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“A dream you dream alone is only a dream; a dream you dream together is reality.” — Yoko Ono
Jul
16
Burning Crosses: Totally Not Racist
Filed Under assholes, bigotry, race and racism | Posted by Cara |
So, you know how people will say and do all kinds of horribly racist things, then claim it was a joke and rather than defending the action defend themselves as “not racist,” going on and on about how they “don’t hate people”? We’ve seen it done with racial slurs (over and over again), blackface, flying the Confederate Flag, and hanging nooses (and that only covers racism against black people).
A rental home where a mother with three biracial sons lived burned to the ground only days after she says people set a wooden cross ablaze in her yard.
Both sheriff’s deputies and FBI agents are investigating the Friday morning fire at the home of Loretta Marie Slaughter-Shirah, saying they believe it to be arson.
Slaughter-Shirah said the nearly 6-foot-tall cross, draped in a white sheet, was set on fire last week. In the time since, she took her children to live with her mother nearby her destroyed home.
[. . .]
Deputies arrested Jacob Wingo, 19, on charges of terroristic threatening and aggravated assault over the cross burning. Jailers said Wingo posted bond shortly after his arrest Thursday.
Hot Spring County Chief Deputy Richard Tolleson said there could be other suspects in the reported cross burning and it was still under investigation.
Yvette Briggs, Wingo’s mother, said he turned himself in to authorities earlier and “told the truth.”
“It was all a joke,” Briggs told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. “He’s got mixed friends. He’s got black friends – he does not hate people. If he knew it was considered a hate crime, he would never have done anything like that.”
Get it? Because burning crosses is hi-larious. And everyone knows that if it’s a joke, it can’t be racist. Otherwise it wouldn’t be funny, and someone found it funny, so . . . not racist! Also, the guy has black, friends and “mixed” friends. Which also means that he can’t be racist. That’s how it works. DUH. And how was he supposed to know that burning a cross is seen as a racist symbol of intimidation and threatened violence against black people? It’s not like it’s the most commonly used example of actions by the KKK . . .
The question, of course, is what kind of crime Mr. Prankster thought it was. I mean, anyone with at least two brain cells has to know that at the very least it would count as vandalism. Who would risk vandalism charges for a good-natured little joke?
Interestingly enough, I think that Briggs’ defense of her son is rather telling (they usually are). Notice how she didn’t say “he wouldn’t have done that if he knew that it would be considered so hateful/upsetting/threatening”? No, she said that he wouldn’t have done it if he knew that it wasn’t considered a hate crime. This is because, as covered, the first defense is, well, indefensible. No one is actually going to believe that burning a cross on someone’s lawn is an innocent act. It’s also because, as implied at the beginning of the post, that people will do all kinds of racist things so long as they don’t think they’ll actually get called out on being racist. And if you call them racist, well you’re the one throwing out insults now!
Far too many people don’t think that racism is nearly as much of a problem as that ugly word “racism.” The more that myth is perpetuated, the more extreme justifications will become. And then a woman and her children ar left without a home.
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“Men, their rights, and nothing more; women, their rights, and nothing less.” — Susan B. Anthony
I completely agree. One of the things that made me completely fucking INSANE during the primaries was the 5 cent euphemisms the press used to describe racists.
If race was a determining/important factor in your voting decision and as a result you voted for HRC, then that makes you a racist. Period. Lets not tap dance around the issue.
Part of it (I think anyway) is the kyriarchy protecting itself through collective action. I won’t call you a racist if you don’t call me a racist. Like closing your eyes real tight will make the reality of our privilege vanish right before our eyes. Which, I guess, if you’re white actually works. :/
Frankly it reminds me of the shit society does to avoid calling someone a rapist. All oppression works the same.
And yet “political correctness” is claimed to have this absolute stranglehold on public discourse.
Yeah, burning someone’s house down. I saw that on Comedy Central last night. Cause it’s funny.
And Nick, I agree. I hear “Oh, PC is ruining everything, what about freedom of speech, blah blah.” My response is that if all someone has to say are slurs/stereotypes/other ‘un-PC’ garbage, then I have no problem with them shutting the fuck up.
But then, I’m an Angry Humorless FeministTM