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The Michael Richard’s “Racial Tirade”

by Jane Juarez in Issues, November 22, 2006

Michael Richard’s “Racial Tirade”? Is this freedom of speech? A comment on this and other public displays of racialism.

I’m using the expression “racial tirade” because this is the caption used by Entertainment Tonight and Larry King and some of the other TV shows.

Recently there have been tirades by Andy Rooney and Mel Gibson. These tirades are anti-immigrant, anti-foreign language speakers (including Spanish), anti-Semitism.

These people often apologize, their friends apologize, and they think this is enough.

Sneers, jeers, antipathy, whatever you call this.

Many of these people are expressing the true sentiments of people, and many are expressing their own true sentiments. Maybe these true sentiments are wrong, are unacceptable, are unpopular, have been excluded from the public debate, but these sentiments are the true, intimate and private sentiments of many peoples, and they need to be known in the “public marketplace” of ideas, thoughts, and opinions.

Every now and again they are publically expressed, sometimes in tirades and many times in the vilest and most destructive manner, whenever people feel they have an “excuse.” Whether the excuse is real or imagined. Sometimes individual people become the “scapegoat” for the true sentiments.

The press is free and an aspect of free press is the these types get to express their views.

To tell the truth, we need to hear these views. If these people are truly anti-whatever, we need to hear them.

To tell the truth, anti-Semistism has been around for centuries, anti-black sentiments are centuries old. If people truly hold these ideas (and for some ideals) we need to know this.

Imagine a black talking to the likes of Michael Richards or a Jewish person talking to the likes of Mel Gibson, truly thinking these are nice people, while they are holding the most vile sentiments of Jews and blacks and immigrants, Latinos and everybody else.

Men have a lot of anti-female sentiments that women have been hearing for centuries. Women hold a lot of anti-male sentiments that men have been hearing for centuries. Or they don’t hear this.

Certainly all of this is point of view. People need to hear these thoughts and to express them and to learn how to deal with them.

The problem is that when people think that these ideas allow them to be destructive to people.

Also, if wars are truly based on racism. Jews know that many of the wars against Jews have been racist wars. Some wars have been based upon true wrongs, others wars are just you don’t like the people. You just don’t care.

Many wars against blacks, and that continue, and even lynchings continue even into the modern era, even though people don’t call them that–and blacks can be manipulated into even lynching each other.

To lynch blacks in the modern Africa world, just convince the blacks that this is some awful black that done some truly great wrong, and blacks themselves will do the lynching. Everybody that knows blacks knows this. Even blacks themselves know this. Ralph Ellison and James Baldwin joined in the lynching of Richard Wright. And then when it was time to lynch Ralph Ellison and James Baldwin they had their own curious form of lynching. Certainly, Wanda Coleman probably wouldn’t find anything wrong with helping to lynch Maya Angelou just for writing some book she doesn’t like and playing the celebrity poet.

Let’s just all of us express these ideas and thoughts. And then let us all apologize. (Don’t misread me.)

Immigrants and Spanish-speakers need to hear Andy Rooney. Jews need to hear Mel Gibson. If Jews thought his film anti-Semitic and weren’t sure, well, Mel Gibson can clarify things. And this warrior from Australia is still a great film warrior, isn’t he?

Even though Latinos call themselves a cosmic race for example and their racism doesn’t express itself as vilely as certain others, nevertheless racism towards black Hispanics is very evident just watching the roles played on Hispanic TV like Telemundo and the various Novelas that only have light-skinned Latinos in the leading roles. I greatly admire Edward James Olmos, nevertheless, if he were a dark-skinned Latino he would certainly (perhaps) not have the leading roles that he has had in Miami Vice and currently in Battlestar Galactica. Certainly not. Nor would it be likely he would be able to be an admired elder in the Latino community.

It should be noted that many light-skinned Latinos who are allowed to be “white” in the Latino and Hispanic world, and every African American knows this, would be considered black in the African American world, and many so-called black African American are often lighter complexioned than so-called white Latinos.

And although Michael Richards in his tirade calls himself “white,” nevertheless there are so-called blacks in America and around the world whiter than Michael Richards. And when they were lynching blacks in America, they were also lynching Jews. So don’t forget that history.

Mexicans in the South during aparteid in America, especially dark-skinned Mexicans, sought refuge in the African American communities. Don’t forget that history.

Jews, not allowed to teach at white colleges, found themselves teaching at black colleges, who welcomed these great Jewish intelligences, and because of that history there’s an intermingling of Jewish and African wisdom systems, if not racial intermingling. Don’t forget that history.

In fact, wisdom system intermingle all the time even when people don’t. Don’t forget that history.

So is this also a tirade?

Most men don’t mind telling women the most vile sentiments they have of women for centuries, and women still continue with their men, running around in circles for them to prove themselves.

Many women, per feminism, don’t mind telling men the most vile sentiments that women have of men and men still continue to try to prove themselves, running around in circle for women also, and for centuries.

We’re still all running around in circles to prove ourselves to each other.

Personally, I’d suggest that Jews don’t have to prove themselves to anybody anymore, nor to blacks, nor do Latinos, nor do men, nor do women, nor do foreign-language speakers.

Everybody should know everybody else by now and if we don’t we have the Andy Rooneys, the Michael Richards, the Mel Gibsons, and members of our own various tribes who don’t mind telling us.

I don’t mind saying that I thought Mario Lopez is a greatest dancer than Emmitt Smith. That doesn’t mean I’m anti-black, however.

As for racism, racism is a social-psychological problem that needs to be dealt with. Apology doesn’t deal with it.

Anti-Semites can apologize to Jews for centuries, anti-blacks can apologize to blacks for centuries, anti-immigrants can apologize to immigrants for centuries, that doesn’t deal with the social-psychological problems that we all participate in.

Sinbad speaking against Michael Richards admitted that we’re all racists. Good for this African American comic. We’re all racists, and it’s time to admit this and to deal with this problem internationally.

The current American war is also a racist war. Most American wars have been racist wars. Deal with that.

But not just American wars. Deal with that.

We talk freedom of the press. Many of these sentiments are suppressed, but every now and then someone in the public arena, like Jesse Jackson and his–let’s use the Spanish–Jaime Town, so the Latinos can ask Mr. Jackson to apologize.

Sinbad is correct, this is a problem that all human beings share and participate in and need to correct.

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