Hey you guys! Let's talk about racial slurs! If you aren't so PC brainwashed that you've already turned the page out of fear for guilt by association, I think you'll find this article rather stimulating. Perhaps you'll even find yourself agreeing with several of the views expressed herein; maybe I'm notcrazy. I certainly hope I'm not the only one who thinks all of the recent “media frenzies” have been ridiculous and lacking any semblance of rationality, but if so, maybe I am insane. Anyway, here's how I see it:
It's not a new trend, just a degenerating one- for the past few months, there's not been a single major news story that hasn't concerned something stupid someone said. Ann Coulter. Al Sharpton. Sting. The Pope. And of course, Don Imus. All of these people have been rebuked in the public eye in the past 6 months. Go ahead, google it: if you search for “remark” under News, you'll find that these examples are only a handful of at least a half dozen in the past 72 hours. These particular five stories were each for a remark that was dubbed politically incorrect by the insatiable, untraceable self-appointed verbal police that seem to be running our country nowadays. Honestly, that's kind of a problem. And sure, I can see the hullaballo over the Pope, what with his word affecting a majority of the world's population and all, but be honest: could you tell me what it was that he said? Mm, what about Don Imus? I'm sure anyone in America could tell me all about him and his nappy headed ho's, and what they had to say in response, and what Hannity & Colmes think about it, and how young black women feel about the remarks of 90 year old washed up radio hosts, but the fact remains- He's a comedian. It was a joke. And I guess in a way, it's very telling: you can tell a lot about the people you know based on how they reacted to that whole ordeal.
Nevertheless, jokes don't make you racist. Beliefs do. Mean words don't make you a bad person any more than nice ones make you a good person. Yes, I know, it's all been hashed and rehashed by every freelance journalist out there, but it's a pretty big deal. Besides, how many kids in our school read magazines without naked celebrities in them? That name in itself is a mystery to me- why on earth would anyone celebrate Paris Hilton? Anyway, maybe Imus really is racist, maybe he's not, I'm not defending or attacking him, that's all been done. What I'm saying is, freaking out about words is not helping the problem of racism in America. Because let's face it: in the 60's there was a lot of white folks who didn't like black people, and the haters aren't dead yet. They have a bit of influence on the way their children view other races, but not much; that view is largely determined by the culture. The problem is that in the year 2007, pop culture is telling kids that it's not okay to talk the same around your black friends as you do around the white ones. “You can't say the N-word around them, because they might be offended. Don't talk about slavery, because you don't know, maybe his great great grandfather was a slave.” Right, maybe Kunta was his granddaddy, but pretending that slavery never happened certainly won't make up for it. You can't hide from trouble- Ain't no place that far.” There are still some definite racial tensions in America, and censoring ourselves around those different from us will not solve that problem. Because really, treating people differently on the basis of their ethnic descent is the very definition of racism.
But in order to get a true appreciation of what it's like, put yourself in someone else's shoes, in the role of the minority for once. Round here we're pretty secluded in our little Schuylkill Bubble, but you go to Philly, Trinidad, NYC, Jamaica- things are a little different there. Imagine you moved to one of these places, met some people of seemingly polite society, and arranged to meet them for dinner, to get to know one another better. When you get there, you hear Pablo's familiar voice as you round the corner, and it says:
“Yo so I go to the mall, right, and when I get there, HUGE group of gringos standing in line looking confused, the one guy was so white that- Oh. Hey. Heh heh…umm…h-how's it going? **you sit down** I mean- he was- Caucasian, and uh… Well I was just telling Dom and the guys about- well, never mind- it's kind of a boring story.”
So, now you feel about as welcome as herpes. Your presence has prompted an awkward silence (which is really just in the interest of sparing your feelings), and now you're like a total outsider in addition to being the new guy. Would you be really be offended if they said “white guy”? Are you even FROM Caucasia? Not really, not any more than Chris Rock is from Africa. The point is, if we want race relations to improve, we have to be open about them, not put them on a shelf. Social turmoil is not like champagne, it doesn't get better if you hide it in a dark place, out of sight, out of mind. And in order to do that, we have to recognize that words are just words, and that the sticks and stones adage has some truth to it: Words can't hurt you unless you believe them. And lemme tell you something: if you believe you really are a ho because a 90 year old cracker said so on the radio, you have bigger issues to deal with than discrimination.
So I think if we start this now, in our generation, start to abolish political correctness and say what's on our minds regardless of the company we keep, maybe our kids will do the same. I think in a perfect America, comedians will be able to do what they're paid to do without fear of retribution, and I think our nation as a whole could really use a chill pill, even if it does have 7 leaves. St. Maarten's not so bad off, maybe for once the big country needs to take its cues from the little one.
In the end, it's only what we make it.
