Feeling Kind of White

I'm white. I'm middle-class. I'm middle-aged. I'm straight. Shit, I've even returned to organized religion.

When stuff like the Imus flap comes up, what legitimacy can I find? I've read and thought fairly deeply about issues like white privilege and the foundational aspects of racism in today's America. I'm aware of the 360 degree aspects of discrimination, and that Hispanics, Asians, women, and dozens of other identifiable groups of people face daily snubs and subtle hindrances that prevent them from participating as fully in society as they ought.

So, when Imus calls a bunch of talented young women - girls my daughter's age - "nappy headed hoes", I feel the anger, and I can pile on like everyone else.

I can also sit back in my intellectual easy chair and distinguish this mob scene from an attack on free speech, and mock those who are somehow trying to make this about how hard it is for rightwing hatespeakers to get along in this confusing world. Yes, there are plenty of blatantly stupid people I can play with. It's a simple and kind of pointless diversion.

But I don't think that I can jump in with stuff like Jason Whitlock did this morning:

I don’t listen or watch Imus’ show regularly. Has he at any point glorified selling crack cocaine to black women? Has he celebrated black men shooting each other randomly? Has he suggested in any way that it’s cool to be a baby-daddy rather than a husband and a parent? Does he tell his listeners that they’re suckers for pursuing education and that they’re selling out their race if they do?

When Imus does any of that, call me and I’ll get upset. Until then, he is what he is — a washed-up shock jock who is very easy to ignore when you’re not looking to be made a victim.

No. We all know where the real battleground is. We know that the gangsta rappers and their followers in the athletic world have far bigger platforms to negatively define us than some old white man with a bad radio show. There’s no money and lots of danger in that battle, so Jesse and Al are going to sit it out.

It's not my role to write stuff like that, but I can quote it and admire it.

I know some people think it's all about race. They're wrong. It's about power, and class, and money, and gender, and every little thing about who we are as a society and as individuals. It is all so mind-bogglingly complex that when you have an over-privileged asshole who calls talented young basketball players names, it's a joy to know exactly how to react.

I can do that, but I don't feel as comfortable taking on BET or Mencia or Chris Rock. I don't want to be that patriarchal defender of the status quo quoting approvingly from Cosby because he blames "those people".

Stupid people like Imus give us the clear case, where our outrage can be full-throated and pure. It's a frustratingly gray world. Was service slow because the patron was black? Maybe, maybe not. Did the white guy get the job because he "comes off more professional"? Maybe, maybe not. But there's no maybe about Imus this time.

Imus is kind of a scapegoat. I don't know what to say or think about rap music and gangsta culture. I don't always know where to draw lines between being open-minded and tolerating wrong-headed misbehavior. I don't even think I necessarily get to draw those lines. But I know that I can beat on Imus, and feel pretty good about it. By focusing all the attention on Imus, the rest of us can kid ourselves and think we've taken a stand against racism, while ignoring the thousands of petty discriminations we see (or choose not to see) every day.

As a middle-class, middle-aged, white, straight male, I look at it all and I hear a racially tinged song by the Refreshments in the back of my head:

Everybody knows
That the world is full of stupid people
Well I got the pistol so I’ll keep the Pesos
Yeah, and that seems fair

Seem fair to you?