This month we have had four examples of high media scrutiny of bad players.
Kanye West – A black man ego manically disrupting the MTV awards by grabbing microphone from White Country Western star Taylor Swift. No amount of tear soaked apologies matter with a projected loss in the industry of millions.
Serena Williams – A black woman ego manically disrupting a tennis match by telling a white line judge where to shove a tennis ball. Something white boy John McEnroe did hourly for a decade. Various sports authorities have fined her and some loss of corporate revenues.
ACORN – A wholly black community activist organization caught on tape – by a couple of wingnut white conservatives – suggesting illegal and stupid bureaucratic ways of gaming the system. This black organization not only has becomes the most reviled in recent history, surpassing even the bankers, AIG, the credit scorers, Wall Street and Bernie Madoff who caused us all our pain, but federal, state and local governments instantly stopped funding and are in the process of more investigations than Blackwater.
Joe Wilson – South Carolina rebel flag waving white cracker screams YOU LIE at our black president on the floor of congress. He then bravely refuses to apologize to congress and becomes the new hero of the Republcian Party making $2 million in two weeks!
Race of course is not an issue… Here in the land of cheese wiz covered crackers anyway.
This week NYTs Bob Herbert wrote a stinging column about race in America. Dumbfounded that we needed Jimmy Carter to tell us the truth when we all know damn well the truth. But it was his closing remarks that carried the day for me, especially that last quote by John F. Kennedy. See his column The Scourge Persists
After all these years of race-baiting and stirring the pot of hatred for political gain, it’s too much to ask the leaders of the Republican Party to step forward and denounce this spreading stain of reprehensible conduct. Republicans are trying to ride that dependable steed of bigotry back to power.
But it’s time for other Americans, of whatever persuasion, to take a stand, to say we’re better than this. They should do it because it’s right. But also because we’ve seen so many times what can happen when this garbage gets out of control.
Think about the Oklahoma City bombing, and the assassinations of King and the Kennedys. On Nov. 22, 1963, as they were preparing to fly to Dallas, a hotbed of political insanity, President Kennedy said to Mrs. Kennedy: "We’re heading into nut country today."