remember the other night when in passing i mentioned marion barry amongst a whole slew of others who were deserving of their own posts? well, tonight's his night.
it was, what, maybe two months ago when a couple white sports-types at ESPN worked "chink in the armor" references into stories about some taiwanese basketball player and you'da thought they'd harelipped the pope from the hysterical reaction that ensued? the story was instantly everywhere, the response of the asian-american community was loud, swift and merciless, and the network wasted no time in firing and suspending the offending writer and sportscaster, respectively, despite their fevered apologies.
flash-forward to today. marion barry, that bastion of probity and restraint, the oracle of washington DC, issues an urgent warning about the greatest threat facing his community:
We got to do something about these Asians coming in and opening up businesses and dirty shops. They ought to go. I’m going to say that right now. But we need African-American businesspeople to be able to take their places, too.
and then, immediately after basically announcing the formation of the DC Kristallnacht Committee for the Removal of Those Damn Dirty Asians, this dumb, loutish pig has the breathtaking, bald-faced audacity to follow it up with
I'm not ever going to condemn a group of people. My history is complete. It's an excellent history with the Asian community.
marion barry, you may ask? this former mayor of DC whose administrations were marked by increasing incompetence and corruption was caught on camera by the feds during his third term smoking crack, charged with perjury and drug possession, and, after his conviction and incarceration (during which he was allegedly caught being blown by a woman other than his wife in a prison waiting room), went on to run for city council, a race he won in a landslide. this, followed by a triumphant return two years later to the mayor's office, and then ultimately back to his former city council seat upon which lofty perch he rests today--and from where, when he's not saying things like "If you take out the killings, Washington actually has a very, very low crime rate", he issues such proclamations as the above.
the secret to his success? like all the race-baiters, he gives his people what they want: ready-made scapegoats upon which to pin the blame for their collective failure, thus providing steady fuel for their rage--asians (along with the jews, of course) being perennial favorite targets for nothing more than committing the unpardonable sin of succeeding in white racist america, and thus putting the lie to their assertion that such a thing is impossible.
anyway, back to our story: the reaction of the asian-american community to this latest chink in its armor was, predictably,
it’s regrettably inappropriate. I’m hoping he misspoke.
Susan Au Allenpresident, U.S. Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce
misspoke? misspoke?! bitch, motherfucker didn't misspeak--he said exactly what he meant, knowing full well that in so doing he painted big red targets on the backs of every asian merchant doing business in the powder keg that is the city over which he presides.
and you damn well know it, susan, but you can't say so, because--well, because you can't.
* * * * *
i know a few white racists, but very few; the majority of whites i know who resent blacks do so not because they think they're inferior and/or should be segregated, but because african-americans reside in a bulletproof bubble of political correctness which excuses their every excess and allows them to say and do with impunity things that wouldn't be tolerated for an instant if said whites said or did anything even remotely similar.
and while i'm on the subject, the majority of whites i know who profile blacks do so not because of racism, but for very sane, rational reasons--reasons i'll maybe get into the next time some african-american race-baiting asshole jerks my chain.
oh, wait--it's already happened. stay tuned.
2 comments:
All right.
Guttermorality has raised a really hard truth:
Why is it that Mario Berry has continued to win election after election?
Given his history, the more interesting issue is not why Marion Berry is the way he is, but why do people continue to vote for him.
But, you are only getting started. Remember this young upstart Barack Obama challenged a long time black politician named Bobby Rush. Obama was effectively painted by Rush as a tool of effete liberals and lost handily. It is the only election Obama has ever lost (he even won the race to be the President of the Harvard Law Review).
Or, just as telling, the 2002 mayoral race between Sharpe James and Cory Booker. That was a nasty election where James portrayed Booker as a tool of outsiders and won re-election. It was made into a great documentary. It also was an interesting story if you look up what happened to Sharpe James afterward.
Why do these politicians continue to win election after election?
The answer to that question is not an easy one. It is complicated by a number of issues of race and class.
So, Guttermorality stated that he sees black overt racism far more than white racism. That may be true.
But racism against blacks continues to exist, continues to be systemic, and continues to make life more difficult for African Americans.
Black Americans earn less than whites even when controlled for education and socio-economic status.
So, google the Implicit Association Test. Take the test.
I suspect what you will find is what thousands of people have found, there exists subtle often unconscious bias against blacks and others that is just as effective as overt racism in holding a whole category of people at an enormous disadvantage.
So, I'm going to differ with guttermorality on the second part of the post.
Having said that, you do raise some very hard truths. I would be interested to hear what ML has to say about that. Gauntlet thrown
chink
noun
1.a crack, cleft, or fissure: a chink in a wall.
2.a narrow opening: a chink between two buildings.
What I don't understand is why someone, ANYONE, involved even peripherally in this dust-up didn't point out the above meaning of the word chink and also point out a crack, cleft, or fissure in the armor makes sense while a Chinese in the armor makes no sense whatsoever in the context of the sports story.
Something similar happened to Papa Bush. As I recall, some ceremonial event had been criticized as looking skimpy and he said, "yes, we needed more spear-carriers." Everybody hit the roof and assumed he meant African "savages" instead of the common expression for "extras" in the theatrical sense of Roman or Egyptian or medieval troops in armor with spears.
Instead of simply explaining the reference in both cases, the parties who had used the phrases immediately and needlessly assumed the grovelling position of repentant malefactors.
Apart from the political issue, both situations point up the current illiteracy of the American people. Sad.
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