Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Kramer vs. Kramer
So, which do you believe? The "kill all the black people" Kramer?
Or the "I'm shocked at myself" Kramer?
The whole thing reminds me of a story a black friend of mine told me. She heard that a black woman and a white man had been together for 10 years. In the heat of an argument, he called her a nigger. "You just never know," my friend said.
I'd imagine that's what's going through the minds of a lot of black people right now: you just never know - or maybe you do know, and here's the proof. In his rant, Richards says "It shocks you to see what's buried beneath you stupid motherfuckers." Maybe he's right, though my first response is "Speak for yourself." Richards is calling black people niggers - well, that's not so surprising. White America has been doing that for years, 'scientifically' or more directly.
But Richards is doing more than that - he wants to lynch a member of the audience. I don't care how angry you are (Richards claims the tape doesn't show what happened beforehand); you don't come up with that off the cuff. So how many other people share a homicidal hatred of blacks? Richards says he needs to be educated - fair enough, but short of campaigning for Mumia Abu Jamal's release, I don't think it'll help.
Finally, check out the audience in the second clip: "Ha ha, Letterman's funny; ha ha, it's Kramer and he's funny; ha ha, Seinfeld is telling us not to laugh, he's funny too; ha ha- oh, er, it's serious." I hope that makes Letterman and his ilk think about how (un)amusing they actually are, cos their audiences will apparently laugh at everything.
"But when a white person gets lynched by the Klan..."
It appears I'm giving too much credit to the blogosphere. The angry white men dripping sweat and Dorito shavings on their keyboards are of one voice: Richards is a victim. If a black comedian made fun of white people, no one would care. But when a white person does it, it's racist. Cos racism is all about, uh, equality.
For anyone who has the smallest doubt in their minds - or for white conservatives who think the world would be great if everyone was like them: black people are oppressed. That means they're subject to structural inequality. They face discrimination in income, job type and housing. They face racial taunts and profiling, by the police and the media. They're far more likely to be charged with and convicted of crimes, sent to prison and made to work as indentured labour. And they've had their history denied.
Oh yeah, that slavery thing - prison labour in Mississippi, 2004
White people were never lynched for being white. Is that ancient history? Not for Richards. When a black person says "nigger", he or she is coopting a term of racial abuse, demystifying it, taking it back. They're pointing to the ongoing history of racial oppression. When a white person uses it, they're contributing to that oppression.
Finally, Richards wasn't "making fun" of black people. He was musing aloud about killing them. He was calling them subhuman. This wasn't humour in any way, shape or form.
I hope this kind of foot-shuffling, eye-contact-avoiding, "Yeah but you said" racism is restricted to the drooling right-wing neanderthals of the net. No offence to our neanderthal ancestors, who were probably above this kind of sophistry.
Or the "I'm shocked at myself" Kramer?
The whole thing reminds me of a story a black friend of mine told me. She heard that a black woman and a white man had been together for 10 years. In the heat of an argument, he called her a nigger. "You just never know," my friend said.
I'd imagine that's what's going through the minds of a lot of black people right now: you just never know - or maybe you do know, and here's the proof. In his rant, Richards says "It shocks you to see what's buried beneath you stupid motherfuckers." Maybe he's right, though my first response is "Speak for yourself." Richards is calling black people niggers - well, that's not so surprising. White America has been doing that for years, 'scientifically' or more directly.
But Richards is doing more than that - he wants to lynch a member of the audience. I don't care how angry you are (Richards claims the tape doesn't show what happened beforehand); you don't come up with that off the cuff. So how many other people share a homicidal hatred of blacks? Richards says he needs to be educated - fair enough, but short of campaigning for Mumia Abu Jamal's release, I don't think it'll help.
Finally, check out the audience in the second clip: "Ha ha, Letterman's funny; ha ha, it's Kramer and he's funny; ha ha, Seinfeld is telling us not to laugh, he's funny too; ha ha- oh, er, it's serious." I hope that makes Letterman and his ilk think about how (un)amusing they actually are, cos their audiences will apparently laugh at everything.
"But when a white person gets lynched by the Klan..."
It appears I'm giving too much credit to the blogosphere. The angry white men dripping sweat and Dorito shavings on their keyboards are of one voice: Richards is a victim. If a black comedian made fun of white people, no one would care. But when a white person does it, it's racist. Cos racism is all about, uh, equality.
For anyone who has the smallest doubt in their minds - or for white conservatives who think the world would be great if everyone was like them: black people are oppressed. That means they're subject to structural inequality. They face discrimination in income, job type and housing. They face racial taunts and profiling, by the police and the media. They're far more likely to be charged with and convicted of crimes, sent to prison and made to work as indentured labour. And they've had their history denied.
Oh yeah, that slavery thing - prison labour in Mississippi, 2004
White people were never lynched for being white. Is that ancient history? Not for Richards. When a black person says "nigger", he or she is coopting a term of racial abuse, demystifying it, taking it back. They're pointing to the ongoing history of racial oppression. When a white person uses it, they're contributing to that oppression.
Finally, Richards wasn't "making fun" of black people. He was musing aloud about killing them. He was calling them subhuman. This wasn't humour in any way, shape or form.
I hope this kind of foot-shuffling, eye-contact-avoiding, "Yeah but you said" racism is restricted to the drooling right-wing neanderthals of the net. No offence to our neanderthal ancestors, who were probably above this kind of sophistry.
