Excellent new blog called <http://www.racismreview.com/blog/>"Racism
Review" (via <http://sgrp.typepad.com/sgrp/>SGRP). Here is an excerpt
of a nice post by Adia Harvey.
Over the last year, several celebrities have gone on media rants
where they let slip (or unleashed) racial slurs and tirades that are
typically relegated to backstage social spaces. Among the most
notable: Michael Richards' tirade at the Laugh Factory where he used
the "n-word" repeatedly, Duane "Dog" Chapman's use of the same racial
slur in a telephone call to his son, and Mel Gibson's verbal barrage
of anti-Jewish stereotypes when pulled over for a DUI.
What I find ironic and interesting about these issues is that no
matter how offensive and inflammatory the statements are, somehow the
speakers themselves are rarely, if ever, labeled racist. The
statements they make may be labeled racist, but the speakers
vehemently deny that they are. The idea seems to be that racists are
only those who self-identify as such: Klansmen, neo-Nazis, or members
of other hate groups who openly claim "racist" as a self-identity
that they embrace and accept. Even among everyday Americans, people
who openly and regularly engage in racist acts, statements, and
behaviors stubbornly insist that despite these actions they really
are not racist people.
Is being racist now simply subject to the individual's choice? Are
you only racist if you self-identify as such? [...]
<http://www.racismreview.com/blog/?p=192>Link
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Posted By johannes to
<http://www.monochrom.at/english/2008/04/where-have-all-racists-gone.htm>monochrom
at 4/28/2008 12:31:00 PM
