By now we are all familiar with rapper Kanye West's idiotic statements on public TV during a telethon for Katrina victims: "Bush doesn't care about black people."
Now, most intelligent adults can look at that, call it what it is: ignorant racism, and move on. Perhaps encourage their children to boycott his music for a while. That's not what I'm worried about. Adults have made up their mind as to whether or not they are going to be racist. It's the youth I'm concerned about. Here's why:
Today, the Herald quoted 13 year old Tevin Jones of Charlestown regarding his thoughts on Kanye's comments: "I totally agree with Kanye on this subject. If it were a bunch of white people down there instead of all the black people then everybody would have been saved already. There have been so many deaths since the hurricane first hit and Gorge Bush has not yet still to this day done any kind of relief effort to help these people out..."
We forgive this 13 year old for his ignorance. As President Bush has done quite a bit already for the hurricane ravaged region, not the least of which is pushing a multi-billion dollar relief package through congress. And as we've already shown on this site, the deaths did not stem from the hurricane, rather from the breaking of the levees which could have been prevented but for people who love animals more than people, (black or white), or by the local government who should have had a mandatory evacuation days before Katrina hit. As opposed to a voluntary evacuation 24 hours prior to the storm, then a mandatory evacuation 5 days after!. I'd also like to ask Mr. Jones just what would have been done to miraculously save all of the white people that hasn't been done to save the black people.
But the issue here is not that this uneducated teen is wrong, or even racist. The issue is: Who is encouraging his beliefs? Who is telling him that judging based on race is ok? Someone he looks up to: Kanye West.
What if Mr. West had said something unifying, rather than divisive? What if he had said, "It's true that there are a lot of black people still in need of help in New Orleans, but we all need to come together to help these people. This isn't about them being black or white, it's about these people being people, and people in need of help." What might little Mr. Jones have responded then? Even if young Mr. Jones were already racist, what could he have disagreed with? Or is it more likely that he would have learned a valuable lesson in equality?
Why is it if a white person is racist they are hateful and bigoted, but if a black person is racist they are oppressed and, therefore, defended. Kanye is perpetuating the exact issue he claims to speak out against. Brilliant!
And this is just my opinion.
12 comments:
Previous post deleted due to racial slurs.
that wasn't a slur; it was satire.
Please continue your satire without any racial slurs.
you should give your readers more credit.
I give my regular readers lots of credit. I don't know who is also reading who might have been offended by your post. Please repost a similar satire with out the slur and it will stay.
This is definitely a hard one to comment on. There are just too many layers of the problem. Your no-color description, for example, could be seen as characteristically white. Some could say it is an attempt to make white of black, and to hush up voices of legitimate protest about a problem which you don't want to hear. All this to say, I'm in whole sympathy with your post and am unsure whether that means I fall under the aforementioned criticism as well. Is some mild racism more appropriate than the elimination of race? The questions just compound each other. Your opinion, however, on the decision of a town adjacent to New Orleans not to receive refugees would be fascinating (this is the one who had deputies shooting warning shots over the heads of refugees.)
Can't be done, but thanks for the opportunity, I guess. I understand; probably too many coworkers reading. But don't call it was it wasn't. It wasn't a slur. It was intended to shock and, hopefully, have that shock turn into some careful reflection of your post.
I did not include the race of Mr. Jones as it was not supplied. I did not want to place my assumptions as though they were fact, and therefore, I left that information out.
Racism is unnecessary as there are lots of legitimate reasons to dislike people that have nothing to do with the heritage of their ancestors. The elimination of race does not mean the elimination of heritage, traditions, and identity.
I had not heard of the town that would not accept people from New Orleans (as Jesse Jackson as requested we not call them refugees). I will research and post a comment at a future time.
just change the names: Eminem says that Jesse Jackson doesn't care about white people.
Does that sound nonsensical? It is and it doesn't matter if Vijay Singh said that Yao Ming doesn't care about Indians or if Ichiro Suzuki said that David Ortiz doesn't care about the Japanese. It is ridiculuous to make these kinds of general statements that have no basis in reality. How ethnocentric of us to elevate any race/culture over and above another as though their history of suffering/trials was worse than another?
Instead of finding fault, we should be finding SOLUTIONS! Reconciliation is what we need, not more racism. We need to push Bush to do more and we need to get more money raised. K. West said those comments during a fundraising event--how much money do you think they lost out on?
Marc is right on! Levees flooding the city caused this problem, not white people.
"If white people had thrown themselves into the water, eventually their bodies would have kept the water out. The inability of white people to rise to this occasion and demonstrate self sacrifice is unforgivable. It is racist, but New Orleans will rise again!"
Post a Comment