So, I guess a ten year anniversary show is out of the question.
Li’l Pluck, I have a question for you. I live in the San Francisco bay area, in the east bay. I grew up in a 99% white neighborhood. In college I met and got to know more black people. I have lived in virtually all black neighborhoods in both Berkeley and Oakland and now I live in Richmond.
Every person I have ever personally known around here who has been victim of a (non-rape) crime where they saw their attackers or the thief or whatever has told me the person was black. Now that doesn’t mean I believe all crime is committed by blacks. But when that’s your experience, it’s hard not to apply that to your own situations.
So when I’m riding the BART train and I am vigilant about my purse, I don’t give a damn if some black guy gets offended. I don’t want it stolen by anybody. And believe it or not, I am just as distrustful of the woman standing behind me of picking my pocket as I am of any man, black or white, being a purse snatcher.
So, my question: do you think I am a racist?
Monstro big whoop if someone asked you about drugs. I’m white and I’ve had people ask me about drugs more than once.I can’t really identify why someone would ask me over someone else.
::scratching head::
If you react the same way towards someone regardless of their race or gender, why ever would you be considered racist?
Think about why you’re confident that black guy won’t run to the cops.
Nah. He’s richer than God. His on-stage career might be over but who cares? This is the first I’ve seen of him since Seinfeld and I’d have figured his career was already over. But if he wants to stay in the industry he can always use his money to fund a production company or something. Most people wouldn’t even notice they’re watching something that has been tainted with his money. You can’t boycott everything on principle.
Just last night I saw Mel Gibson hawking his latest movie.
Anyway, I watched his appearance on Letterman and he seemed genuinely upset and apologetic. There will be of course, those to whom no apology will ever be enough but I’m sure there are a few executives at the NAACP right now eagerly awaiting some monetary attempts at some contrition.
I agree that it’s not unforgiveable because I’m a firm believer in the ability to change attitudes and become a better person. I just don’t think it’s a quick process. I do believe that you don’t blurt out a rash of shit like that without believing it to some degree. Education goes a long way toward opening a person’s eyes to the pain those actions can cause.
Very interesting ideas.
ywtf, what you say just makes no sense to me. It’s a nearly Calvinistic, deterministic, essentialist view of human nature that just rings totally false. He’s not “revealed himself to be” anything: he’s done something really offensive that reflects a part of his personality, but apparently a part of his personality that horrifies him. To suggest that he’s irredeemable or unchangeable just seems to reflect a poor understanding of humanity.
Daniel
Because although I do check my purse no matter who is standing near me, from what I’ve seen in this thread, Li’l Pluck believes I’m thinking “nigger” when it’s a black person. There’s no way I could ever explain to a strange black guy on public transit my personal experiences and reasons for my actions. He’ll just think I hate black people. How can he tell the difference?
Li’l Pluck, I’ve enjoyed your posts, probably because I am a Black male and I understand the experiences you are trying to convey. However, I think this comes down to one simple understanding: either people believe that we live in an inherently racist societal context and we are all affected by this, or they don’t. If they don’t believe this, no amount of qualitative or quantitative data is going to sway them one way or another.
We actually had a pretty good conversation about this in this thread a while back. What makes racism so hard to eradicate is the fact that it’s veiled and coupled with so many other aspects of human interaction: anger, fear, humor, etc. So one can attribute all of an event to one of the lesser stigmatized reactions and ignore the racism part. MrSquishy has a point; perhaps one’s expectancy tinges what one sees and perceives. The problem with that is that as a society, we’ve decided that we’re willing to actively root out some bad behaviors (e.g., terrorism, child molestation) and go to fairly extreme lengths to do so - while we’re comfortable living with some other bad behaviors (racism, sexism).
Think about it. I made this comparison earlier. If Richards goes off script and starts ranting about blowing up a federal building, or touching kids inappropriately, I would wager that people would be a lot less forgiving even though his rantings might not actually reflect what he truly meant… people would likely assume that the thoughts had crossed his mind at some point, and for some people, even that is going too far. I guess it depends on whose ox is being gored. In the case of pedophilia or terrorism, these are equal opportunity evils. You’re not safe regardless of race, class, gender, region, etc. With racism, sexism, and homophobia, certain groups bear the brunt of these evils while the other can selectively pay attention, if they pay attention at all.
I group myself in this category, because I don’t think about the advantages I have as a straight male in society all the time. I just do what I do. But when I go to the engineering department and notice only one woman in an advanced course, or when someone refers to gay marriage as “abhorrent” or “outside the mainstream,” it strikes me that there’s a lot of shit I don’t have to process on a daily basis. (I get to just deal with the racial shit!) But there are folks, some in my circle of friends even, who will find alternate explanations for the phenomena I describe, and completely dismiss the sexist and heteronormative/homophobic aspects of these issues.
Jackie Chiles would be so disappointed in Kramer!
Interesting. The more I think about it, the more racism is to Modern American Society what Nazism is to Modern German Society and Modern French Society. We recognize as a society that what happened in previous times was horrible, struggle with trying to decide how to deal with the repercussions it has left in our society, and publicly and socially bolt from those who veer close to it for fear of proving to our detractors that it (racism or nazism) is inherent to our national characters.
And right on schedule, here comes the gnashing of the teeth about the insidious NACCP and their eternal attempts to wrestle money out of the pockets of brow-beaten white men.
Well LHOD, I guess the answer is that while people CAN change, they mostly don’t. Sure, sometimes they’ll surprise you, but don’t put any money on it. Angry people stay angry. Introverted people stay introverted. Wacky people stay wacky. Drunks stay drunk.
It seems to me that (for instance) angry people who do “change” don’t change into non-angry people, they change into angry people who learn to stay away from their anger triggers. They still have the same personality and beliefs, they don’t so much control themselves as control the situations they put themselves into. Introverted people learn to make friends with outgoing people who drag them places they wouldn’t otherwise go. And so on. They don’t change, they just learn to manage their fixed personality traits more effectively.
I don’t know much about it, but the South African government formed a Truth & Reconciliation commission after the end of apartheid. There’s a little about the commission’s work here . It’s probably too early to tell what the value of the commission’s work will be but it strikes me as more honest and forthright to confront a history intertwined with racism than to pretend that those events are far in the past and have no bearing on current events. Clinton’s One America initiative was a cursory stab at this, but lo! Some stuff went down during his second term that sort of diverted attention away from this… can’t recall what it was, but this initiative sunk like a stone. Right after they decided to print a letter I wrote on their website!
Gee! None of you guys TYPE black! Who knew?? 
You have misunderstood me if that’s what you got from my post. Richards’ actions weren’t shocking because of what he said. To me, they were shocking because he was able to say that at all. If this is what he is (e.g. a racist bigot), that is not a moral crime. It’s a failing of the higher intellect. I thought I illustrated where I’m coming from with the Bush example, but I guess not.
If your question is “If Richards is indeed racist and wants to change himself, what should he do” then I echo some of the things that Hippy suggested. If your question is “What can Richards do to make things right with the people he’s offended” then my answer is the same. He can do a lot of good things, but I can’t think of anything that he can do to or for others that will in anyway “amend” what he did. I’m appalled by how he thinks (as revealed by his behavior), not so much by his behavior in and of itself. A lot of people feel this way.
I hope that makes sense. I’m not calling Richards an irredeemable monster, but I can’t think of anything he can do or say in the near or short-term future that will really impact my *judgement of him, especially if that something comes across as being a public relations ploy moreso than an authetic attempt to conquer his demons.
*which surprisingly is not even all that harsh, honestly
I’ve been with people a couple times that were about to do that to black people, which is a couple of times more than I’ve been with people that avoided others on the street based just on the color of their skin.
It could have potentially been the most embarassing thing that ever happened to me, but the person who wanted to do it was so drunk and had tried to get me into so much other trouble that night that it became the only time in my adult life I’ve ever taken someone by the wrist and prevented them from moving forward. Luckily she didn’t try to continue (lucky for her that is or she would have been stranded in downtown Orlando at 2:30 am :))
I was asked the same thing by a black man in downtown York PA. I too have never smoked a joint. Some white folks care about the law too.
In my youth, I had been asked that several times by white folks and black folks. I don’t see this as proof of anything other than the fact that people looking for drugs will ask strangers for drugs.
Perhaps we should do a poll.
I do know that when I started working at my predominately white/Cuban workplace and was invited to my first social gathering, the “joke” was that I’d be bringing some special herbs. Even though I’m the goodiest-goody-two-shoes one would ever meet (I don’t even drink beer!)
Of course, being that laid-back sort that I am, I laughed when they told me. But damn. They had just met me and they’d already assumed I was going to be their newest “weed” connection.
I can (vaguely) entertain a defense for his use of the word “nigger”.
Unfortunately, you appear to have missed the part where Richards references a period during which black people were routinely murdured for the simple crime of being black. Not only references it, but even implies that he’d like to go back to that time.
Aside from the dubious possibility that you grew up with crosses being burnt on YOUR lawn, perhaps it would be reasonable to suggest that you need to shut the fuck up.