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.
