Joke or No Joke!

Don Imus has apologized for his derogatory comments last Wednesday, in which he referred to the mostly African America Rutgers University's women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos."

Perhaps, it was an inappropriate joke as he claimed in his apology. My opinion is that it was an insult or meant as one, more than it could ever be a joke. Although, from what I hear about the man, he could have as easily and callously made equally egregious comments about anyone else -- Jews, Irish, Italian, Polish, disabled people, Women, and even his wife and has done so for over 30 years; with one exception however. I will leave that exception and the reason for it to your imagination.

Imus said “I am a good person”, may be so, but Jesus Christ said Matthew 12: 34, “generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” Luke 6: 45, has it as “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.” As far as Don Imus’ racially pejorative comments about the Rutgers University Basketball team, I will live it that.

However, I am more interested in a much bigger issue, knowing that this will not be the last time a Caucasian American will say something that would convey unsavory sentiments, thus provoking the bruised sentiments of African Americans. Here is the question that presents the issue: will African Americans ever accept satire or caricature taken in or out of the context of the “blackface minstrelsy” and the “darky” iconography, in light of the collective oppression associated therewith, when rendered by a Caucasian American? I for one think it is possible but it will take a long time and a lot of hard work. Here is why I think so.
Essentially what it boils down to, is trust. Will the so-called “black people” and the so-called “white people” ever come to a point where they can trust each other enough, as to take satires in the supposedly proper context or accept caricatures as humor?

America’s history has been one dominated by the issue of race and racism, even more than the war for independence and the civil war. This is largely because of the misdeeds of the past – from slavery to segregation. Racism in America or the perception of it is a very difficult and seemingly intractable problem, particularly because there is a fundamental disconnection between the two main constituencies in the matter, resulting from unresolved issues associated therewith. On the one hand are those, predominantly the so-called “Blacks”, who suffered racism, and on the other hand are those, predominantly the so-called “Whites” who did not and, perhaps, are in one way or another culpable in inflicting it on the former group, at least from the stand point of collective responsibility.

The problem with this situation is the perception by African Americans, that there is a tendency for those who have not experienced racism to minimize it, by claiming that those who suffered it, and perhaps still do, exaggerate its scope and impact. This in turn leads Caucasians to view African Americans as stuck on the subject (the so-called “victim mentality”) to the point of romanticism and being hypersensitive about it — a perception that infuriates the African Americans, who, therefore, view the Caucasians as grossly insensitive to their sufferings. The different feelings provoked by the issue can be summed up by a phrase we have all heard before: “Who feels it, knows it.” The flipside of this phrase, or what it underscores being, “who feels it not, knows it not.”

Perhaps, some white people minimize the issue of racism out of ignorance . . . simply because they do not know what it feels like. After all, they have never suffered it, while others do so out of malice and bigotry. Equally probable is the notion that some African Americans tend to exaggerate racism, as if they see it in every circumstance and in every Caucasian — a self-fulfilling prophecy, one might say. Others may indeed experience racism frequently in their lives, which causes them to see it the way they do — all around them, albeit, sometimes perceptively.

Nevertheless, if America is to overcome this “mother of all problems,” Americans must “get unstuck” from the state of disconnect that exist between the two main constituencies (African Americans and Caucasian Americans) and move forward. To do so, those who suffered, and perhaps still suffer racism must work to inspire those who did not, to understand the damages and ravages that racism causes and the difficult-to-heal wounds that past acts of racism have caused. They must do so, not to inspire guilt or to blackmail, but to help Caucasians truly understand the effects of racism and how they might be inadvertently perpetuating it and how they might help end it. On the other hand, those who have never suffered racism, and perhaps contributed in perpetrating it, even by the inaction from indifference, must be willing to listen, see, and experience racism and its effects through the eyes of those who have suffered it. They must do so genuinely, not condescendingly or superficially and must be willing to understand and to help heal the land. This would establish a new consciousness upon which partnership toward reconciliation could be built. The reconciliation must not be superficial; it must be sincere and must come from genuine personal conviction.

Both sides must recognize that the dynamics of the experience of racism is, perhaps like a gunshot wound — the slugs may be out and the wound may heal, but a scar often remains . . . sadly so, as a painful reminder of the experience and sometimes rousing painful emotions. In the effort to reconcile ourselves, we must employ the resources of the head and the heart, through thoughtful and just actions and through the Christian virtues of repentance and forgiveness, or the so-called “technology of self.” A presumption of guilt tends to make people defensive and defiant, while a patronizing attitude toward others tends to make them feel humiliated and offended. Therefore, both must be avoided, in order to establish a genuine environment for positive change. Abraham Lincoln said, “When the conduct of men is designed to be influenced, persuasion, kind, unassuming persuasion, should ever be adopted. It is an old and a true maxim, that a ‘drop of honey catches more flies than a gallon of gall.”

History is important and must remain relevant, we must never forget our history and must not allow it to be revised or truncated, but we cannot and should not read history backwards. Our history should not hold us back; it should ever urge us forward, as a force, compelling us and moving us forward, knowing where we have been as a people and knowing that we must never allow ourselves to be taken there again.

We cannot be the people we ought to be or get to where we ought to be, if we only engage in the psychology of projection—we cannot perpetually attribute our failures or externalize the blame for our problems. Finally, we cannot afford to be indifferent about our problems. In this life of inevitable recompense, of inescapable accountability for collective responsibility, indifference to problems is not an option; an epitasis it is, in this metaphoric epic drama of life.