OK, moving to the first-person singular here:
My parents were from Mississippi. I loved them both dearly; they were good, kind people. I can also say that they were both racist. Their prejudices softened over the years but were just too ingrained, from birth, to completely go away.
Because of my upbringing, I hate it when people play the race card for selfish purposes, as Cynthia McKinney appears to have done this week.
However, I also know racism when I hear it — even though these days it is rarely overt. Here’s radio host Neal Boortz in his March 31 broadcast:
BOORTZ: For instance, or for goodness sakes, jump in and I’m gonna say — I’m gonna start out with something controversial. I saw Cynthia McKinney’s new hair-do. Have you seen it, Belinda?
SKELTON: No.
BOORTZ: She looks like a ghetto slut.
SKELTON: Well, how is it?
BOORTZ: It’s just — it’s hideous.
SKELTON: Is it braided? Or –
BOORTZ: No, it’s not braided. It just flies away from her head in every conceivable direction. It looks like an explosion in a Brillo pad factory. It’s just hideous. To me, that hairstyle just shows contempt for — no, it’s not an Afro. I mean, no, it just shows contempt for the position that she holds and the body that she serves in. And, I’m sorry, there’s just no other way to — it’s just a hideous and horrible looking … She looks like a shih tzu!
And on his Web site:
OK, Now I’ve seen Cynthia McKinney’s new hairstyle. There is just no other way to say this. It’s just hideous. She looks like ghetto trash. Get a braider over there … quick! Nobody with a modicum of self-respect would go around looking like that.
When I hear Boortz using terms like “ghetto trash” and “ghetto slut,” I know he’s really thinking “poor black person.” Someone who deserves to be patted down and put through whatever other indignities the security people deem appropriate to protect the rest of us.
Boortz compares his criticism of McKinney’s hairstyle to the people who have made jokes about his shiny pate over the years: “Don’t give me any stuff for saying this. I’ve endured years of ‘bald’ remarks. I’m entitled.”
You jackass: Nobody gets roughed up by the cops for being bald.
McKinney blamed racism, I believe wrongly, for her run-in with Capitol Police. Then Boortz showed all of us why blacks have reason to be paranoid when wondering about white people’s motives.
Technorati tags: Neal Boortz, PR, Cynthia McKinney, Media
Scott:
What is it about his comments that make you brand them racist? Is it his use of the word “ghetto?” That’s a term that has moved into common vernacular, especially among youths, to describe something trashy.
Is it racist? I don’t know … is the term “white trash” or “trailer park” racist?
What if a similar situation had happened to a white Congressman with a mullet, and someone said he looked like a “redneck.” Would you consider that racist?
We have reached a point in public discourse where whites cannot comment on black issues without being called racist. It severely limits the rational discussion that the issue of race so sorely needs. And in the long term, it hurts the African-American community because it stifles true communication and further divides us.
The comments may have been derogatory, but to me they don’t appear to be racist. He didn’t say that she couldn’t be a good Congresswoman or that she didn’t deserve to be in Congress. He said she didn’t LOOK like a Congresswoman with her new hair style.
That’s why I say it’s not overt, John. There’s always a way to defend the statement.
Would it be more fair if I said his remarks betrayed a prejudice toward poor black people, rather than all blacks? If so, let’s go with that then.
It’s hard to argue that Boortz does anything to contribute to “rational discussion.” Like so many talking heads, he seeks to divide people into opposing camps. That upsets me more than anything else.
Believe me, I am all for frank and open discussion on race. I also believe that nearly everyone carries prejudices to some extent; I do, too.
As you know, I hated the movie Crash because it showed examples of racism that were ridiculously overt — and that very few of us see in our daily lives.
I think the reality is that racism is a problem that’s mostly underneath the surface, coloring our assumptions but only bubbling up in ways that are rhetorically defensible.
And so I can say I smell prejudice when I hear Neal’s remarks, and you can say you don’t, and that’s all that ever comes of it. I respect your opinion, and hopefully you respect mine, too.
There are only 435 members of Congress and 100 Senators. There is very little turnover. It is not credible to me that the Capitol police did not recognize her.
There is a history of the Capitol police harrassing members of the black caucus, not just McKinney. I am inclined to believe McKinney’s version of events.
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/000240.php
If Boortz is a “racist”, why hasn’t Royal left the show?
IMO, McKinney is the racist here, by 1) overblowing the incindent, 2) not avoiding it in the first place (thereby giving her an excuse to get press), and 3) by her blatant anti-Semitism.
Its funny how somebody with a producer that sounds as uneducated as she does wants to talk about some other culture . . .