Blurred Lines: Racism, Joel Stein & TIME

American media, and the people with access to it, seem to be going through a period of confusion. Lines have been blurred between meaning, intent and medium. Post the election of this President, Barack Obama, MSM talking heads routinely seem to confuse racist vitriol with a legitimate point of view…political and otherwise. It’s not the 24 hour news cycle that’s to blame.  Rather, it’s the incessant repetition of falsehoods, met without challenge by those moderating the “discussion” that  lends credibility to the blatantly untrue, nonsensical,  illogical and fundamentally racist assertions of  pundits, GOP politicos and random dudes as  legitimate points of view.

Unchallenged, the racist meme is ever cemented. We’ve watched it be used as fuel for the engine of a political movement. That’s been allowed to happen, allowed by the media of this era who feel no sense of connection to truth. A media that feels no obligation to the American public, its readers, its watchers. And, no obligation whatsoever to the American public that is not white. Seems other agendas are afoot.  No one has to provide context of any sort, no one has to do research. Seems as though little to no knowledge is necessary. Say what you want and it’s relayed as a legitimate position. Your feelings, the darkest and most ugly you have, can now be expressed with abandon…legitimately as thought.  No need to check yourself. No need to ask yourself, or anyone else for that matter, if you’re being fucked up.  And, apparently, no publisher will think to question it either.  Say whatever you want. There is no accountability. You might have to say sorry, maybe…but that’s it. More likely, you’ll have to say sorry to Rush Limbaugh for taking back whatever sense you spoke.  So, while watching the lines blur on TV, I ran across this blurred piece by Joel Stein, published by a blurred TIME Magazine. This overtly racist immigration commentary pretends, I guess, to be a comedic piece. It’s entitled “My Own Private India”:

TIME/Joel Stein piece: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1999416,00.html#ixzz0swFRA2eC

Mr. Stein begins his racist diatribe with:

“I am very much in favor of immigration everywhere in the U.S. except Edison, N.J. The mostly white suburban town I left when I graduated from high school in 1989 — the town that was called Menlo Park when Thomas Alva Edison set up shop there and was later renamed in his honor — has become home to one of the biggest Indian communities in the U.S., as familiar to people in India as how to instruct stupid Americans to reboot their Internet routers.”

I hear: My middle class white town, a town with a very serious white inventor history, I might add, has been taken over by a bunch of brown people who seem to not know their actual place…which is not to live in my town, but rather to provide technical support for my computer via telephone from their own damn nation.

“My town is totally unfamiliar to me. The Pizza Hut where my busboy friends stole pies for our drunken parties is now an Indian sweets shop with a completely inappropriate roof. The A&P I shoplifted from is now an Indian grocery. The multiplex where we snuck into R-rated movies now shows only Bollywood films and serves samosas. The Italian restaurant that my friends stole cash from as waiters is now Moghul, one of the most famous Indian restaurants in the country. There is an entire generation of white children in Edison who have nowhere to learn crime.”

I hear: We white people have lost all the stuff that makes us white: Pizza Hut, A&P, multiplexes, Italian food. All things quintessentially middle income America. These Indians have taken everything from us…all that we know and understand…we’re really American and they’re not. They’re messing it all up.  And, to mitigate any cries of racism, I’m going to attempt to equalize the situation by throwing in some white kid teen antics to let you know that I’ve risen above my previous social station and can quite clearly see and critique which rung of the American ladder of dreams my town hung on, while simultaneously cementing the concept of the “real America” which is where I come from. Famous food is not a plus.

“I never knew how a bunch of people half a world away chose a random town in New Jersey to populate. Were they from some Indian state that got made fun of by all the other Indian states and didn’t want to give up that feeling? Are the malls in India that bad? Did we accidentally keep numbering our parkway exits all the way to Mumbai?”

I hear:  Why the fuck did you pick my town, you damn Indians? Of all the places, why my fucking town? I mean, we might suck and all but we don’t suck that fucking much…to make you think you can ALL come here.

“I called James W. Hughes, policy-school dean at Rutgers University, who explained that Lyndon Johnson’s 1965 immigration law raised immigration caps for non-European countries. LBJ apparently had some weird relationship with Asians in which he liked both inviting them over and going over to Asia to kill them.”

I hear: I did research to figure out how this shit happened. Who the hell thought this was a good idea? It’s all that damn LBJ’s fault you see…raising the non-Euro cap. And, even he couldn’t make up his mind: accept them or reject them. Because…they’re all the same. All Asians. Every country, every culture. All alike…not like us.

“After the law passed, when I was a kid, a few engineers and doctors from Gujarat moved to Edison because of its proximity to AT&T, good schools and reasonably priced, if slightly deteriorating, post–WW II housing. For a while, we assumed all Indians were geniuses. Then, in the 1980s, the doctors and engineers brought over their merchant cousins, and we were no longer so sure about the genius thing. In the 1990s, the not-as-brilliant merchants brought their even-less-bright cousins, and we started to understand why India is so damn poor.”

I hear: And, you see, it was okish years ago because only the really fucking smart ones came over. We only had a few. And, those few were the crème de la crème. I mean, acceptable ass Indians. The kind we white people can deal with. The ones who don’t act too Indian outside the home, imposing all their Indian bullshit on us. We only realized how much we totally hated them when there got to be too many. Listen, we don’t hate all Indians, just the ones that make India poor. We only like the superIndians, and then, only a few of those. Don’t get fucking ridiculous and bring everyone. That’s not what this is about. Not my American town.

“Eventually, there were enough Indians in Edison to change the culture. At which point my townsfolk started calling the new Edisonians “dot heads.” One kid I knew in high school drove down an Indian-dense street yelling for its residents to “go home to India.” In retrospect, I question just how good our schools were if “dot heads” was the best racist insult we could come up with for a group of people whose gods have multiple arms and an elephant nose.”

I wonder: Hmmm. Is changing the culture what white people are doing to Harlem? What should the well educated black people of Harlem call the white people doing that? What should the less well educated people call them?

“Unlike some of my friends in the 1980s, I liked a lot of things about the way my town changed: far better restaurants, friends dorky enough to play Dungeons & Dragons with me, restaurant owners who didn’t card us because all white people look old. But sometime after I left, the town became a maze of charmless Indian strip malls and housing developments. Whenever I go back, I feel what people in Arizona talk about: a sense of loss and anomie and disbelief that anyone can eat food that spicy.”

I hear: The good news for me, the kind of white person I am, is that when I was a kid, and the Indians were smartest, I could play nerdy computer games with them and eat food cause I’m adventurous like that, but then, it got out of hand. They’re everywhere. I get the racist fear of white Arizonans, the way they see this as a white country, their country, cause I feel the same way.

“To figure out why it bothered me so much, I talked to a friend of mine from high school, Jun Choi, who just finished a term as mayor of Edison. Choi said that part of what I don’t like about the new Edison is the reduction of wealth, which probably would have been worse without the arrival of so many Indians, many of whom, fittingly for a town called Edison, are inventors and engineers. And no place is immune to change. In the 11 years I lived in Manhattan’s Chelsea district, that area transformed from a place with gangs and hookers to a place with gays and transvestite hookers to a place with artists and no hookers to a place with rich families and, I’m guessing, mistresses who live a lot like hookers. As Choi pointed out, I was a participant in at least one of those changes. We left it at that.”

I hear: My friend, the ex-Mayor told me to see the silver lining in the brown cloud. My town would be in dire financial straits if the Indians didn’t come and save it to some degree with their financial investments. I get it…kinda…I live in Chelsea (which means to some that I’m coolish and not definable).

“Unlike previous waves of immigrants, who couldn’t fly home or Skype with relatives, Edison’s first Indian generation didn’t quickly assimilate (and give their kids Western names). But if you look at the current Facebook photos of students at my old high school, J.P. Stevens, which would be very creepy of you, you’ll see that, while the population seems at least half Indian, a lot of them look like the Italian Guidos I grew up with in the 1980s: gold chains, gelled hair, unbuttoned shirts. In fact, they are called Guindians. Their assimilation is so wonderfully American that if the Statue of Liberty could shed a tear, she would. Because of the amount of cologne they wear.”

I hear: To explain further, these Indians won’t assimilate like the ones that came before them. Wtf? They’re supposed to pretend…even if we all know we don’t like them and won’t actually accept them.  But, I take some solace in the fact that they are at least trying to copy someone here…even if they’re Guidos. I understand Guidos and am comfortable with their socio-economic status and rung on the American ladder. That makes me feel better. But, those Indians should shower more.

What I read I’d expect to literally hear coming out of Andrew Dice Clay’s mouth in a stand-up routine. A routine based on seriously fucked up racist shit that other racists think is funny. In a club. A club I don’t want to go to. Why was this published in TIME Magazine?  Again, seems to me to lend validity to racism as a legitimate point of view, not the ugly “I hate people that are different from me…I’m afraid of them and I want to keep this country and all of its rights solely for us” thing that it truly is.

TIME, as you can see below, sent regret.  Joel Stein’s stomach hurts. And, I see you both.

TIME responds: We sincerely regret that any of our readers were upset by Joel Stein’s recent humor column “My Own Private India.” It was in no way intended to cause offense.

Joel Stein responds: I truly feel stomach-sick that I hurt so many people. I was trying to explain how, as someone who believes that immigration has enriched American life and my hometown in particular, I was shocked that I could feel a tiny bit uncomfortable with my changing town when I went to visit it. If we could understand that reaction, we’d be better equipped to debate people on the other side of the immigration issue.

No Bridge over Troubled Water: Twitter Stream Observations

From reading the political tweets in my Progressive, Democratic Twitter stream over the last few months, I’ve seen a shift in mood. As health care reform began to take center stage in the government and media, there was an excitement, a sense of the people’s power regained after 8 years of many of us having to opt out of political knowledge of any sort because of the corrupt dictatorial regime run by George W. Bush. People felt empowered, as though they’d been listened to. The internet and social media had created a new way for politically unconnected, average Americans concerned about their nation and future, an easy, accessible way to make their thoughts and feelings heard. Platforms such as Twitter presented a way for like-minded people to come together and help fight for a future they knew was possible. President Barack Obama was elected through the help of this new form of instant communication. My Twitter friends and followers happily shared important information and signed petitions. We incessantly wrote and called Congress in support of Health Care Reform legislation to make sure that the voice of the majority was being heard. We were a majority! Our new sense of purpose had been acquired through the election of our new President. Now, we could finally work together to get important things accomplished that would save us and our nation from economic ruin. We could help the President, the Administration and our individual Representatives and Senators through support we could make instantly clear with our computers. We would help bring the nation back from the brink of destruction and protect the American people once again from corporate pillagers and individualist agendas through information technology. Our voices were being heard and they represented the will of the American people.

As Health Care Legislation was voted upon in the House of Representatives, Twitter’s Liberal Progressives, Moderate Dems and Obama supporters watched C-SPAN together. We paid rapt attention to all speaking. We commented, hoped, crossed our fingers, and there was victory. The bill made it through. The Stupak Amendment was incredibly problematic, but I believe most of us thought we could find a way to undo it. We emerged a little scraped up, but, we also understood that a fight is a fight and we were winning. No one comes out unscathed. Since that moment, things have changed. People argue, factions have emerged, people feel they have been silenced and many are afraid to say what they think about what’s going on in government in the Twitter forum for fear that the mere act of disagreeing and challenging the President or his Administration could be deemed traitorous by those staunchly in support of the man Barack Obama. There are a lot of feelings brewing within our community. Why? Because no one has any real information. No one knows what is going on. What we all know is that it’s not what we thought would be going on. The real problem, it seems to me, is that no one really knows what any and all of what is going on actually means. We are confused. The sheer lack of understanding of the aims and goals of the Administration has created a vacuum. It’s turned the world into black and white (no pun truly intended).

In this netherworld, it has created a situation where one is either for or against the man named Barack Obama. I suspect because people have nothing to work with. We have no knowledge as to why certain decisions have been made, or why certain things that were spoken of as absolutely essential no longer are.  Fundamentally, we have been asked to work on blind faith. After the deeds of the Bush Administration, the bailouts and calamities which have affected us all, one would think that those on top would realize that the American people are a bit too skittish for that. Everything is so uncertain that people need something firm and solid to look to, to work with because we have nothing to hold on to in the present. We need information and deeds you can believe in. If the good deeds can’t be performed, we need to know why.

When I voted for the person to fill the office of President of the United States, I voted for a platform, an agenda, not a man. That the man with the message I wanted to hear was of color was a nice twist perhaps, a visual bonus for me of sorts, but, I also knew that a person of color holding that position in our nation, visually representing the United States of America, might very well usher in an era of newfangled racist backlash for all the rest of us people of color within this nation. I knew that it might strike a chord of fear in those who control all the power, and in some irrational way (racism is irrational), come back to bite us all. The U.S. power elite never disappoint any of its perceived enemies.  From Gov. Rick Perry, Tea Parties, the Senate confirmation hearings of Sonia Sotomayor, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Michelle Malkin, Pat Buchannan, Rep. Michelle Bachmann, Sarah Palin, to obstructionist behavior by the Senate, the self-stated goal of these self-appointed “real Americans” is to stop this President. The position they have taken is intractable. It should be acknowledged that they are very good at what they do.

Maintaining the base, as well as holding on to Independent voters is essential for us. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to do those two things. There is a fundamental lack of confidence. Why? Seems to me that part of it revolves around the lack of communication by the Administration and/or the Party that many see as dismissive, forcing them to wonder about the aims and goals of the President. The American people are in a bad way. We’ve lost and are losing jobs, homes and all future security. My and many other generations are afraid. We are afraid because the President, various economists and others have told us that our nation will go bankrupt without a Public Option. We were told on many occasions that we needed to control the cost of health care to ensure the economic future of the nation. We were told that American businesses could not compete globally, in a global economy, without relieving the burden of health care expenditures that many other nations companies, do not have to contend with. Finally, and perhaps, most important to many in a bad way these days, we were told that in order for American individuals to not be continuously raped and pillaged by pirates looking to increase their corporate and personal wealth, a Public Option would provide the capitalist competition that would drive down prices to normal, not pillaging, levels. Perhaps we would not be denied services we pay for monthly and potentially go bankrupt because of illness anymore. But, the President has backed down from this stance. Herein lies the problem. Many are left here wondering if and when the nation will meet its demise through this one problem alone. What I’d like to know is where the bridge is?  Where is the bridge between what you say must be and what you say is acceptable now? Where is the bridge between financial reform for Wall Street and little to no financial reform for Wall Street? Where is the bridge between end the war and send more troops?  Where is the bridge between gay marriage and the lack of gay marriage?  I could go on, but you get my point. No one can say something is totally essential and then say it’s not. There might be reasons why you can’t pull off what you said you believed in, and most importantly, what you said would save the nation, but what are they? And, why don’t we know what they are? Why are we so bereft of answers? Should we blindly believe what is being told us? I don’t think that this particular audience works that way. Wouldn’t that make us the GOP? There is palpable frustration.  If we were smart enough to help the President get elected, why aren’t we smart enough to be acknowledged? This inconsistency…particularly in light of the word “transparency” makes the populace nervous because its optics mirror how the American people were treated before. We were dismissed. We began this journey as a majority with a clear path. I hope we all know that roads can bifurcate, have a circuitous route, or dead end so that you have to turn around to go forth. None of that is necessarily problematic; it’s part of the journey. But, what can’t happen is people saying one thing and doing another without any clear explanation as to why. If one is governing for, of, and by the people, you can’t not include the people. I am one of the people, and I need to know why all legislation is being watered down. I need to know why this is happening. I need some communication from the Obama Administration. I want to know why this will work if you said it wouldn’t. And, by the way, I want to see others in the Administration explaining to the American public the significance of each and every piece of important legislation during these difficult times. If it revolves around health, let’s see the person in charge of health explaining various aspects. If this is about international relations, I want to see that person explaining the deal. To the extent that the government is not run by one person, I’d like to see those appointed to important positions take hold of the reigns of their office and speak to us about the issues under their purview. Finally, I’d like to see some consistency of thought. And, that consistency of thought must be communicated. If obstructionist GOP politics are what is really holding up or distorting the things we need, say that. Explain your position; explain why it has changed, and/or how you are getting around those folks. If you can’t explain for whatever reason, they give us a signal of some sort that this is part of a larger plan that will, in fact, make this situation work out somehow. The election has been won; it is now time to govern.

The issues and obstructionism that this President faces are unlike those of any of his predecessors. New situations require flexibility of thought. Can the nation be governed the same way every other Democratic President has governed thus far? The patent racism of the GOP requires that the Democratic machine function better than it has before and incorporate into its strategic planning the type of battle that is going on. The fight is a different fight, the war a different war because of whom/what he is. From top to bottom, communication and strategic planning in the face of this problem seems to be two of the elements lacking. The GOP stated from the beginning that they wanted this President to fail; they wanted to bring on his Waterloo. The use of the word bipartisan in this climate they’ve created befuddles me. While many media types seem to love the use of sports analogies, this is no game. Fact of the matter is, we are talking about the lives and quality of life of the American people. We are talking about the economic future of a nation and we can’t afford to lose much. Hence, we must stick together come what may. This is about us. We can’t fragment. We must work with the cards we have been dealt. We must have open conversations about what we feel is problematic and seek solutions. We are all on the same side…but we don’t have to see everything the same way. We must though act in concert to fight a larger foe. Whatever is going on here is not our fault. But, if we continue to behave the way we do, we will be part of the problem.

The GOP is unconscionably greedy, racist and vile. But, not so stupid as to not walk in lockstep. They seem unfazed by the perilous position of our nation and the world during this post-Bush apocalypse. They know what they don’t want even with the stakes as high as they are. Let this shed light on the power of power and the power of racism. Guess they’re hoping we’ll flinch. And, we seem to be flinching. Let it serve to prove to the Democratic machine that they need to do much better, that what they are doing does not work for many and that it’s their job to hold us together. And, let recognition of the GOP’s ability to stay together, signal that in order to avoid total, utter complete control by them of our nation, we, the people, need to do better. We need to listen to each other and not blindly dismiss those that we don’t agree with on any particular issue. We all want the same basic things. And, while many of us see different paths to the acquisition of these things, we need to collectively pick a methodology to get us there and work hard at it.  It would be a tragedy now and forever to get this all wrong.

Acknowledging America’s Racist Continuum: Harry Reid and Meaning in the Context of the Big Picture

Racism in The United States of America rears its ugly head all day long, every day. Those who suffer from its effects are very aware of that. Seems to me, for the most part, that unless you belong to a group challenged on a daily basis to find a way around the deeply entrenched racism of our nation to get done whatever it is you need to do, it’s purely academic. In college, I used to tell my white friends that the thing that pissed me off most about racism was that I had to think about white people all the time, and white people never had to think about me. As an African-American, I have to strategize, code switch, and pick my words carefully so as to not offend, to get whatever I need done. For my white friends, race discussions (and thoughts of racism), were an academic exercise they chose to engage in at their leisure. That being said, I’d like to share with all of you my point of view.

If we concede that this nation is racist, if we concede that our nation has been racist since its inception, since slavery, then, it seems to me, we need to consider the “givens” that the situation has created. If we recognize that racism is inextricably woven into the fabric of our nation, we must concede that no one would be unaffected. That “given” is beyond your control if you were born in the United States and grew up here.

Our society has always devalued African-Americans, and every aspect of American culture promotes that devaluation. Negative myths were created centuries ago to justify slavery and have been transferred from generation to generation. Black men have very large penises and are very scary – they want to hurt you. Black women are sexual beasts. Black people are very aggressive, and of lesser intelligence. While base in nature, on whatever level, completely or just slightly, white people seem to actually believe in the validity of these myths or portions of them. Mix that with family and their assorted attitudes, geographical location (some parts of nation being more racist, others less so), and socio-economics, and we have a perpetual simmering stew of bad feelings. The media, in all of its forms (representing the powers that be), contribute to and perpetuate racism through the images they choose to show and the rhetoric they engage in. Criminals are black. All welfare recipients are black. Tea Parties are patriotic and teabaggers are fighting for America. “Their” America apparently needs to be taken back. We could belabor this point ad infinitum. How could any white person in our nation not be racist? It is beaten into us all from day one that black people are fundamentally inferior and animal. How would it t be possible to avoid the taint in a nation where the problem is endemic? And, has always existed? I don’t think it is possible. I think no one can be unaffected.

For those with power in our nation – the color white giving defacto power – it would be impossible to not be racist. I believe it’s a question of degrees. No one is immune. It’s just irrational to believe so. Some white people, for a whole host of reasons, are less affected. Others are affected much more. This is our nation’s reality. Unless we fight it, it will continue to exist in all its glory. During the Tea Party protests, I read how the people I follow on Twitter felt about the Teabaggers and their racist slogans and signs. There was recognition that those Americans were racist, that they are upset because their President is of color. People seemed to feel perfectly comfortable pointing out their racist behavior. That behavior is at the extreme end of the racist spectrum. People are also infuriated by Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Lou Dobbs and Fox News at large. Again, liberal white people seem perfectly comfortable pointing out racist behavior at the extreme end of the racist spectrum.

Now, let’s talk about Senator Reid in the context of a racist nation. Many are of the belief that Harry Reid is not a racist. I’m not picking on Harry Reid. I don’t think he’s a bad guy, but neither do I see how in the world Mr. Reid would be unaffected by the machinations of racism in the United States. He was born here. He grew up here. Recognition of a racist nation is what I think is missing from the discussion or dialogue about Senator Reid’s remark. Instead of using his comment as a teachable moment about endemic racism, even unconscious racism, no one will let the discussion move beyond a faux argument about him not being racist. And, within the logic of the recognition of racism, there is actually reason for Harry Reid to resign. It would make no fundamental sense. To be replaced by whom? A non-racist white Senator in the United States?

Within this framework, it makes no sense to me to say the comment Senator Reid made wasn’t racist. Of course it was. The fact that the statement is true, within the confines of the racist nation, does not mitigate the racist nature of the statement. Of course white people are less threatened by what they consider to be a black person who doesn’t irritate the eye by being too black, and who can switch registers to one that sounds less black. I think we all know this is true. Black is bad. That is the point. And, that is what we should be talking about. The real point to focus on in what he said is that the nation is so racist that the only way a person of color can achieve within it, is to appear to be less like themselves. Damage. Intense damage for people of color. Don’t you think? What I find even more disturbing is not the rally to Senator Reid’s side, but the rhetoric spewed in his defense. He’s not a racist. It’s not a racist statement because it’s true. Really?

At the end of the day, party politics seem to have trumped truth. Don’t split the party. Pretend the statement does not betray what it betrays because Democrats need to stay together in the face of the GOP. I think this is folly for many reasons and I personally resent it. Racism is not GOP specific. It is an American problem. It must be recognized in all corners. Post the Civil Rights Movement, racism was swept under the rug. It did not go away…it code switched. Instead of being in your face,” No Ni**ers” allowed, it became a mind game full of “you are not qualified” or “I’m sorry, we’ve already hired someone”. If you keep sweeping racism it under the rug, for whatever reason, you are complicit. Period.

In a previous blog post, I discussed this concept. I also talked about how, if upon realizing certain thoughts and behaviors of yours are racist, and you don’t metaphorically slap yourself in the head and vow to not do it again, then you are part of the problem and not part of the solution. A work in progress has to be worked upon. These feelings, and, they are feelings, don’t disappear overnight because you know they are wrong. You have to work at it. A lot has been done to you too. And, to rid yourself of it is a life’s work.

Now, you might ask yourself what it is that I want. I’ll tell you. I want people to stop pretending that people here aren’t racist. Every word spoken otherwise, denies my life and my struggles, those of my family and friends. I want people to see racism in degrees, because nothing else makes sense. I want people to admit when they’ve said something racist, and I want people to apologize when they make mistakes and vow to work on it. That’s all I want. And, I don’t think it’s too much to ask. Or, is it?