Paula Deen, racism, and social change

---

Back when Barack Obama was first elected President of the United States in 2008, some of us felt pretty good about ourselves. Racial prejudice was over and done with, and we were living in the New Jerusalem.

But, presciently, a New York Times commentator at that time (I think Charles Blow) told us not to be so sure of ourselves. I wish I could find his exact quote. I paraphrase: “American racism is coming to an end, but it’s not dead yet. It’s going to become more concentrated, like sea-salt crystallizing as seawater evaporates.”

This image has come back to me over and over again over the past five years.

Most recently, Paula Deen, whom you would have thought would have been smarter, has shown herself to be a racist idiot of the crystallized-seawater variety. In recent depositions, she spoke defiantly about using the n-word in casual conversation. She defended herself by explaining that she was once held up by a black man.

Well, Paula, then that’s okay! We forgive you! Use racial epithets as much as you want!

Paula has asked for forgiveness via Internet video three times over the past few weeks. She is often tearful, which clearly demonstrates that she’s the victim here.

The great revelation here, for me, was doing research for this blog. I learned that there are a lot of people here in the USA who don’t like black people, and who use the Internet freely!

Man alive.

Have you seen this commercial?:

It’s a cute little girl asking her (white) mother if Cheerios are good for your heart. Mom says yes. Little girl runs into the living room and dumps a bunch of Cheerios on her (black) father’s chest.

Now go on line, look up the video (use search terms “interracial Cheerios”), and see what comes up.

Filthy and vile.

Now how about this commercial?:

Now go on the net and read the comments (search terms “International Delight bouncer”). You won’t need to go far to find something really atrocious. Imagine: a white woman admiring a black man’s body!

I won’t tell you the names of the websites I found these on. If you do the same searches I did, you’ll find the same kind of comments.

I was disgusted by them.

But – you know what? – go look for them. I want you to be disgusted too.

It’ll do you good.

It’ll show you, more forcefully than I can tell you, the kind of world we live in, and what we’re up against.

---

Rick Rick Rick!

---

 

In Graham Greene's novel Travels with My Aunt, the narrator meets his aunt Augusta's “man” Wordsworth through the intercom at the door, and Wordsworth is very rude to him. Later, face to face, Wordsworth is wonderfully friendly. He laughingly apologizes for his rudeness over the intercom. “That little box makes me want to say things,” Wordsworth says.

 

Wordsworth's problem is everywhere these days. Rick Sanchez is its latest victim. I'm not sure if the little box in this case is radio or TV, but either way, it made him want to say things, and he went ahead and said them.

 

I've seen his show a few times, and I thought he was okay. He appeared to be the kind of open-minded back-and-forth anchor I like, and I didn't feel threatened by his show. He was a little on the show-biz side – loud and boisterous – but who minds a bit of that? He looked big and jovial and almost-handsome, which I tend to favor in a newsman.

 

To be fair, he was doing a Keith Olbermann. He was doing news/commentary,with a heavy helping of editorializing on the side.

 

But I certainly never heard him say anything outrageous.

 

Well, he went and did it. He went on the radio, and he began to rant about the management of CNN, which he darkly hinted was full of . . . Jews. Hispanic-hating Jews. (Rick's Cuban-American, by the way.) He claimed that he'd been held back in his career, relegated to a second-rate status, because his bosses didn't think he could do anchor work effectively. Evidently one of them invoked another Hispanic journalist, Jon Quinones, which Sanchez found outrageous. (Without thinking about it too much, I was able to come up with another fairly well-known Hispanic journalist: Geraldo Rivera. Looking him up to make sure, I was surprised to see that Geraldo is half Puerto Rican and half Jewish. Did you know that? The world is far more complex than I thought.)

 

When it was pointed out to Rick that Jews were a minority too, he scoffed. His point seemed to be that they were not a disadvantaged minority.

 

And then he turned on Jon Stewart.

 

I ask you!

 

First he called Stewart a “bigot.” Then he retracted that and said that “The Daily Show” was “prejudicial.” (I'm not crazy about his use of that word. It bothers me when journalists use words sloppily.) His point seemed to be that Jon Stewart is too liberal.

 

I confess I don't watch “The Daily Show” anymore. I love Stewart, I would marry him if I could, he's adorable. But I just don't find political humor funny anymore. It's like making jokes about the death of your family. Things are dire, folks, and I do not enjoy giggling about this stuff. But Stewart is smart and makes excellent points; he says things that I wish I'd said. He is also far quicker than I am, and far more fearless.

 

Does he have overt political leanings? Oh, yes.

 

Is he a journalist? No.

 

Sanchez fell into the same trap that Bill O'Reilly fell into. He challenged Stewart for being biased toward the liberal agenda.

 

Christ, Rick. That's the same as challenging the Smothers Brothers for being biased toward the liberal agenda.

 

Journalists, I think, feel limited by their profession. They must, by their own terms, be neutral. Commentary must be marked as such. They must be fair.

 

But what fun is that?

 

They see the commentators, the blogosphere, the parodists, have a wonderful time out here, spinning and japing at one another. And they want to get in on the act.

 

The best journalists manage to avoid the temptation.

 

The rest of them . . .

 

Well, ahem.

 

Anyway, Rick has been terminated at CNN. This was harsh. I suspect that some will see this as punishment for calling a spade a spade: if you call out the bosses, the bosses will get rid of you.

 

Well, he called out the bosses, all right.

 

I'm sure he will have a career.

 

How long do you suppose it'll be before he shows up on the Fox News Channel?

 

---