Race/Erase

essay

In what is becoming more and more a normal behavior for me, I am departing from the task of creative writing, to instead take up transcribing the humor of our paid and televised professional comedians and post it onto this blog. Don't worry... I'm not an empty vessel. I have plenty of original thoughts left and will gladly share them with you in future posts. I do this only to make a point... I'm not just being lazy, I promise.

Today's point will spotlight racism, and will focus on the centuries-long hatred which exists between the Manx and the Turkish Angora cats.

Okay, it won't. But doesn't this picture of karate kittens in a dojo make you just want to say AWWWWW...?

As you know, cats show no racial bias. Neither should humans... but somehow they do. What's funny is, even in a homogenous society, one where most of the population is of one ethnic type, there is still bias-- only instead of nationality or race, it's over religion, or politics, or eye color. What I hope to clarify in today's post is the mechanical process of hatred in general, and racism in specific, as evidenced daily in the world around us.

Watching the Daily Show, hosted by comedian Jon Stewart, I happened across a 'serious discussion' he had with one of his 'correspondents' on the topic of America's shifting racial balance, and I felt it outlined some sorely unspoken issues. Here it is, transcribed verbatim:

Stewart:

Here to discuss the powerful nexus between healthcare and racial politics, senior black correspondent Larry Wilmore.

Larry, thank you very much. Umm, we're going on about the healthcare debate, uh, we've heard that it's socialism, euthanasia, all those things... uh, suddenly this new specter is raised.. is healthcare a racial issue?

Wilmore:

Of course it is, John.

Stewart:

But, but, I thought Barak Obama was, was POST racial.

Wilmore:

Yes. HE is, WE'RE not, okay? Healthcare is a racial issue right now like ALL issues are racial issues. Look, the first thing you have to understand is, this is about white fear:

(newsreel clip runs)

Commentator 1: This is not the America we know.

Commentator 2: He is literally ripping the foundation of the America that we knew and grew up in.

Commentator 3: (yelling) This is not the America I grew up in or you grew up in! When we said change, we didn't mean this!

Interviewee: (sobbing) I want my America back! I could never believe MY America has turned into what it has turned into!

Wilmore:

She wants HER America back? Tell that to the Indians! Look, no one GIVES America back, you keep it until someone takes it from you!

Stewart:

How do you then counter this irrational fear by some whites that

they are literally losing their country?

Wilmore:

Right. Well, the first step is to acknowledge that they

are literally losing their country.

(laughter, long pause)

Stewart:

I... um, I don't follow.

Wilmore:

It's a completely rational fear, John. Look, white people had a good run, but it's over. Sorry. (laughter) Look, we've got a black president, a booming hispanic population... in a few more decades whites won't even be the majority. (looks offstage) Thanks, Octo-mom!

(laughter, long pause)

Stewart:

So whites... are right to be worried?

Wilmore:

Yeah. But don't get mad-- it's white people's own fault. 'All men are created equal'? How'd you think THAT would end? (laughter) Or how about the poem on the Statue of Liberty-- 'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses... the wretched refuse... the HOMELESS? Did you think wretched refuse was just the Irish? Uh-uh! (laughter) Sorry. John, this is what happens when you have a melting pot... the stew gets darker.

(laughter, applause)

Stewart:

That makes sense. Unless obviously, and not to obviously nitpick, but unless it's a Tuscan stew, which has white beans, and then of course it's...

Wilmore:

But the stew is still dark.

Stewart:

Right. Just, just that the beans are then white, so the....

Wilmore:

But the STEW is still DARK.

Stewart:

I understand, I understand... unless you had a cream base of some sort...

Wilmore:

What the *#@%, Emeril? Did you miss lunch? (laughter)

The country is getting darker. Deal with it.

(long pause, laughter)

Stewart:

(small voice) Will you be good to us?

Wilmore:

Nope. (laughter) Ha! I'm just kiddin' John. Relax, white people. Being a minority is really not so bad. Think how excited you'll feel when young, black teenagers try talking like YOU! (laughter) It's fun! And think about hockey... it's a sport that will finally be dominated by minorities!

Stewart:

Will our kids be able to get into Ivy League schools with a 'B' average?

Wilmore:

Whoa, what are you trying to say, man? That is SO racist, John! Which, by the way, you'll soon be able to say to me! (laughter) Go ahead, try it.

Stewart:

That is SO racist!

Wilmore:

Feels good, doesn't it?

(laughter, applause)

Stewart:

Thank you, Larry. Larry Wilmore, everybody!

And thank YOU, Jon Stewart. That beacon you shine on the disturbing truth of our existence is a never-ending source of delight and amusement for me, and the delicious subtext had me howling!

On the face of it, this was an ironic story about the emotional upheaval some people go through when their comfortable place as majority slips, and they suddenly find themselves in the minority, and powerless. That is an important story. But it begs the question-- is that even the case? Will people actually lose their power when they find themselves with smaller numbers than their competition?

It is certainly true in politics. We have just watched the Republican party drop into a power vacuum after twenty odd years of calling the shots; now the best they can maneuver are a handful of stall tactics and red tape to try and slow down the New Majority. It's terribly frustrating to suddenly lose your power... it must be like the trauma of getting fired from your chosen profession.

But with RACIAL majorities, the losers will have to contend with a wide range of EMOTIONAL changes. They'll fear everything-- from the darkening colors on the faces of people walking down their busy city street, to their choice of sitcom and the slang they'll have to learn in order to understand it. They will likely feel rounded up... like being pressed together into a smaller and tighter circle amid a sea of foreigners-- like being the last green leaf on a tree crowded with autumn's red and golden hues-- and wait in horrified silence for Spanish to become an official language. Or, heaven forbid... Ebonics!

But that's just THEIR belief. Sounds like paranoia.

Rush Limbaugh

The rest of us believe little will change when the racial majority does. Clear thinking suggests that a surging racial balance in the US rarely foretells disaster-- usually just subtle changes. Statistics cannot be trusted to tell the whole story... and what story it does tell is often susceptible to wild interpretation by spin doctors.

The reason why a changing race balance has little long term effect is this: Race is not the prime motivator for a national economy. So what is? I just said it-- E-CON-O-MY. It's money, people! Individual personal wealth. It doesn't matter if the whole country becomes Inuit or Gaelic... whoever holds the wealth makes the rules. And if there's one thing we know about the rules in this country, it's that they are bigger than we are. Rules, or LAWS, take on a life of their own, and the citizenry are often helplessly pulled along as the rules form society, for better or worse.

The same people rule the roost as have always ever done so, and it is foretold in that most disgusting perversion of the Golden Rule...

'Whoever has the gold, makes the rules.'

I'm saddened to say it, but this 'golden rule' has always been true.

My most hopeful Perfect World Primary Guideline, "Treat each person as you would like to be treated yourself," the guideline which is so important that it makes it to the top of the list, is only a ghost, an optimistic dream in today's world. It is a dream which has been twisted by the powerful pull of money until its purity has been corrupted. The dark nightmare is become the truth.

It IS the people with the money who ultimately pass the rules that all of society follow, and do so with coercion, intimidation and bribery. We have been fortunate that (at least until lately) the previous laws which were passed just happened to favor the poor and middle class as well. Now it seems the greed has run rampant and nobody is safe... nobody except the rich, that is. We have watched as professional liars spin information in a way that makes things sound good that are in fact bad, and convince the public to vote their own protections away.

The rich pull strings. They own media empires and manipulate the news in subtle ways. They make it seem like a criminal behavior, for example, that poor and hungry Mexicans have to cross America's borders to work for slave wages at terrible jobs no American wants, in order to save themselves and their families from starvation and death.

That's all that's really happening, you know. The stories being told of these people organizing to take American jobs away and destroy the country is pure spin. Did I say spin? I meant LIES.

The Mexicans are hungry and desperate, and that's it.

What's being told to us is the old bait and switch. The media only has to convince the nation that THIS is the problem, and the nation will focus all their energy on it, looking the wrong way while THAT happens to them, a much worse and more enduring thing which hurts the bulk of us, but benefits the wealthy manipulators of our society.

Or did you think your vote controlled things? Hang on while I laugh that off.

On Becoming a Hater

When we were kids, we loved to play. Other kid's hair, eye or skin color had no meaning-- they were unimportant. Regardless of their appearance, all they really were was another kid we could play with. So how did we grow up to become racists, then?

What, you don't think you're a racist?

Despite our finest of intentions, everyone SEES the physical differences between people. What they do with that information will determine how MUCH of a racist they are. You may not be an evil hating racist... but you're not color blind either. Every thought that goes through your mind is affected by what you see, even if you are trying to be equally fair. Every time you hear some piece of trivia about someone who was 'different', even though you might not believe it, the thought is floating around in your head somewhere, affecting your decisions in the oddest ways.

But fear not. You did not evolve into a racist on your own.

I bet you didn't know that somebody else made you a racist. It's true! Thousands of little comments, many of them wrong and dangerous, coming from the people around you and entering your little ears during the formative time of your life, affecting the decisions you make forever!

Who would did this to you? WHY would they do it? Well, they do it without realizing it, and with the best of intentions, no less, so often it could be the people who love you the most that pollute your mind with these poisoned thoughts. So, who was the one in YOUR life? Was it your mother or father? An uncle, a friend, a teacher?

The chain doesn't begin with them, usually. Whom do you think THEY learned those behaviors from? Racism usually starts over a misunderstanding or an argument, and alcohol is very often involved. Someone gets hurt, and in the blink of an eye you've got a Hatfield-McCoy brawl happening. It could start as simply as that, but ending racism never happens that quickly.

The easiest way to end racism is to lock two opposing racists in a room... with snacks. Do this with every racist. Don't bother them, and don't let them out, until... actually, don't let them out at all. And there you go... the end of racism!

Well, that's ONE way. I was actually just going for the 'let them get to know each other on a firsthand basis until they see how silly racism is' method, but the other one was funnier.

This post isn't meant to ease the racial divide... just to shine light on the fact that the racial divide MAKES NO SENSE whatsoever. It shouldn't exist. It's a tribal instinct, one which once protected our vulnerable descendants from the unknown. We are no longer vulnerable and this behavior should be behind us. Those of us who live in cities, among people of all nations and races and religions and who are immersed in the melting pot and revel in it knows that there is beauty in EVERY human if allowed to blossom, and that's where the focus needs to be... on the positive. Focusing on the negative is what fear dictates. Fear should have no place in directing the progress of a society-- we know this to be true simply by having watched the absurd backflips of the Bush administration following the attacks of September 2001.

Check your shoes with your luggage, dears! Aw hell... just embark naked.

But despite the humorous fear mongering coming from the Daily Show camp, the media has been busy making not-so-subtle changes to our televised programming. By watching both scripted programming and commercials, I can see a marked increase in the number of bi-racial and gay couples being shown. Not only are couples appearing, but the incidence of contact has risen dramatically, including hugs, kisses and passionate kisses. In some comedy forums gay couples fondle suggestively as well.

Yay! Welcome to the real world, TV!

I have noticed that in our television culture, those things which are shown as acceptable on programs are more likely to become accepted in the general public. Now, I don't know whether I'm looking at the chicken or the egg... in other words, which is following which... but it doesn't matter. The fact that it is happening at all is hopeful. I don't want to shove any behavior down anybody's throat, but we have been allowing straight couples to hug and kiss on TV for years, so other legitimate couples should be able to as well, without raising an eyebrow.

Getting back to demographics... if the number of gay people in the US rose above 50%, would we fear that we were being taken over?

Maybe-- but only if they voted in a new national anthem sung by Bette Midler.

Hee, hee. Had to throw a joke in there, although I'll bet some of you are composing the lyrics right now...

I have maintained that ALL people, be they gay or straight (or bi), are not just emotionally male or female, but rather a lopsided mixture of both kinds of emotional characteristics. For men, call it the feminine side. Not to worry, homophobes-- even the most macho man has one. It could be as innocuous as a love of tearjerker movies. Rosey Grier, famous footballer from the 70's, loved to spend his off-hours at home with his wife and kids, knitting. Would you call that gay? Neither would I.

When the male-female mixture of any person is close to 50-50 and they think warmly about bedding down with another person, it could be ANY other person, of either sex. At a 50-50 mix, you are likely bisexual. When the numbers are weighted more heavily to your opposite sex, you are most likely gay.

Once again... I speak out my ass... I have no research... it just SEEMS that way after watching people intently over years. But as we all know, personal observation alone is lousy scientific method. So, to any student in the field of sexual research reading this, I think it would be a valuable study-- hell, make it your doctoral thesis, and don't forget to cite the Perfect World blog as an inspiration when you do. Shameless self promotion... check.

But what happens when the number of bi-RACIAL couples exceeds 50%? With marriage comes children, and children of bi-racial couples are an entirely new subculture... one which is literally evident in their faces. It is a new ethnicity, and one which throws all the careful studies off. Another fact I love! If I were a religious man I would say that mixing races was what the big guy had planned right from the beginning. Why do I say that?

Beauty.

Haven't you noticed that the incidence of beautiful people rises with dual ethnicity? The list of beautiful bi-racial people is long and growing. Start with our current president. Not an unattractive man by any stretch (although, what's with those EARS?!) Barak Obama had one white and one black parent. Here are some other people who are ethnically mixed:

Halle Berry. Vanessa Williams. Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson. Tiger Woods. Alicia Keys. Lena Horne. Derek Jeter. Bob Marley. Eartha Kitt. Freddie Prinze Jr. Jasmine Guy. Lenny Kravitz. Jimi Hendrix. Lisa Bonet. Malcolm X. Mariah Carey. Mario Van Peeples. Maya Rudolph. Philip Michael Thomas. Rainn Pryor. Rae Dawn Chong. Rosario Dawson. Sadé. Vin Diesel. Paula Abdul. Kim Basinger. Kate Beckinsale. Benjamin Bratt. Jennifer Beals.

WHO says mixing races is a bad thing? If you mix every color of paint together, you end up with a nice, dark tan... that would be true with people, too. And there's no worry about sun damage.

Now before this post takes on yet another entirely new topic, let's bring it home. The essence of my point today is this: We're not actually racists, because we don't fear other races and we don't hate other nationalities-- we only think we do. But in truth, what we all hate (and fear) is:

The unknown and the different.

We hate change. Our routines are comfortable to us. The thought of changing it, or introducing unknown quantities into our lives causes anxiety. We fear we may be hurt by it. In other words, we just don't know.

Treading about the roots of "I Don't Know" is our survival instinct, which warns us emotionally when we are about to step into uncertain territory. Our survival instinct knows that there may be danger hidden in places we have not been to before, and cautions us against entering it. That goes for relationships as well as mine fields.

And that level of caution is the sliding scale that determines how willing we are to take risks. The greater the risk someone is willing to take, the better their chances of learning new and valuable information to help them later in life... or even right then. It can be a good thing.

Survival instinct is on one end and keeps us safe. On the other end is greed, which doesn't care about safety; it only cares about acquisition. Stay on the left end of the sliding scale and you'll be so safe you'll never leave the house. Slide it over to the other end and you'll play Russian roulette for the cash payouts.

Again, it comes down to balance. The wisest person finds a balance in their life, to create a life well lived.

Copyright 2009 Bruce Ian Friedman