Since when did people put stock in the “MTV Video Music Awards?” Outside pre-pubescent teens and Kanye West, no one gives credence to the show. It’s most likely rigged, purely for entertainment, and really just a night for PR firms to flex their muscle pumping upcoming projects like Jack Black’s “Brutal Legend”. The only thing that makes it must see t.v. is Kanye going buckwild ruining Taylor Swift’s big moment like he’s Mariah Carey minus the ice cream cart. But let Twitter tell it [click to read] and the e-thugs say it’s a “nigger moment.” By now, you should have expected this… Seemingly innocent 19-year old white country singer, stopped dead in her tracks by the ego-maniacal fish stick killa Kanye West. You knew people would respond racially, the only question is whether it would manifest itself overtly or passively. Deep seeded Racism has always been shape shifting, intangible, faceless, and many times nameless. The Klu Klux Klan got bed sheets, and now all you Internet thugs have Twitter. It’s all good, I see you…
I wrote an article three weeks ago and half the DX reading population of Idaho calls me Jackie Chan screaming “Go Back to China”. I wish…can’t get a decent happy ending for my life out here. The point is, as a minority in America, you get used to it. You try to “do the right thing,” write op-eds, go ivory tower and represent for your people but you’re just gonna end up locked outside your own crib a la Professor Gates. Cause the first chance someone of the dominant culture gets to reduce us to skin color, chinky eyes, or “Twittepithets,” they will. My article had absolutely nothing to do with my being Chinese and everything to do with music. But of course, instead of just disagreeing with a particular opinion and focusing the discussion, people brought my race into the issue. Does it bother me? Why would it? 1.5 billion people look like me; I’m the majority.
Which brings me to Joe Wilson, a White American congressman. Racism without power is like a remote with no batteries. You can press all the buttons you want, slam it on the ground, throw it at the t.v., but no matter what you do, there’s no effect. Even if we say Kanye is racist for ruining Taylor Swift’s moment (which would take some drastic assumptions on our part), why are you e-thugs so mad? It was self-destructive behavior. The only thing it serves to do is give Taylor Swift, MTV, and Beyonce a bump in ratings. He has no power. Joe Wilson on the other hand interrupts a critical speech on healthcare by the President of the United States, and his supporters come out EVEN harder for him [click to read]. It’s giving Wilson a bump in popular opinion, and he’s made a name for himself because in his district, he represents the majority. His actions have power.
No one’s attributing Joe Wilson’s actions to race, and no white person feels the need to carry Joe Wilson’s burden. And that’s the way it should be. But if we are going to assume for argument’s sake that Kanye’s outburst was racist, the same assumptions could apply to Joe Wilson’s actions. Black guy interrupts white girl, white guy interrupts black guy who happens to be president, you know what I’m saying… The apology resolution isn’t a condemnation of race, but an individual. Yet, there’s a double standard. Kanye runs on stage full of that Hen-rock and the New York Times crossword puzzle carved into his head: “nigger moment.” Since when is it a black thing to spot rush someone’s acceptance speech? This isn’t genetic, this isn’t racial, this isn’t “conditioned” behavior, it’s a Kanye moment. There’s nothing black about it. Why is it every time a brother trips, some journalist has to ask Obama what he thinks? He’s the President of ALL America not just Black America, so don’t put the onus on him to give his two-cents on every black dude actin’ a fool. And, if he wants to call a spade a spade and Kanye a jackass, well, that’s icing on the cake. It’s nice to have some honesty in the White House after the last eight years.
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When “Fan Man” landed on Caesars Palace during Big Daddy Bowe v. Holyfield [click to read], no one screamed, “there go the white people with backpack fans again!” White kids didn’t go to school thinking, “God damnit, Tyrone and Jackie are gonna ask if there’s a fan in my backpack, fuck!” It wasn’t chalked up against the race; he was an “outlier” an “other” an “alien.” He wasn’t white anymore; he was a crazy. When Martha Stewart robbed her shareholders, white people didn’t have to apologize or fear that black shareholders would whoop that ass. Yet, when Japanese automakers started taking more market share in the 80s, Vincent Chin got killed at his bachelor party by a white autoworker five days before his wedding [click to read]. He wasn’t even Japanese… It’s not like the day I went to work after the Virginia Tech Shootings and ignorant people asked me whether there was something inherent in Korean culture that played a part in the incident, “yeah homie, blame it on the kimchi.”O.J., Kanye, the Sniper, the Binghamton Shooter, and the delivery boy who stuffs menus under everyone’s doors, these guys all become “one of ours” that we have to make excuses for. We gotta answer questions like Obama and I’m sick of it. Either no one has to answer questions or EVERYONE needs to.
So, let’s play this game. A little, racial reclamation if you will. White people, tell me, do you all pound creatine, Jaeger bombs, and wear axe body spray like the meatheads at Neptunes in West Hampton? Holla at me Mac Lethal!
Do all your girls carry dogs in their purses, say “the Iraq” and assume that Americans don’t have maps? Do you all say “the Internets” like George Bush or substitute cigars for dildos like Bill Clinton? Because, they’re white and I figure it makes sense to attribute those actions to race, right?
I’m not defending Kanye in the least bit. If you follow my clothing line, you know I dropped fishsticks tees last spring. Additionally, I’m not blaming white people ’cause that’d be equally ignorant. This is an indictment of people who are too quick to attribute individual actions to an entire race. I’m blaming the people who can’t see past race. Who can’t differentiate the individual from their reference group. Sometimes, people act alone and in those moments, they should be judged alone. It’s a two-way street. Black people shouldn’t defend Kanye just because he’s black and white people shouldn’t judge black people or attribute all of Kanye’s actions to his race. Sometimes, people just go off the grid. There’s no explanation, there’s no racial foundation, its just simply crazy.
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No one is a saint. I’m guilty too. Every time I get into a smelly cab, yes, the thought creeps in my head that curry is to blame. And every time I think that, I take a cab back and by some magical event, there’s an Indian driver that defies my faulty logic and doesn’t smell like the devil’s bunghole… It’s hard to not be racist in America. There’s no country like this where so many different ethnicities are charged with the task of understanding, co-existing, and striving for racial equality. No one is perfect and no one should be slammed for making mistakes. We’re not going to get anywhere by judging Kanye or even the people Tweeting “nigger”. There needs to be communication. If we can’t talk about race, we can’t understand it, and that’s the problem. We treat race as taboo, when in fact its just another part of our society that needs to be looked at, examined, and understood. If you try to bottle, hide, and quarantine racism, it’s not going to happen. It’s just going to exist off the mainstream radar, which makes it even more dangerous. Whether it’s racially driven split second decisions we make everyday (see e.g. Blink by Malcolm Gladwell) or glass ceilings in the workplace, racism will find a form within which to exist. It’s not some Transformers Energon cube we can send Megan Fox to go destroy; racism is here to stay. If anything in our society addresses race honestly, its porno. Watch any interracial porno and you’ll get the Canon of American Racial Stereotypes. The porno industry didn’t create those stereotypes, they exist in every day American culture, but our way of dealing with it is to not allow communication about those topics outside movies like “Brothas Love Bubble Butts” or “Let’s Eat Sushi 2.”
So, think but this and all is mended. Even if you’re in the Glenn Beck camp and feel that minorities are equally racist [click to read], ask yourself, “How can they act on this racism?” Call out an industry not named the NBA where the majority of peers are minorities. Better yet, name an industry outside the Canal St. Bootleggers Cartel where the leadership is predominantly controlled by minorities? We don’t have the power to do anything outside the walls of Happy Dragon Restaurant, Kennedy Fried Chicken, or Castillo de Jagua. We don’t control enough industries or have a large enough potential work force to have racially driven hiring practices. So even if Kanye was acting on behalf of his race, what is there to be mad about? Without economic power, we have absolutely no clout in this country to act on our racism. The only ones that can are from the dominant culture and if you look at statistics like the percentage of minority owned NFL, NBA, MLB teams or even who owns BET (Viacom), you’ll see. It ain’t no Aaron McGruder’s running the show. Before you judge minorities and force them to carry the mistakes of idiots like Kanye, ask yourself this, “WWJSD: What Would Jessica Simpson Do?” or “What Would Don Imus Do?” Because really, are those two acting a fool because of a diet high in white bread, mayonnaise and 200 years of unreasonable American logic?
