From Salem to Selma

There are two things I think most of us can agree on about the state of racism in this country; it is (unfortunately) still alive, but it is slowly dying and becoming less prominent. We finally have a black presidential nominee, secretary of state, supreme court justice, etc. In this time of increasing racial acceptance and relative harmony, there has been a rise in social and racial consciousness. But when does it go too far, to the point of retrogression?

When I first saw previews for the movie 'Hancock', I was excited to see that a new Will Smith movie was coming out. I am the biggest Will Smith fan in the world outside of Philadelphia, and couldn't wait to see Will's depiction of this unwitting superhero. However, about a week after its release I came across an interesting blog post entitled 'Hancock: The First Ni**a Superhero!' (You'll have to scroll down to see that particular post, but I highly recommend reading it). Now, I am not much for conspiracy theories, as this post claims to be. However, I felt like Jasiri X made a lot of very acute and perceptive points about the possible racist undertones of the film, to the point where I just couldn't support it. (Sorry Will)

Jasiri X's post is indicative of a post-civil-rights-movement trend in America where people have become hypersensitive to racism, and started using a much more powerful magnifying glass through which they look at the media. However, this closer examination of the media is not always as poignant as Jasiri X's observation, and lately this hypersensitivity has manifested itself in what seem like 'racist witch hunts'. I was reminded of this fact again during the Republican National Convention coverage. I saw a blog post regarding this clip featuring Ben Stein's take on the election, and how Ben Stein was a racist for his remarks about Barack Obama. (I regrettably cannot find that post right now)

Despite my disdain for most conservative republican analysts, Ben Stein is actually a fair, intelligent, and usually objective analyst who is good about not letting his personal biases get in the way of his objective opinion. If you watch the clip, he was giving his honest opinion about why people may not vote for Obama, especially when many prejudice Americans see him as an 'angry black man'. He even goes on to say how he hates saying it and that he 'abhors racism', but that doesn't make it into the blog posts.

Racism is like drugs; if you look for it hard enough, you'll find it somewhere, and your search for and use of it is going to work against everything good in your life and everything good in the life of those around you. In my opinion there is no quality a person can have that is more offensive or despicable than racism or sexism, and I think it is a good sign that people are looking out for bigotry and hatred and challenging those with ignorant and hurtful material. However, we must be careful not to create a society where we are quick to blame and make people afraid to speak their mind or feel like they must censor their ideas.

Looking too hard for racism is just as dangerous as not looking hard enough.