Jan. 3, 2009 (World News Trust) -- The media has recently spent a lot of time talking about the fact that a candidate to head the Republican National Committee distributed CD’s to colleagues for Christmas that contained a song titled “Barack, the Magic Negro.” He was largely, and correctly, chastised for his lack of sense and sensibility. As the chorus grew, though, many Republicans came out to defend him, denying any racist intent in distributing a song parody written by a long time friend.
The Republicans are right about one thing, it is not racist. It is however, racially insensitive, juvenile, stupid, offensive, and perhaps worst of all, not funny. Republicans are consistently defending themselves against charges of racism. To paraphrase Shakespeare, “Methinks the Politician doth protest too much.” Often times, as in this instance, nobody leveled the charge. Perhaps the with us or against us, black or white (pardon the pun) Republican view of the world prevents them for recognizing the nuance. So to help, racial insensitivity and racism are not the same.
Former Ohio Attorney General Ken Blackwell is not an “Uncle Tom” for defending the CD gift. He is merely a “my party can do no wrong” suck-up. Two years ago there was a huge furor over Don Imus calling the Rutgers Women’s Basketball team a bunch of “Nappy headed hos.” He lost his job. I don’t condone his remarks, I simply maintain that that is not racism. Racism is an insidious plague on mankind.
The first step in eradication of a plague is isolating the virus behind it. Racial insensitivity is but a symptom. Racism is rooted in intolerance and ignorance. Just being offensive doesn’t make something racist. Too many people take offense for too little reason. This holiday season is a perfect example. Saying “Happy Holidays!” is no more a war on Christmas than saying “Merry Christmas” is being insensitive to people who don’t believe in Christ. Regardless of your religious beliefs, the twenty-fifth day of December is Christmas. Just like the fourth day of July is Independence Day.
It is vitally important to recognize that racism exists, and condemn it whenever it rears its ugly head. But as Peter learned, we mustn’t call “Wolf” when it's not there. Here’s an example that I hope demonstrates the difference:
Lenny Bruce once did routine where he asked how many Niggers were in the audience. The point he wanted to make was about the use of language and how words can be used to hurt. That was not racism. When Michael Richards referred to some hecklers as Niggers, that was racist. These hecklers were Niggers because they were black and they were heckling him and he didn’t like it.
Don Imus making a stupid juvenile joke by calling the black Rutgers women nappy headed hos while racially insensitive was not racist. Bill O’Reilly on the other hand, having lunch with Rev. Al Sharpton at Sylvia’s and then going on the air to say he was shocked that nobody was saying “Mofo” is racist. What makes his comment racist is that he admits being surprised that black people can conduct themselves with the same decorum as white people in a nice restaurant. And that is exactly what his comment did.
During the confirmation hearings for now Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, Jr. many Democratic Senators pointed out that his rulings had adverse effects on minorities and women. His wife broke down and protested that her husband was no racist. Nobody had made the accusation. What they had done was make the observation that his rulings adversely affected minorities -- which is a fact.
We need to continue a rational debate on race in America. No national figure in many years has spoken eloquently on the subject in many years until then-Senator Barack Obama’s Philadelphia speech. In order for the debate to continue, two things need to happen: White people need to understand that acknowledging the fact that racism exists is not the same as admitting to being racists, and black people need to acknowledge that sometimes when they lose its not because of racism.
The story is often recounted of President Lyndon Johnson lamenting that in signing the Civil Rights Act into law, he was condemning his party to lose the South for a generation. Combine that with the ironic fact that 100 years after the first Republican President, the Party of Lincoln was defending the display of the Confederate Battle Flag as a “States Rights” issue, exactly as southern Democrats had defended slavery in that earlier century. If the Republican party truly wants to move forward, it needs to recognize that it did spend years exploiting racial tensions. Ed Gillespie did just that. The next thing they need to do is when called on being racially insensitive, don’t circle the wagons -- just say “my bad” and move on.
Hal Cohen is a writer living in Manhattan