Race Rant by: Pretend Angry Black Man

People who know me, know that one of my more guilty pleasures is to make an issue of race, especially when it's completely unnecessary.  Yeah, everybody finds it pretty annoying when somebody is always whippin' out the race card on everything.  But, in my defense, it can be really funny watching somebody blush and backpedal on a perfectly benign statement that I've "interpreted" as racist and confronted them with.  Even better is watching all their friends silently back away in disassociation.


Aside from the personal amusement, I also keep working my "Angry Black Man" routine as a bit of a backhanded and not-so-gentle reminder that even in serene Midwestern suburbs, racism still exits.  I'm really not a big there's a KKK dude in the bushes guy baby, but I can't really buy into the "It's 2010 man, I think we're over that by now" argument that I hear alot.


Exhibit A:  2 University of Minnesota - Duluth students are in a whole mess o' trouble for making racist comments about an African American Student who was studying in the library with them.  Not only were these girls insensitive and ignorant, they were idiotic enough to post their dialogue on their Facebook pages.  I linked to this article from the UMD Statesman because its the only media source I found to actually print some of the comments.:

The alleged comments state racist remarks including, "ewww a obabacare [sic] is in the room, i feel dirty, and unsafe. keep a eye on all of your valuables and dont make direct eye contact.... i just threw up in my mouth right now....," and "were two white girls.. she already has her 'nigga' instinct to kill us and use us to her pleasure..."

Nice going ladies.  Ain't you heard?  We got a black president now, nobody thinks like that anymore!


The money quote actually comes from Helen Mongan-Rallis in this article from the St. Paul Pioneer Press:

"The outrage [is] that white people would act so surprised that this happened," said Mongan-Rallis, who is white and a native of South Africa. "For people of color, this is not new."

As much as I hate to agree with the token white-person-who-is-more-offended-by-racism-than-people-of-color, she's right.  This type of thing happens all day, every day.  In my experience, the average black person isn't all that interested in discussing racism in America all day long, but it is insulting to hear that our country and world is now so far advanced morally and intellectually that racism has become a figment of our imaginations.

Speaking of "advancement", I stumbled upon this gem the other day under the title: "Black People Genetically Predisposed to be Less Intelligent?" Oh yes, I had to bite.

The article is long and pretty wordy, but the story seems that a Harvard law school student put her foot in her mouth at a dinner party, and is emailing the author to defend herself. Here's her position:

"I absolutely do not rule out the possibility that African Americans are, on average, genetically predisposed to be less intelligent. I could also obviously be convinced that by controlling for the right variables, we would see that they are, in fact, as intelligent as white people under the same circumstances. The fact is, some things are genetic. African Americans tend to have darker skin. Irish people are more likely to have red hair. (Now on to the more controversial:) Women tend to perform less well in math due at least in part to prenatal levels of testosterone, which also account for variations in mathematics performance within genders. This suggests to me that some part of intelligence is genetic, just like identical twins raised apart tend to have very similar IQs and just like I think my babies will be geniuses and beautiful individuals whether I raise them or give them to an orphanage in Nigeria. I don’t think it is that controversial of an opinion to say I think it is at least possible that African Americans are less intelligent on a genetic level, and I didn’t mean to shy away from that opinion at dinner."

Soooo good.  I'll go so far as to grant that intelligence may indeed be genetic, but I don't believe it needed to be said because, what's the point?  What are you trying to prove? Money quote:

Nevertheless, because of and in spite of this era of racism without [self-identified] racists (Bonilla-Silva, 2010), we must remain committed to a notion of racial realism (Bell, 1990) as well as racial idealism, pushing onward and upward against the individual and collective ignorance of our colleagues. Let us use this opportunity to elevate the consciousness of our faculty, students, and staff and build a bridge connecting what we do in our privileged enclaves of the academy with the context of what is happening in the broader world.  

Nobody wants to be a racist.  Nobody really is a racist anymore these days.  I can't agree with the concept of "racial idealism" which I assume looks something like a Benetton ad, but I find it hard to believe in a disembodied "racism fairy" who rides on the wind making racist things happen that are nobody's fault.

I bet if you asked those 2 UMD students a month ago if they were racist, they likely would have thought you were crazy.  Now, everybody knows they're racist, and I bet they wonder what all the fuss is about.