By Bill Fletcher, Jr.
So, what happens when you raise this problem with many African Americans?
They look at you strangely, as if you have just spoken to them in a strange dialect of Turkish.
They shrug their shoulders and look away, often mumbling something like "...yeah..." but you usually cannot hear the end of the sentence.
They then either walk away or change the subject.
When I have pushed the matter and pointed out that I suspect that few African Americans would appreciate a football team called the "Tennessee Niggers" or the "Atlanta Sambos", there is generally an acknowledgement that this is correct, but, again, the discussion ends.
So, let me ask this: do we really think that it is unimportant that there is a patently racist name for a football team? And, would we actually be so passive if the team were the "Washington Uncle Toms"? Seriously, I would like to hear an answer to the question.
There is a disconnect that we as African Americans, and only we as African Americans, have to address. Racism is not simply about what happens to us. The same people that feel comfortable using the term "redskins" are not that far from using the terms "niggers" or "spics."
4 comments:
I've generally found that if you mention to anyone that racism against Indians is racism, they'll deny it.
"There is a disconnect that we as African Americans, and only we as African Americans, have to address"
Now this is ridiculous. ALL people who revel in racist stereotypes against Natives are in the same boat, no different from each other.
Yeah, but there are plenty of people who claim to be liberal but can't see blatant racism. Case in point, the animal rights activists at Neah Bay. I've actually tangled with animal rights people who think the food pyramid's racist for even including meat and dairy (I had no idea my lactose issues meant I couldn't eat meat, or that they were more than diarrhea.) but don't even notice the other white food group, at the base.
As another example, furries (most of whom are gay or bisexual, and therefore, presumably liberals; they certainly pretend to be oppressed enough) who feel a "kinship with Native Americans". (Awful "Native-Inspired" Art had a coyote furry a while back.) Stop that. Just because you have sex dressed as a cartoon animal and draw cartoon animals having sex is no "kinship with Native Americans", mostly because we don't have sex dressed as cartoon animals or draw cartoon animals having sex.
For some reason, it's almost always the animal people with Indians. Because we're animals, and not in the "humans are animals" way, in the white mind, I guess.
Anon said: "Yeah, but there are plenty of people who claim to be liberal but can't see blatant racism"
Not surprising, since liberals as well as conservatives often ignore or perpetrate racism.
"I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy." - liberal Vice President Joe Biden.
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