Don Imus versus The Rev Al

D_yer_Maker
Wed, 11 Apr 2007 22:21:01 +0000

The idea that the words are what make a comment racist is a red herring.

If I run around referring to African-Americans as “lazy, smelly and inarticulate” – without actually using ethnic terms – do I get a free pass on the racist claim?

Imus’ statement was not racist because the words were ethnic references. It’s racist because Imus was speaking in derogatory terms that play into and affirm racist perceptions.

You can suck all context and historical anchors from a statement, type it into a computer and say, “See? Look, the source code is nothing but 1s and 0s and there’s nothing racist about 1s and 0s.”

What’s insidious about racism in the 21st century is that it DOESN’T reveal itself in the form of white sheets, burnt crosses, and men strung up and bludgeoned in the town square. It comes camouflaged and takes cover amid valid and acceptable activities.

The knowing snicker that resounded among Imus’ listeners (and viewers) after he made his comment didn’t come in the form of words, but it was borne of racist biases and ignorance.

For Imus to get away with his statement sends the wrong message to those lemmings and ■■■■■■. I believe Imus understood this dynamic and truly regretted it. That’s why I don’t believe he is himself a racist (though, when you get right down to it, everyone is except, possibly, for blind and deaf people). For him to walk away from this scot-free would embolden the shallow-minded and malevolent people who love to hear their views affirmed.

There are plenty of things that people can say that radically change meaning when the context is altered. If you go to North City HS and make fun of the principal, it’s probably just “all in good fun” to your classmates. If you go to South City HS and say the exact same thing about the North City HS principal it probably won’t be the least bit funny to the kids at North City HS. That’s not a double standard. It’s the recognition of context and a variety of other factors that any child can appreciate. But any child can also downplay patently malicious comments by complicating the statement and breaking down those factors into individual, subjective elements: tone of voice, the history between the schools, where and when it’s said, etc.

Anyone who heard Imus’ statement and the giggles he was trying to elicit from his listeners understands what was going on. Trying to suggest that it’s not racist is absurd. If you saw a memorable sunset and I asked you to articulate it and why it was memorable, I could really suck all the meaning out of that sunset pretty quickly. But you’d still know that it’s something to remember even if you can’t make me see it, too.

So if someone doesn’t “get” how Imus’ comments were racist, too bad. They were. If it’s not obvious to you, it’s still obvious to me.