Post-Racial My *** (Part 2)

Yes, folks, I'm back with more of an insight on post-racial America. I already dissected this term before, so I won't delve into it again, but for those who have never read my blog before (or might become so enraged that they won't revisit), post-racial simply means "after a period of racism" and suggests that racism in the United States has ended, primarily because now we have a black president. I am here again to say that the United States is still just as racist now as it was before Barack Obama was elected president. Some of the interesting events this week show why.


In the lovely world of sports so far this year, we've had the pleasure of hearing player for the New York Knicks Jeremy Lin called several racial slurs because he is one of few Asian-Americans on a NBA team. This week, however, Twitter was blown up with the cutest usage of the n-word by several disgruntled hockey fans. Joel Ward, a light-scoring winger for the Washington Capitals who happens to be black, made the winning score on Wednesday night's game against the Boston Bruins which was followed by a lot of praise and a lot of good ol' hate. My favorite tweet: "Can't believe Boston just let a sand nigger beat them #gobacktothejungle" - @abrownn36. Isn't that cute? She used the wrong racial slur and everything.


As racist comments 360-spun their ugly heads in the Twittersphere, somehow they found their way on Facebook from the most unlikely source: an editor at Essence Magazine, the historic black women's magazine. Before several of my sistas start burning copies of the revered magazine, that editor was a white man. Yes, a WHITE MAN. He has now resigned. However, an earlier outrage with the hiring of a white woman (who probably knows better not to post racist comments on the internet) is happily still in her position as fashion director.


It did, however, take a white woman, Lindy West at Jezebel to be exact, to address the issue of racism in white America, which she has cleverly dubbed as "Hipster Racism." One thing she noted, many use (mild) racial comments to make themselves seem not racist when, in fact, they are being very racist (white readers who think they are not racist, please note): 


"There's been a lot of talk these last couple of weeks about "hipster racism" or "ironic racism"—or, as I like to call it, racism. It's, you know, introducing your black friend as "my black friend"—as a joke!!!—to show everybody how totally not preoccupied you are with your black friend's blackness. It's the gentler, more clueless, and more insidious cousin of a hick in a hood; the domain of educated, middle-class white people (like me—to be clear, I am one of those) who believe that not wanting to be racist makes it okay for them to be totally racist. "But I went to college — I can't be racist!" Turns out, you can."


I've said this for a while, but I'm just seen as the radical black man who doesn't understand a joke or is taking it too seriously. I'm glad someone who is not black also sees this as what it is - racist. I think if we ALL notice this, regardless of skin color (because we are all guilty of it, but white America is always pointed out because they are historically and in many ways presently the oppressor in this country), racism can become a thing of the past. I'm not saying we should ignore the social construct of race and reality of ethnicity, but instead educate ourselves to better understand them.


I attended the Nobel Peace Summit this week (which was AWESOME, by the way) and one things that Prof. Jody Williams, one of the Nobel Peace laureates, most notably for her work to ban landmines through the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, told the audience of mainly comprised of high school students that staying in school and being well educated and hearing all sides of the story are compulsory to become an activist for peace. Sean Penn, during his emotional speech after receiving his award, talked about how Americans do not travel, which alludes to another for education that is not restricted to being in school, but to also being in world and surrounding yourself with diverse populations and people of different backgrounds  other than your own. 


In the United States, we are one of several countries that are lucky to have people from so many different ethnic and religious backgrounds, but yet we do not take advantage of this precious resource that could lead to world peace. A post-racial society would be one of peace, but are we there yet? Nope.

It's Never Too Late to Say: "Happy New Year!"

After a nice long break, I'm back! There have been SEVERAL things in the news that have been going on in the black world since the last time, and here are a few highlights - some funny, some serious, and some just down right messy.

Obama Sings

All I can say is watch. As many of you may know, I'm not a Obama supporter, but I think all can admit this makes one chuckle at least a bit.



Etta James Dies at 73

The legendary Etta James passed this morning in Riverside, CA from complications with leukemia, according to an article posted by New York Times. Her name is currently a top trend on Twitter, along with her signature song, "At Last."

Promoter for Nas Held Hostage in Angola

Okay Africa posted a suspicious story about a New Year's Eve concert in Luanda which featured Nas. Nas didn't show up and instead was livin' it up in Miami. Apparently, someone is angry and demands the $300,000 payment for Nas's appearance to be repaid, and all additional expenses. Until that is repaid, the promoter (who is Angolan) will be held. Okay Africa has said that the details are kinda iffy, but I am sure they will have an update as soon as all the details are in order.

Zara Opens It's First Store on the African Continent

I have a more detailed analysis of this here, but in short, Zara opened it's first store on the continent in a posh mall in Johannesburg not too long ago, reported by Africa Review.

Pres. Wade Spends Millions to the Arts in Senegal

Arguably, this is a mess. The 85-year-old Senegalese president is has already spent several million dollars on what he's dubbed "Cultural Park." Most recently, the next addition to Cultural Park will be the Museum of Black Civilisations. Good note - this helps bring tourism and spreads awareness of the diversity of black cultures. Bad note - will this help elevate the many in Senegal that are living at or below the poverty level? We'll see. See more at Africa Review.

"Your cookie is free, black lady"

Coming into work and finding stuff to blog about has always been interesting. Now I have yet to comment about last week's sanctioned murder of Troy Davis, but this other issue definitely has my stomach growling (but not with hunger).

Yesterday, a college bake sale at University of California at Berkley made headlines across the great USA. Not because the cupcakes could compete with Chicago's famed cupcake store, Molly's Cupcakes (my favorite place to indulge in Chi-Town), but because all of the baked goods were priced based on the customer's race and gender. The highest price were for white males and the lowest were for black females. All other racial groups were somewhere in between and all women got a discount.Crazy, huh? Well, guess what student organization was behind this? The College Republicans (not a surprise). Their point: to show the affects of affirmative action.



I don't know how many times the purpose of affirmative action must be explained, but let's be real. I thought we all knew that affirmative action is in place because historically (and still currently) groups other than white males are frequently discriminated against. Affirmative action is in place to help those in marginalized groups (women, Blacks, Latinos, Asians) cross the divide to ensure a fair chance at an education. It does not mean that those within these groups get it easy but it means that they have to work just as hard as their white male applicants to get in instead of TWICE (or more) as hard.

More bothersome about this bake sale was not the bake sale itself, but the fact that among those who planned it were Asian and Latino. Simply put, they wouldn't have been able to JOIN any college organization because some of them may not have even been accepted if it wasn't for affirmative action. And all because you may be seen as superior to black folk does make you equal to white men.

I don't know if I have said this before or not, but I strongly believe those who have not come from generations of societal (and many cases, legal) disenfranchisement don't (or refuse to) understand why several of these laws have been created - to prevent history from repeating itself and to program those of who come from generations of bigotry to understand what their generations of the past have done and what they are doing now is disruptive to a productive, "post-racist" and culturally relative modern society. If you're a white man and you don't understand why that white woman, who attended a school equal in calibur to yours, scored exactly the same as you did on the ACT and the SAT, got in over you, let me break it down. She got in because YOU have a better opportunity to get into any school of your choice because no one will turn you down because of your race or gender. That white woman could be turned be turned down from several schools simply because of her gender, even in today's society. Why do you think Hilary Clinton is not president today, despite the fact that she's more qualified than Barack Obama? America is still conditioned to think that men are more capable than women, regardless of race.

All in all, I think the discounts are well deserved. Based on data collected by the National Committee of Pay Equity, white men earn the most out of everyone else.

Oh, Mississippi...

Another tragedy in Mississippi - and I'm not talking about a hurricane.

Some people like to believe that racism is a thing of the past, but despite the United States having a black president, racism is still very alive and in this case it was nowhere near subtle. Take a look at this video from CNN.

I've said this from the moment Barack Obama was elected - racism did not die simply because a black man was elected. In fact, I strongly believe many non-blacks voted for him because they did not want to be tagged as "racist." His election even brought the talk of race to the forefront, and rekindled that old American tradition of hate. Some even say the Teabaggers have a racist agenda.

Granted that this situation took place in Mississippi, which is still notorious for racial issues. However, there have been several incidents throughout the US. In school in California suspended students for forming a white supremacy group; President Barack Obama was likened to a tar-baby just last week; and in Seattle, someone was apprehended for attempting to bomb an MLK parade. These are just a few of the incidents that have happened this year.

If anyone tells you that racism in America is dead, tell them they are living in a fairy tale. It is not dead, maybe different from the horror stories prior to the Civil Right Movement, but if you look around, a lot of the madness from that era seems to show it's ugly face from time to time.

Obama is a "Tar Baby"

Wow. Seriously some of these politicians have taken us all back to a time when the divide between people because of your skin color was thought as normal and unchangeable. Either that or it proves not much has changed.

Rep. Doug Lamborn likened Obama to a "tar baby" on a KKZN-AM760 radio show last Friday. For some of you that don't know the meaning or significance of this word, let me break it down:

The term "tar baby" actually comes from the tale of Be'er Rabbit, in which he makes a doll out of tar to to trap Be'er Fox. However, according to TIME magazine, the term seemed to develop it's racist meaning in John Updike's Coup (even though I believe it was used earlier than that), where he wrote about a white woman who vies for the company of black men. If you don't get it now, it is pretty much is associating a black person to tar. Oh, that's cute.

Now, I can excuse John McCain and Mitt Romney for their use of the term, since in context it referred to a sticky situation, but Lamborn crossed the line. He seriously stepped over to the side that I call the contemporary white person's taboo - being labelled a racist. Oh, well. He should have thought before he spoke. Now he needs to come up with an apology. It's been a few days already. America's waiting.