TheLastManInAmerica

Judgment’s not tomorrow

It’s today, yes now it’s here

But no, it isn’t Jesus

Take a look at all your peers

      “Best For You”- Bad Religion (1987) 

                 Don Imus…Don Imus, keep your mouth shut! No, I don’t have a problem with what you’ve said, no matter how ambiguous your recent comments may have been. No, I want you to shut up for your sake! You’re an old man and you should know that freedom of speech doesn’t exist when speaking about race. Just so long as you’re white, that is. Stop the presses! Am I a racist? Or am I just an open-eyed individual, appalled at the double standard lobbied against his race? 

            The comment Imus made that led to his firing turned into such an overblown circus that it was silly. It was mere fodder for people like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson who have nothing better to do than cry racism at the very utterance of the word “black”. I can recall the New York Times’ front page photo of all the African-American members of that ladies basketball team. But what I can’t recall is if there were any curly-haired white ladies from the organization framed up in that picture. After all, “nappy-headed” does mean someone with tangled hair.

            His second bout as social pariah finds him giving a “Well, there you go,” when learning a football player who has been arrested six times in the past five years (at most) is black, as if affirming his original belief. But honestly, how many times do you hear about Peyton Manning, Brandon Stokely or John Lynch being arrested? It is these thugged-out “gangstas” who always wind up in trouble with the law, not just in football but all sports. Does it make it right for him to generalize in such a way?  Definitely not, but if a black man were to have the same reaction when learning an incestuous set of cousins were white and southern, no one would bat an eye.

            If the black community wants to be mad at someone it should be themselves for allowing their race to be painted in such a way. Is that another racist jab?! You tell me; the Rap (not Hip-Hop) genre of music is dominated by young, black men, whose central themes to their songs are gang-banging, drug dealing and womanizing. This type of behavior should be deplored; yet Rap continues to be a major force within the world of music, granted it is White America that buys the majority of CDs. All the same, if blacks wanted to be shown in a better light than how people like Don Imus might view them, these “artists” would be social rejects and given the same treatment as Imus himself. Instead people like Bill Cosby are called “Uncle Toms” when voicing a dissenting opinion of these performers.

            But I digress; the real matter here is that whites must walk on eggshells when it comes to race. Some of my favorite stand-up comics (Eddie Murphy, Dave Chapelle, and Richard Pryor), are black, but the jokes they make about whites, if reversed, would incite mass protests outside of theaters, demanding an explanation of how they could allow such an act to be performed by a racist. But the fact is, I, and everyone else who laughs at their jokes, laugh because they’re true, however, if taken in the wrong context, they’d be called “stereotypes”.

            The truth is we all must grow thicker skin. Not everyone is a racist and comments that are construed as such can most often be attributed an honest err in judgment or, at worst, a slight jab meant as a goof, with no real harm intended. Until we realize this, we are doomed to an endless tension of recycled frustrations that one day could cause rifts beyond repair. And, with that said, I’m going to bang my sister while watching NASCAR…

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