racism
Monday, February 28, 2005
My friend and i were discussing racism in cartoons and the media today, stemming from a conversation about Tex Avery. (My friend's last name is Avery and, he says, people ask him all the time if there's any relation...)
Racism has always been something that i've felt rather sensitive toward. I was exposed to it quite a bit as a kid growing up in New Orleans, from various family members making comments that should not be made in front of children, to my step-dad's collection of "picaninny" dolls when i was in my late teens, it was always around. When i was around 16 or so and my younger brother and i were having problems co-existing with my mom, one of our major issues with her, which we never really confronted her on, was the racist comments that she and my step-dad would often make. In nola (new orleans, la), i think it's pretty common for the white population to blame the economic problems of the city on the black community. Driving around the city, it's hard to see why whites don't recognize that, even when they have it hard, they still have more than their black counterparts. But the South has such a long history of racism and blame that it just doesn't seem to be able to escape it.
It's odd because i grew up there going to schools that were a pretty balanced mix of black and white students. I was friends with many black kids and never really related to racism on a personal level. But at the same time i think i was taught to fear the idea of black people collectively. Now that i live in Milwaukee ("Segregated, but not racist!"), i feel like there is a very marked absence of black culture in my life and i honestly miss it. It's such a large part of what nola is, and the truth of the matter is the white people there don't realize that it's part of who they are.
I was in high school when david duke was making his runs at governor or senator or both or whatever, and i have to say that in a state like Louisiana, he had a chance of actually winning. He didn't, thank God, but the fact that it was a possibility of happening is scary. I remember asking my Dad once what he thought of David Duke. I don't remember how the conversation came up, and it was a very quick exchange, but he told me that he didn't like David Duke, but he agreed with his positions politically. Something like that. Now, i'll give my dad some credit... Duke obviously didn't run on a platform of racism. He ran as a Republican on a platform that, if i recall right, had a lot to say about welfare reform, "family values", financial conservatism... Welfare reform from David Duke is nothing but back-door racism, c'mon. Anyway, it stuck out in my mind and i always wondered how my dad could separate the politics from the man as a justification. To be fair, i'm not telling you that my dad voted for david duke. I doubt that he voted at all, but growing up in new orleans this is what you had to deal with. If people weren't voting democrat they were quite possibly voting for david duke.
There was also this incident with my mom... My stepdad had this collection of picaninny figurines or whatever that he'd bought at flea markets and such. He has this little shelf thing that was about 18" wide and looked like the front porch of a dilapidated wooden house on which all of the figures were arranged, and it hung on the wall in the kitchen. Yes, it was on the kitchen wall. See, people see picaninnies as these kitschy little icons of, i don't know, southern country life or something ridiculous like that. They know in the back of their minds that it's racist and vulgar, but if there's nothing to point that out to them, then it's a moot point. Well, one day my friend Ron, a black guy, came over to visit. Now, Ron is a very affable person and is able to find humor in other people's ignorance. But as my mom related the story to me of him sitting in the kitchen and her realizing this was on the wall, "oh, i was so embarrassed," she said. But it struck me that she wasn't embarrassed of the fact that she had this in her house at all. The memory of it makes me want to go back and smash that display on the kitchen floor.
I don't really remember when it was that i became sensitive to the issue of race, because i know that i haven't always been. I do remember getting this sweater, probably in my senior year of high school, that was very colorful with lots of red and orange and green. I still have it somewhere in the basement. I began referring to it as my "multi-cultural sweater," which was a naive high school thing, but to me, back then, it symbolized part of the philosophy that i had begun to take on.
It's not like i grew up in this environment of hate, not in the least. The point is that there are these latent ideas that manifest themselves in our actions, in the things that we consume and create. How do we stop them? What are we supposed to do about them? Sometimes i feel like overt attempts to counter racism from a white guy would seem patronizing. Is it enough to just not be racist, and to raise my kids not to be racist? It is some contribution. But what else?
Most images were taken from this site: http://www.ferris.edu/news/jimcrow/
It's good readin'.
posted by j. Permanent Link
