racism

Under the same standard responsible for punishing Paula Deen, if we asked big business owners, politicians and blue-collar workers — Asian, black, white, Latino, Samoan — if they ever used racial slurs and they told the truth, we’d have no one to run the country, no goods or services, no Honey Nut Cheerios, or computers — the highways would be fucked up from disrepair and there would be no elevator inspectors or pilots.

Paula Deen got caught out there, because let me tell you, she ain’t the onliest one. I think what happened is an over reaction and that she’s a scapegoat. When a high-profile white person is branded racist black people think of them as part of the institutions that control our lives negatively. But we shouldn’t let knee-jerk reactions muddy our thinking.

All I read in the New York Times is that she admitted to using the “N” word years ago, but I didn’t read in any reputable journal anything about her saying she wanted black people dressing up as slaves. Maybe I missed something and if she did say this then she can kiss my ass and she should be dropped from the Food Network.

I saw this video and frankly I appreciated her honesty in recounting her experience as a southern white woman, even though she makes a crack about the guy being as black as the board. But how many black people make cracks like that about white people? — stand-up comedians — and that stupid Wayan’s brothers movie, White Girls. What if two white guys made a movie in black face called Black Girls? Huh?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/21/paula-deen-racism_n_3480720.html

I don’t condone quote unquote racism and don’t want to be called the N word, as I’m sure white people would not like to be called the C word. And we should all play nice blah blah — and try to do better. But we’re human and xenophobic and white xenophobia is kinda scary, no, yes.

As Wendy Williams said (I watch Wendy Williams — what?!), what we do and say with the blinds closed and curtains drawn at the kitchen table is our business, but in public another story. It’s ridiculous to think that we’ll ever stop saying mean things about people. Maybe we’ll get better but I don’t think this behavior will go away completely.

As a public personality, Paula Deen should be held up to a higher standard, especially if she’s getting endorsements from companies supported by the public, but I don’t think that she needs to be lopped off. In the case that she offended someone with a racial slur, her business should be fined and she should be given a warning, I think.

I want to thank Meizac for writing that great post on The Outlier Collective entitled Texas and Racism…Everywhere. I thought I would respond but it turned out to be a post-sized comment. So I decided to write my own thoughts — somewhat — in that vein.

I’m very conscious as a black woman, so my response to some of the injustices that occur under our political and economic structure might seem detached – at times. In a sense I’m thinking, “What do you expect?” I never strived to become a prototype for this system, or an imitation white person. My standard of beauty even differs, while I do appreciate beauty in all cultures. My pride in my African roots and respect for the remnants of those African cultures gives me the strength to deny a victim mentality, because I know that the western slant on the world is not concrete.

I don’t wear my ideology on my sleeve but I’ve taken action, and have been outspoken and have participated in marches etc. to protest crimes committed against black people and against Africa. But overall I don’t see how any of these ‘injustices’ will go away under a world economic system that demands cutthroat competition for resources and money. It must have scapegoats — reprobates and ‘genetically inferior’ people, so that they can be cut out of the competition with ‘justification’. It’s built into the system. The system wouldn’t work without these ideas. While a degree of xenophobia might be natural (part of the reason I rarely use the word racism – it’s become a canned phrase for the most part – but I do use it when it’s so fucking obvious), something we have inside us from ‘the old days’ so that we could protect ourselves against other tribes, it’s used in the United States and elsewhere to effect policy and propaganda.

It’s hilarious that western countries have trampled all over the natural institutions in Africa and elsewhere, then go back like superman to save the day, making these people look more helpless and pathetic than ever, while they were doing just fine before Europe ever got there. This is where we can get rid of the notion of white people being more capable of ‘handling’ (‘handling’: therein lies the problem) their environment.

I believe that there are other ways to view the world, ways that we could adopt from dismissed tribes in Africa and other areas that had been trampled by the machine. Our view of our world and ideologies can be shifted. Maybe with the merging of the world in cyber-space the mutual respect can be more easily accomplished. I respect all cultures, but I mean, how advanced is this society really? More than half of us are on antidepressants – why? Shit! and there’s more, but that’s another post.

This system may be the best that we could do for now and it’s great that Meizac and other people help to build awareness of some of the outright hypocrisies that exist. These are the seeds that some of our young people need to help us to build something better than this. For now we’re all brainwashed, black people as well, which is understandable — striving to keep up with the dominant culture without seeing the truth. But we’re all in the struggle together — haha! — who the hell really knows what we’re doing here? We can learn from each other and teach each other without having a victim mentality or a mentality of superiority.