When Racists Don’t Think They’re Racist
by Recently Boston police officer Justin Barrett sent out a mass e-mail in which he referred to Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. as a “banana eating jungle monkey,” and yet Barrett claims he is not a racist.
In the e-mail in question Barrett refers to Gates four separate time as a “banana eating jungle monkey” and refers to Gates’ writings as “jungle monkey gibberish.” Yet in an ensuing press conference, Barrett stated that he has friends from a variety of different cultures and backgrounds and is not a racist.
Am I reading this right? What does Barrett thinks contitutes racism if referring to a black college professor as a “jungle monkey” isn’t? How reprehensible does one’s behavior have to get before it qualifies as racist?
The idea that because you have a black friend makes you therefore not racist is nonsense. Racism boils down to a simple belief – that a person’s character is determined in some way by their skin color or ethnicity; and when you use someone’s race or appearance in a derogatory manner, that is generally a good indication that you look down on their race as a whole. You could have a black friend and still feel that person is inferior because of their race.
We need to be vigilant, because racism in the year 2009 isn’t as blatant as it was 100, or even 50 years ago. Racism today is exhibited on a psychological level moreso than it is exhibited physically. Also, people who harbor racist views, Officer Barrett excepted, have generally learned how to couch their language in order to disquise their racism. Today’s racist does a reasonable job of blending into main-stream society.
Ultimately we all need to learn to judge people based on their individual character. There are wonderful, and lousy people of all races, sexual orientations, genders, nationalities, etc. Let’s move beyond labels and celebrate the individual characteristics of all the people around us.
Liked it
-
-
-
-
Post CommentKaren Gross
On July 31, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Good point. But most people who are racist can probably rationalize their thoughts and justify their behavior.
S A JOHNSON
On August 2, 2009 at 6:05 pm
I don’t think that racism can ever be rationalized properly. This article reminds me of a documentary by Morgan Freeman. In it he goes to this Mississippi town where they still have (in 2008) segregated proms. He asked the high school kids if they would go to a prom that was mixed if he paid for everything and they said yes. Most of the parents claimed to racist yet they didn’t think that their kids should go to a mixed prom or date a black person. I thought it was very interesting.
I also think that this article was very well written.
serowa
On August 10, 2009 at 12:22 am
Very well put. It reminds me of a situation when I was attending an event with a colleague at work. I was the only African and I remember her asking me whether I had seen any black. I told her I wasn’t looking.
She then said that she just saw “a little boy who was so cute you could’nt believe he was black” . That statement shocked me so I asked her what she meant by that statement. That is when she realised what she had just said. She started telling me how she was not a racist and so many mumbo jumbo. I only told her out of the heart the mouth speak.
Ourel
On August 14, 2009 at 11:01 am
I remember watching that on CNN, Must say, I was quite disgusted. I thought being racist was out of fashion.