I don’t straight-out cosign nobody hardly, but one person who usually comes very close on the linguistic nuances of racial speech is Jeremy Pierce. In a recent post, he outlines his philosophy for giving people the benefit of the doubt when racism is possible but not clearly established.
For the same reason that we don’t assume guilt with crimes, we should also not assume guilt with moral accusations that aren’t crimes. It’s basic human decency, and I find it sorely lacking among people who throw racism charges around without strong evidence. Being hesitant in particular cases when you don’t know for sure is not the same thing as denying that racism is real. No, it’s just being unsure about particular cases when you don’t know for sure. I can’t count how many times I’ve been accused of justifying racism when I’ve pointed out that a racism charge is unwarranted. Only if you don’t know the distinction between being true and being proved to be true can you make such a charge. You don’t need to deny that racism is real or even that it’s widespread and so deep-seated that it’s hard to spot in order to point out that a particular case is not clearly racist and thus unfair to call racist, and this will be true no matter how many such particular cases you find.
I’ve given a moral argument for my policy of giving people the benefit of the doubt in cases of potential but unestablished racism. I don’t think it should have to bring any negative racial effects as long as those who question racist accusations in particular cases are willing to acknowledge it when it’s clear and insist that there are probably plenty of cases of real racism where we unfortunately can’t be sure and thus be able to call them on it. My sense is that conservatives on race are sorely lacking in that sort of thing, and that’s why every attempt to follow a policy like mine gets seen as an attempt to justify actual racism. But I don’t see how that mistake on the part of people who follow a policy like mine can justify the accusation of trying to justify racism, as has been said about me many times in the comments at Racialicious whenever I’ve said that a charge of racism is going beyond what we can be sure of. But people prone to leap to racism charges without enough evidence are also prone to leap to racism-justifying charges without reason.
COS.
To add on to it a little bit, I still think there’s needs to be another term in there that can classify degrees of racism. Cuz even for people who think that every potential example of racism is the real thing, there still has to be an acknowledgment that they’re not all on the same level. And I’m specifically referring to verbal instances here. For instance, if the article Al Sharpton was complaining about earlier this week, where the author congratulated New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin for “tightening the noose” on Plaxico Burress, really does qualify as racism, that would hafta be a fairly low grade. Distinguishing degrees, I think, is fairly important because it would open up some possibilities for actually discussing.
It would never work, though, because most people aren’t really interesting in having racial discussions at that level. It’s too easy to leave it as a nebulous concept. It’s easy to throw, easy to block, and easy to choose sides. To really break it down, it would be necessary to dissect the term and see what’s what. And I agree with Jeremy that when intent can’t be determined, it’s better to give a person the benefit of the doubt. Cuz there are enough instances where the intent is clear to leave the questionable cases to the side.
Turn The Party Out – Alkaholiks Do It Right – El Riot Try A Little Tenderness – Otis Redding Without A Doubt – Black Sheep Highways of My Life – Isley Brothers Gospel Family – J.J. Johnson People Say – The Meters Whisperin’ – Oscar Peterson and Benny Carter The Sweetest Sounds – Bobby Timmons Vertical Joyride – AMG Nearer Blessed Lord – Nina Simone If You Want Me To Stay – Sly & The Family Stone Soul Girl – Judy Foster Our Generation – Ernie Hines Capricorn – Cannonball Adderley
For real, though? Obama is actually the son of Malcolm X? That’s the new line? Annnd with that, I’m absolutely too through. Granted, this is probably the fringe of the fringe, but at this point, it’s too pitiful for me to even laugh. (jacked from TNC)
Is it too much to hope that Philly might be the next Boston and that within 5 years, we’ll have championships in all the major sports? I say NO! It’s NOT too much. Last time the Phillies won, everybody made the finals of their respective sport – except the Flyers. Only THIS time…they gon’ finish the job! Ain’t no Magic Johnson to jump center against us.
(But if it’s only one team that comes up, please, please, please let it be the Eagles.)
I’ve seen a lot of stuff that I’ve liked, but rarely have I seen anything that got the wheels to turning as much as TNC’s description of Obama as Magneto.
Think on it. Here is a black man who is evidently securing the votes of white people who don’t like black people, who attracts massive crowds, and makes people faint at his rallies. Clearly he’s using some Cerebro-like device to magnify his telepathic abilities. Commenters have noted that they just don’t feel like they know Obama, and that’s because they don’t. Obama isn’t just poised to lead Democrats to a victory–he’s poised to do something that would bend the fabric of space-time, shaking the very foundations of the pundit-verse. There is only one explanation for all of this–Mutant Powers.
I dig the analogy and I get where he’s goin with it, but I think we also hafta kinda keep the whole binary nature of Professor X’s relationship with Magneto in perspective. That is, Charles Xavier was MLK and Magneto was Malcolm X. So I’m not sure that Obama would be Magneto in this case, or even Professor X, for that matter. I just can’t figure out, of the whole cast of X-Men and related characters, who he’d be.
Y’all know I don’t really fool with baseball. I do, however, ride hard for Philly teams, including the Flyers. So if the Phillies win, we goin’ red til the end of November. That is all.
Being in DC, I can’t see the Eagles game, but I’ll tell you what: the R*s are a lot of fun to watch. Between Clinton Portis, Santana Moss, and the the quickly-maturing Jason Campbell, the Redskins have a nice offense. I didn’t even mention the dude, Cooley. Cooley’s definitely one of the better tight ends n the game, and might be the second-best in the NFC, behind Witten. The ‘Skins defense is pretty good too. R*s have been keepin the Lions in the game, which may come back to bite them. Of course, in almost every game, they’ve done better in the 2nd half than the first. Even in that loss against the Rams, the offense did what it needed to make win the game.
Still stickin with the NFCE, the Cowboys are ahead against the Bucs. They seem to be on the precipice, but it’s too early in the season to be sounding the death knell for a team that has legitimate Super Bowl aspirations.
3:23 pm. SAAAAN-TANA MOSSS!! Dang. And that, to borrow a phrase from the Tuesday Morning Quarterback, is why some teams are 0-7.
As the Rams work it out with Haslett, I hafta mention that I have ambivalent feelings about the way the Rooney Rule is working out in his case. Never get it twisted: I’m all for more Black coaches, and to a certain extent, I think it only makes sense to have teams expand their interviewing process. At the same time, if Haslett gets the Rams to six wins, he would be more like an incumbent coach than an interim coach. Moreover, he would have earned it. Even if the Rams called ME up — not hypothetical NFL head coaching candidate me, I’m talkin about literal high school football coaching experience me — I wouldn’t even be excited about the call. Everybody would know who the job belongs to, and that it’s his job by right. Course, that all depends on the Rams actually winning 6 games.
UPDATE
I’m watchin this Stillers game, and for the life of me, watchin them now, I do not understand how the Eagles beat this team. I watched the game, so I know what happened, it’s just hard to believe.
Giants-Stillers was at once a better and worse game than I expected. Two good defenses went at it today, so I wasn’t really expecting a lot of scoring, but it was pretty ugly. The Giants should’ve dominated that game instead of needing a safety by a botched snap from a linbacker/long-snapper. (Seriously. Your back-up long snapper is a linebacker?!) I love seeing good defenses play, though.
Yo. The longer this election drags on, the more faith I lose in the electorate. I mean, seriously. Less than two weeks before the general election and fools are pulling out AWWWWWLLLLLL the stops tryin to derail Obama. None of it having to do with policy, mind you. We got jokers fraudulently claiming to have been attacked by Obama supporters, fools bringing lawsuits claiming that Obama can’t be the President because he was born in a foreign country…and other fools cosigning the legal challenge…this is unbelievable. I’m 33% tempted to cuss, cuz I’m just staggered for words. Don’t agree with a person on principle, fine. Outline why and keep it movin. Don’t like a person for personal reasons? Fine. Hate for hating’s sake and keep it movin. Don’t make up nonsense.
Which brings me to Palin. I ain’t gon’ lie, when the pick was first announced, I thought it was surprising, but not necessarily a bad move. I thought she might bring somethin a little different to the table. Now? Dawg, iono. She’s more than a little suspect to me. It’s like, the more she talks, the more I disbelieve anything certain parties spout about a meritocracy. No jive, you tryina tell me that out of awllllll the Republicans in the land, she’s the ONLY one they could’ve gotten? Now, I’ve been good. I ain’t say nothin about the newspaper questions. I didn’t say nothin about the six-colleges-in-five-years business. I haven’t said a thing about any of the…uhhh…questionable statements that have come out of her mouth. I didn’t even say nothin about the “I’ve got foreign policy experience because Alaska is bordered by two foreign countries.” But yo, the consistency and broadening scope of her anti-intellectualism is a little more than I can take. Now she’s questioning the value of research using fruit flies? As in the animal that the most basic scientific research is done on? The animal that on which we (at least my classmates and I) performed our first genetic experiments? Son…that’s about all I can handle outta her. (Now granted, the site that I’m sourcing isn’t neutral, so you know they’re gonna be sicin it up, but they ain’t makin it up. They may be sicin, but they ain’t splicin’. She actually said it out her own mouth.)
And the part that really gets me is that there are people who buy into her because she’s “like them.” I’m like, for real. When it comes to a ward leader? He can be like me. School board member? He can be like me. Mayor? He can be like me. I’d hope he’s a little sharper, but I could deal with it, I think. President? Nawl. I don’t want no “Joe Sixpack” president. I want somebody that’s SHARP. Academic credentials aren’t necessarily the best measures of that level of sharpness, but they some pretty good indicators. But yahmeen, I can’t hate on people who may take a minute to get their academic bearings. THe most important thing is that they actually completed their course of study. But to turn around and act like somebody who DID go to the top schools and get top grades is elitist because of their academic success…that’s hard for me to handle.
Son, f’real. If either party trotted out somebody Black who was spoutin off the typea foolishness she be sayin, I’d be done with that party. Forever. Cuz that wouldn’t just show me that they don’t take my vote seriously, it would show that they take me for a fool. For me personally, that’s about the biggest personal insult you can give. I’d probably cuss blue fire at somebody for sayin the wrong thing about my mama, but when somebody disrespects me intellectually? We obviously have no need for further communication. If I was a hardcore Republican, I’d be pretty pissed about her. Seriously. Especially when dudes like Huckabee, Romney, and Ridge are out there.
MC Ren has long been one of my favorite emcees, and stays near the top of my All-Underrated list. He was good on most of the things I’ve heard, but he had one verse that just crushed everything I’d heard from him: his verse on CPO’s Ballad of a Menace. The funny thing about it is, the thing I remember most about this verse is when I was watching the video and my mom came by talmbout, “Talkin’ about how bad he is…bad-lookin’, that’s about it!
This is the ballad of a menace
Ren will finish and diminish
All the suckers that thought they could flow like me that was in this
Society wishes for my death or my downfall
But they playin theyself as if they playin some roundball
Cuz I’m terrorizing the territory I’m steppin’ on
Endangerin’ citizens when I’m keepin my weapon on
I hit like a psycho cuz to me it was pitiful
I just got word the Ruthless Villain was critical
Let’s get it straight: the ones that want some can come with that
Illiterate motherfuckers, I’ll make you look dumb with that
Stumble and fumble cuz I’ma crush til you crumble
So you can stutter and stutter but keep it down to a mumble
MC Ren is never taken as a sucker
In other words, I’m a bad motherfucker!
So next time I walk your street you should know
To lock your door and close your windows
And if you was thinkin that protection could stop me
It takes a continent fulla niggas to drop me
And for me to be vicious, yo, it’s valid
While I’m producing and conductin the ballad of a motha-fuckin menace!
