Why do people that perform some bigoted or racist act always try to use the phrase “But I have black friends…” as a valid excuse for why they are not racist or bigots? As if having a comradeship with a person of the race they have offended somehow absolves them of all wrong doing. Hitler had Jewish descendents and that didn’t stop him from orchestrating a horrendous ethnic cleansing. Now these little white kids that went down to the banks of a Louisiana river, covered themselves in mud and proceeded to mock the Jena 6 and their supporters aren’t even in the same atmosphere as Hitler, but it’s equally troubling that so many years after the Malcolm and Martin that we still have idiots doing crap like this. “Niggers put the noose on…” Their parents must be so proud.
Now Kristy Smith, the idiot that posted this stuff on her Facebook page, claims they were just ”messing around” and things “got out of hand”. Please, the Bush Administration cooks up less bullshit when they are trying to sell the Iraq War to the American people. I’ve been messing around with my friends before and never have things gotten so far out of hand that I felt the need to roll myself in flour and jump in an Easy Bake Oven to mock the Holocaust. Mud? Really, is that what black people are to them? And to add further insult to injury, they video taped it and put it up on Facebook. As if what they did was nothing more than another weekend adventure that they could share with all their friends. The fact that they “have black friends” as they claim, only tells me that they did a good job hiding their ignorance from those around them.
The excuses and reaction of those involved after they were called on their ignorant act only further fuels my anger. Obviously they thought they did nothing wrong, or they wouldn’t have put it up on Facebook for everyone to see. Claiming that they are sorry and that they were wrong is only a weak attempt by these morons to save face. They’re sorry they got caught and they’re ignorance is on display for the world to see. They’re sorry that now when future employers Google their names, articles about their ignorance will pop up. It does make me wonder though. If this was what they were willing to videotape and show off on the Internet, what do they do when the cameras aren’t rolling? I was told in College that “character is what you do when no one is looking”, so what does it say about these fool’s character if this is what they are publicly displaying?
From reading comments on various blogs, it’s obvious to me that white people still don’t “get” the Jena 6 situation or any other situation involving race. They cry foul, and say that Blacks are too sensitive or that we are blowing things out of proportion. See, they fail to understand that if children in 2006 – 2007 are doing things like hanging nooses, covering themselves in mud to mock black people or having “gangsta parties” (remember those last year?) where they paint themselves black and duct tape 40’s to their hands, calling them just “childish pranks”, what kind of progress have we made towards racial equality? We were told that the children would be the ones that finally broke the chain of inequality, racism and ignorance. Instead we seem to be getting racially insensitive youth who think that just because Blacks aren’t forced to work out in the fields and have the right to vote now that everything is equal. The trait of being a bigot and racist has now been passed to another generation, it’s just cloaked in denial now. These kids didn’t just wake up one day and decide to be bigots. No, they picked it up by watching their parents, family members or close friends who instead of being bold enough to be open with their ignorance, just leave it for closed doors and the dinner table. And so the struggle will continue until white people realize that having “black friends” doesn’t make them any less ignorant and isn’t an acceptable excuse for racism.
October 4th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
“it’s obvious to me that white people still don’t “get” the Jena 6 situation or any other situation involving race.”
“what kind of progress have we made towards racial equality?”
Surely you are not striving for racial equality in the sleightest. Do you have any say for black racists, well, like yourself? Not all white people, nor black peope, nor any PEOPLE are entirely racist.
Learn to love. Peace.
October 4th, 2007 at 3:00 pm
See, how this is why Im gonna get in my car and run over a couple of white folk as a prank. I have some white friends so it should be ok. We need to have a race war so we can just kill off all the white people and make the world a better place. All they do is fuck shit up. We dont need them and the world would be better off without them. Thats my take on things. (the views in this message do not represent the views of the Insanity Report).
October 4th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
….Oh yeah….KILL WHITEY!!!!
October 4th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
I’m a black racist? That’s laughable. Yeah, I’m systematically holding back the white race. Please tell me…how am I racist? Give me a break.
October 4th, 2007 at 3:55 pm
people need to quickly peruse the dictionary and look up the words “racist” and “prejudice”
then they need to understand how SO MANY white people hold on to these antiquated stereotypes of other races and when people try to correct them they say we’re “playing the race card” (almost never fails) or call us “racists”. so many white people have these ideas that its is APPROPRIATE to generalize because more have major prejudices and racist ideas than dont. calling kriss a “black racist” is a way to get around hearing the truth: you are a part of the problem.
October 4th, 2007 at 7:40 pm
Well, poster number 2 is a perfect example of how your wish for “equality” and no racism is completely foolish. Ofcourse we can never rid of that, we can try and help, but people are inheretly tribal and will always have a bit of distance between race/color/ even sex.
I was using “black racists” perfectly well to address the fact that your entire post involves strictly why WHITE people are racist. You not once mention that people, as a whole, are being racist and this is the issue.
That shows your bias take on things because of your background. No one is calling you a “black racist” like you hope, I am just calling you a “racist”…there is no difference. I see people as people, unlike yourself, who seem to have to put a label of “black” or “white” on everything you say.
Hoping for equality and peace? Why not make some equality in your own arguments. How about a post about some racist behavious by blacks tomorrow, that would be a nice change of things wouldn’t it?
October 4th, 2007 at 9:55 pm
Well there can never be a racist free society because white people made it that way. Going around and fucking up other people’s countries, robbing them of their resources and then leaving them to fend for themselves if they are lucky. The unlucky ones were forced away from their homes and brought to the Americas to be slaves and indentured servants. And once they were freed, they were left to fend for themselves in a society (a white society) that did not want them there. The 1st anonymous poster (who I assume to be the same as the last poster) sees people as people. But he/she is in the minority. A majority of people in the country see color, gender, differences overall. I am in that majority. I am Black, and yes, I am a racist. Can you blame me? I am just a product of the society that I am exposed to. Seeing my people being taken advantage of and oppressed (not just in history, but in the present) has made me resent the white race. And knowing that this will never change as long as we live, just makes me more resentful. If white people are fine with being prejudice toward us, then why do they all of a sudden have a problem when we Black people turn the tables? Its like the school bully who cant take it when he finally gets his ass kicked. Dont cry white folk – its been a long time coming.
October 4th, 2007 at 10:39 pm
You obviously have no idea what being a racist is. Tell me, what makes my post racist? I post about any and everybody regardless of race. I never come off as being superior to whites because I am black. You know that’s what the definition of racist is right? . Being racist means believing your race is intrinsically superior over members of other race. Now, like WG in his post, I might come off as being resentful but I have every right to. The police follow me around and pull me over because I’m black. How many cops do you know shoot white people 41 times because they “thought” they had a gun? My people got the right to vote and be an equal human being just over 40 years ago. You have no idea what that means. It’s easy for you to say you see “people as people”…no one’s locking up white kids for 10 years for getting a blow job.
I’ll be fair though. Find me a news story of a black D.A. charging white kids for attempted murder for a school yard fight. Find me a story of a black security guard breaking a white high school student’s wrist because she dropped some cake and didn’t clean it all up. Find me a story of a cuffed white man getting beat by a black cop. Find me a story of black kids painting themselves white and mocking the Holocaust.
October 4th, 2007 at 10:55 pm
And one more thing. I didn’t start the labeling of everything as “black” or “white”. White people started that when they told us just a few decades ago that we couldn’t drink at the same fountains as they did.
October 5th, 2007 at 8:52 am
All of this started in bible times when God punished the people for trying to build a structure to reach the heavens. Once languages divided us and peoples cultures changed then racism began. All of this is punishment because we cannot fix this problem ourselves – God is the only hope. And this will not end until this system is destroyed.
October 5th, 2007 at 9:33 am
Once again Charles…you dun dun it
October 5th, 2007 at 9:35 am
LOL @ anonymous…
Sorry, try again. The belief of one set of human beings that they are better than another set based off of trivial features, be it physical, mental or social, has been around a lot longer than the Bible or any of the stories in it. As a matter fact, religion has been historically used to propagate those beliefs…but that’s another post…
October 5th, 2007 at 9:53 am
Kriss that’s exactly my point – you said “one set of human beings.” Aren’t we all just human beings!! We all have that in common, so we should be able to get along based on that fact but we know as imperfect human beings we throw other factors into that equation which causes the racism. Like I said we can’t fix it ourselves as human beings. It unfortunate it has to be that way but that’s how it is. But like you said that’s another post…
October 5th, 2007 at 10:17 am
Speaking for myself, as a white guy who grew up in Prince George’s County where people can see both sides of the story of Black America (the insanely wealthy and ridiculously poor), I can say that there are most certainly still very LARGE pockets of racism within White America. I’d hardly say that I understand what it is to be black, but I can say that I have an open mind and an open ear. Being down in “The South” now I have heard some IGNORANT shit out of the mouth of white southerners. The type of shit that you know people are saying in Jena when the cameras are off. Then you get the people who think of themselves as progressive but claim that everyone is on equal footing now, which I can say is most certainly not true even in MD let alone in the South. People are very quick to forget history and in an age when our cell phones get smaller every day, it’s not surprising for people to think that everything is “just peachy” at this point. On the subject of the post, I think humor is a great way to express our cultural differences, but there comes a point when things go from “lighthearted” to “mean-spirited” and people’s true feelings come out. I’m not gonna say I’ve never lauged at a “black joke” before in the same way that many black people can’t say they haven’t laughed at the stereotypical humorous depictions in “white jokes.” It’s a fallacy for someone to say they don’t see color. It’s right there in front of your face… what needs to be dispelled are the stereotypical expectations that accompany that color. I am white, and I have black friends, but I like to think that I’ve actually LISTENED and FELT what they’ve had to say rather than thinking that just because I know black people I can qualify myself as a progressive white American.
October 5th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
So one day I’m talking to one of my friends a while back (white) and I asked them if they had heard any updates on the Jena 6 — they thought I was talking about some type of band… wtf?
October 5th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
Chris, I need to make you the Ambassador to the Black race for white people. LOL. You always seem to “get it”. Like you said, humor is great for expressing cultural differences and breaking the ice…as long as it’s done tastefully.
December 6th, 2007 at 2:29 pm
What’s missing here is that racism implies power. To be a racist, you have to have power that you can wield over/against someone, thus mitigating their free will.