This essay is one of the best I've ever read that eviscerates efficiently the ways that (like Jay Smooth schooled us) being called racist is a no go, and yet, we witness and sometimes perpetuate clearly racist practices.
Read on about Forest Whitaker being accused of shoplifting, and being frisked in the Columbia area of NYC - what does this tell us about the larger contexts. It's going viral in many social media circles, and it's an excellent example of an 'event' that is then filtered through research and sociological analysis.
What an excellent article from such an intelligent person. One line in particular was very striking; "In modern America we believe racism to be the property of the uniquely villainous and morally deformed, the ideology of trolls, gorgons and orcs." It seems as if people think since they have one or two Black friends and don't wear KKK robes, they couldn't possibly be racist.
ReplyDeleteI remember this past fall there was an uproar in my particular BC alumni community after The Heights printed this gem of a piece:
http://www.bcheights.com/hypersensitive-halloween-1.2938866#.UTjfpdFET4g
The author, a self identified "white, Anglo-Saxon Protestant," found that students who were offended by such costumes as raunchy Pocahontas, Arab terrorist, Black thug, and Dirty Mexican were being "hypersensitive." If you look through the comments, you can see that many criticized the author for her illogical arguments. However, many others defended her, claiming that there was no possible way she could be racist, not as a Christian, and definitely not as a college student in the post-racial liberal bastion known as Massachusetts.
Back to the original article: It was great to see this op-ed in the NY Times. I've found that articles of similar nature circulate in alternative news outlets and reach individuals who are already aware of the issues. Based on the comments, it seems like Mr. Coates is inviting new people into the discussion. Maybe Nick Kristof should go on permanent book leave.
P.S I hope no one in the media tries to shorten Ta-Nehisi Coates's name to something boring like "Ted" or "Tom" (sorry to the Teds and Toms out there).
I was just on Ta-Nehisi's twitter, where people are arguing that people are accused of shoplifting all the time, regardless of race. These people are comparing Forest Whittaker's pat down to Winona Ryder's arrest for shoplifting. Ta-Nehisi retweeted one excellent argument "It's unfair that a white woman has to shoplift to get the sort of attention a black man gets for just showing up."
ReplyDelete