novapsyche | (no subject)

I know it's silly of me to continue to watch the thread over at MSNBC over the Imus controversy. It's degenerated even from where it was two days ago. I think I read it because like a train wreck it is so grotesque you can't look away.

There are people who chastise Black people for being "thin-skinned" and overly sensitive. "It's just a word! Get over it!" Or, "I haven't seen you chained and picking cotton lately." As

greeneyedkzin said over in

ginmar's journal, "Once again, we have a demonstration of how 'cancha take a joke' is asking less-privileged people to be complicit in their own denigration."

Then you have people who switch roles and claim victim status. Someone actually said, "It has become a social stigma to be a white person." Someone else stated that while Blacks are allowed to call each other the N-word, if a White person says something racial then "they" (Blacks) want to kill them. Kill them.

Remember, this controversy started out by a celebrity, who happens to be a Caucasian male, saying denigrating things about basketball players, who happen to be black and female. But somehow, the conversation (if you want to call it that) has drifted into Blacks wanting to kill Whites.

Then you have people who equate racism with a fad, like bellbottoms. "People of my generation have gotten over racism." "It's so 1990s."

I really fear for the future of my country.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

As far as me going on a crusade against "nigger" being used in the Black community: I actually don't consider myself an active participant in the Black community. I don't self-identify as Black unless forced to (e.g., when filling out official forms). There are other activists who are deeply involved in the community who are trying to change things. I applaud their efforts (though, again, I think the current movement to ban the use of racial language is misguided and doomed to fail).

I also hesitate to interfere with the creation and production of art. Music--even rap--is art, and I support the right of artists to create and reflect what they view as reality. (Imus is not an artist, by any means.)

Like I've said before, Imus has a right to speak whatever is in his heart. He just doesn't have a right to say it over the air. Public airwaves are protected, regulated space. To permit his speech to go unpunished (and a two-week suspension is a slap on the wrist as far as punishment goes) is tacit permission for any other person in radio or TV to do the same.

It's wrong to use racial epithets as insults, across the board. I've never wavered in this stance. I am not being hypocritical, and I take offense of you accusing me of being so.

I don't self-identify as Black unless forced to

That is, I generally don't. My LJ profile lists my race, mainly as a way to let potential readers have a sense of why I do post things about race and why I might have the stance that I do.

I understood what you meant.

As far as me going on a crusade...

I addressed this above. I don't see that as a black or white issue, but simply an issue of numbers of instances. And I agree that banning language will fail if it's done by legislation. But if it's done at a grass-roots level by record companies, that might make a huge difference. If young black men (and women, but I think this is mostly men) don't hear about bitches and hos and niggers in every song they listen to, maybe they will stop using that language themselves and thus, over time, other people may also stop using it. That's my hope, anyway. And no, I'm not saying it's all the fault of the media, just like violence isn't the fault of video games, but the prevalence of that kind of language in rap/hip-hop is frankly scary, and what it does to the music video industry is worse. In particular the after-hours videos (I forget the correct term) which are basically sanctioned misogyny festivals.

The problem is it's very hard to unbottle the genie, and that language and attitude HAS crept into the music and art, so where does that leave us? Black women in particular are being hurt by this, other women and black men to a lesser extent, and white men practically not at all. And it's the white men running the record companies. So how can this be fought? You personally fight it by voting with your wallet, but it's going to take a lot MORE people doing that, and letting the record companies know why, to get them to change. I've never had much of a belief in boycotts alone, but as part of a concerted, SUSTAINED effort it might hit them where it hurts. There are crusaders out there doing that, as you say, but more is better. You have not only an interest in the subject, but a vested interest in making this better. I guess we just disagree about the methods. I see your posts attacking white racists (and male sexists and straight gay-bashers for that matter), but nothing about the most prevalent source of public hate-speech, so it does look like you're picking and choosing your targets. As S said above, this one may have just struck a chord, so I apologize for calling your tactics racist.

Public airwaves are protected, regulated space.

That also have caustic lyrics spouted on many stations/channels. Just because a syllable or two are bleeped out doesn't mean people don't realize what's being said.