his wife is dressed like revolutionary complete with assault rifle.

Illustrator 1: This is what I came up with. I think it really explains exactly how kooky and crazy the right wing folks are and really lets them have it with both guns. Notice how Obama bin----I mean Osama bin Laden is over the fireplace mantle? I think that really brings home the comparisons between Barack and terrorists.

And I don't mean to brag, but I think Michelle's outfit just screams militant, angry black bitch. Not bitch in the bad way, bitch in the feminist way. The good way. I think this cover says something that will really resonate with people. It'll get them talking.

Male Editor 1: You don't think it's a little too edgy? I'm all for making a statement, and those conservatives can be idiots, but you have Michelle carrying an assault rifle. Is that going too far?

Illustrator:It's art. If art doesn't go too far, what good is it? Look, we need to wake people up to the craziness of these rumors. What better way than putting them all out there front and center without any words or comments to explain them? People will see how ridiculous they all are, and then they'll read our stories.

Male Editor 2: You know what? I think it's brilliant. Just fucking brilliant. That's it, just brilliant.


White Female reporter 1: I don't know about this. I think this is making fun of assertive feminists everywhere. Why are her arms and legs completely covered? I think she could be wearing something more attractive so that we don't play up the whole "butch" stereotype for aggressive females. Women have fought too long to get past that. But, other than that, I think the cover says exactly what we need it to say about conservative attacks.

Illustrator 1: I could see your concern about the clothing, but I think that if we have Obama as a Muslim it would make sense for his woman to be fairly covered up. After all, she's not his "baby mama..." I really should have found a way to include that in this pic. Anyway, I thought about covering Michelle's head with a scarf, but I figured that an Afro got more to the core of her militant black nature. An Afro says "militant" like nothing else.

Black Female reporter: This feels funny to me. I can't articulate why, but it just feels funny. These are educated black people in corporate America. Would Michelle really not have a perm? I just don't see that happening.

Male Editor 2: I think you're spending too much time on the hair, who even notices people's hair. I didn't even realize your hair had a relaxer until you said something. I just assumed it came like that. The hair is a distraction.

Black Female reporter: Well, I just said I felt funny. I didn't say we had to change anything. I think it's very fair.

Illustrator 1: So we're agreed? This is the cover we all like? I think this cover is going to do some real good. I can almost smell the Pulitzer.

Male Editor 1: Are we sure nobody could get offended by this whole thing?

Illustrator 1: Anybody who has a problem with this cover doesn't understand humor and art. Period. Look, this cover is outstanding. People will love it

Even in Death

As a child, I was always intrigued by the afterlife. I retain some of that curiosity today.

I've imagined the gold streets of heaven during many a sermon, and I enjoy fiction based on the infinite possibilities of the after life. It's a pleasant diversion as long as one doesn't become consumed.

But, one thing I never worried too much about was whether we retained our "race" in the afterlife. I always figured it was no big deal because everybody would have much holier concerns. Apparently, people in Texas think a little differently.

The link goes to an article about Waller County, Texas. In that lovely county, officials decided it was unseemly for an anonymous white murder victim to be buried next to black folks, so they hired a white funeral parlor to take the woman from the black parlor and handle the services. When confronted with their racism, one county official said race had nothing to do with the switch. Instead, he claimed it was the fact that the black funeral parlor wanted a signed letter from the county promising to pay for the services that caused the move.

I'm serious.

I have so many ideas about this I think I'm going to have to use bullet points and subheads.


1. Hey Dummies, Ain't No Jim Crow In Heaven

I guess the good folks in Texas didn't get the message that God, like Michael Jackson, doesn't care if you're black or white. He really doesn't. Really. Wherever that poor lady was going it did not have a back of the bus.

Not only is God not concerned with our race, but I'm positive that he is not concerned with the race of folks becoming worm food next to our bodies. If these folks really believe that it's important to keep the races separate even in death, well I believe WNG has a perfect term for that: "general asshatery."

2. It's Called A Contract

The worst thing about this whole exercise is the reaction of the white county official when he was confronted with his racist behavior. His disdain for the accusation was palatable. See here old white man, (I'm assuming he's older than 40) you probably have no idea what is or is not racist. Most folks in your generation will excuse any behavior that does not involve the actual lynching of black people. And it has to be a real lynching, the nooses by themselves don't count.

However, not only did you assume that you were the only authority on what is or is not racist, you then proceeded to give the most ridiculous explanation in the world for why you decided this white lady needed to be buried by other white people. You actually claimed that it was against county policy for officials to provide the black funeral home with a letter promising them payment.

Either you're a liar or an idiot.

A document promising payment is called a contract. I'm sure in your position you've heard of contracts and probably signed many of them. Yet, you thought it made sense to tell folks that giving the black funeral home what amounted to a "contract" was against county policy.

Yowser.

So, either white folks can't be buried with niggers, or niggers don't get no stinking contract. Which one is it?

3. It's A Disease Y'all

I was going to save this last thought for its own post, but I just can't hold it in anymore. Some of y'all have said that you all consider racism a disease. On other blogs, I've heard racism referred to as "severe color arousal" and "psychopathic racial personality."

Whatever you call it, folks seem to have decided that this thing must be treated like any other addiction or disease, and that has been causing me to think.

The other day I was at a facility that treats individuals with substance abuse problems. On the wall there was a poster that said something like "As addicts we must understand that we are regular people with a hole in our lives and we have chosen something unhealthy to fill that hole."

That really resonated with me.

Addiction is widely considered to be a disease. Racism is a disease.

Do y'all see where I'm going?

I got to thinking, what is it that people are missing in their lives that addicts them to racism? What makes racism their drug of choice and then leads a full-blown addiction?

Is it a lack of self-worth? A fear of the unknown? Concerns about a loss of power? Is it, as a young man named Imhotep said, a lack of soul? Is the hole the same for every racist, or is it an individual thing?

See, until we can identify that missing element in someone's life, it's probably impossible to ever "cure" them of racism. We may reduce the disease's symptoms or even cause it to go into remission, but until we fill that hole, these folks will still be carriers. While I believe we all carry the racism strain in our bodies, it never progresses to a full-blown disease in most of us. The question is what leads to the change, what triggers it?

The hole is the key.

A Light Bulb Moment

So, I'm reading the blog Stuff White People Do for information purposes when I had an interesting realization.

The blog's author, Macon D, linked to an article where a white voter noted that she was concerned that if Obama was elected he would start showing preferential treatment to black folks. As a white woman, she was not happy at this possibility and felt withholding her vote from Obama was the best course of action.

Cool.

Now, this is not some new idea. We've all seen it repeated in a bunch of stories about Obama's problem with white voters, particularly those with less education and fewer job opportunities. After all, those folks are more likely to be in competition with black folks, which makes them more worried about us getting a leg up. Of course, you'll rarely hear the news media discuss the issue in that matter; they would rather focus on Rev. Wright and Obama's funny name.

But, that's another topic.

My light bulb moment came shortly after I actually paid attention to what the women was saying instead of ignoring her comment because she sounded like an ignorant cracker. Now, this woman was worried that if a black man became president he would look out for other black people and give us an unfair advantage.

yet, she was comfortable with the idea of a white man or white woman becoming president, even though the logical result of that would be white people getting an unfair advantage. Or, to take it further, she was comfortable with the fact that white people have been getting an unfair advantage since the country began because everybody who has been president has been white.

Everybody cool?

Now, that's not really a novel concept for most black folks, but anybody who has had a discussion about white privilege and Affirmative Action knows that most white people HATE to admit that point. Their self-image is tied to the idea that they succeeded because of their own hard work, not some unfair preference.

While most white people are suspicious of the motives of black folks or other minorities, they never have the same suspicion about themselves. This is a product of the belief by most white folks that they have an innate ability to see issues more objectively than black people because their genetically superior intellect is not clouded by anger and bitterness.

White people believe black people have an irrational tendency to see racism in every situation, while white people are, of course, above that. This is not backed up by history or any sort of research, but that is immaterial.

I know this is a rehash of stuff many of y'all already know, but I'm coming to my light bulb moment.

What I realized was that white people rarely verbalize their belief that they are more fair and just than black people. Can any of you honestly remember a white person saying that? I mean, they may hint at it, (a friend of mine gave me a wonderful example of an interviewer doing that with Malcolm X while asking Malcolm about his fiery comments about white people) but white people rarely come out and say it they are the most objective race.

And that made me curious because clearly, many white people feel this way.

In today's world there is some danger of white people being labeled racists if they verbalize those feelings, and we all know most of them hate that label. (I'm not counting your garden variety Neo-Nazi or Klan member.) However, certain "respectable" white folks revel in being called racists because to them it's a sign that they are speaking truth to liberals and minorities.

But, I've never heard any of those respectable folks actually come out and say "Black people can't be depended on to be as fair when it comes to racial matters as white people." Not even Pat Buchanan has been bold enough to make that leap and he wrote an entire essay about why black people should be grateful for slavery.

So, why don't white people come out and talk about this belief?

I am convinced it's because they know that if they actually verbalize it, they will then have to think about it and they will realize just how stupid it is!

Really, think about it. White people know that their ancestors haven't treated black people fairly. Even hardcore racists admit that. So, on a certain level they understand that there is no real proof that they are more fair. In fact, all the proof points to the exact opposite!

The only thing that supports the idea that white people are more fair, is the belief that white people are just naturally superior to everybody else. But, it's no longer cool that in public anymore. Right?

However, by refusing to verbalize their innate prejudices, white people back themselves into a corner when it comes to discussing racial preferences; a discussion that needs to happen if this country is going to progress.

Simply put, either white people have been looking out for each other all this time because that's what every race does, or white people's innate superiority has allowed them ignore that temptation. Depending on what you believe, you're either a beneficiary of Affirmative Action, or you're a white supremacist.

Coming to this conclusion was a light bulb moment for me. See, I'm the type of nerd who has imaginary arguments in his mind, and I like to I argue both sides of an issue to figure out what's the best way to defend a point. It's just something I do to entertain myself, and I've been doing it since I was a child.

Anybody who argues a lot knows that you're always trying to craft that perfect argument; the type of theory that cannot be refuted using logic. To me, this was a situation where I had crafted one of those arguments.

If I meet someone who says "Well, Obama is going to give everything to the blacks!" then I have a foolproof method of making them sweat. They can either admit that they've benefited from white privilege or they can admit that they are white supremacists.

Or they can shut the fuck up.



(I know that some folks would counter this argument by saying that black people can't be trusted in racial matters not because they are genetically inferior, but because they've been trained to see the world as victims and are bitter. First, I would tell those people "Fuck you." Second, I would ask those people to explain why black people are bound by their cultural upbringing and white people are not? After all, most white adults, particularly baby boomers, were raised in households by parents who believed in stereotypes and lies about black people. These white parents trained their children to see the world like them. Yet, most white people will tell you that they are not racist because they were able to overcome the outdated mindsets of their parents. So, if white people were able to overcome their training, it would make sense that black people have done the same. Unless you think white people are better than black people... I win again.)