Racism is an abomination.
That's the simple of anything that needs to be said about the topic.
That's the simple of anything that needs to be said about the topic.
Now for the difficult.
No doubt you've seen the racist chant from the member of SAE at Oklahoma University. And no doubt you've seen some of the backlash, which was swift and instant, another sign that indeed, we are not the same society in terms of tolerating this sort of thing like we were ages ago.
However, we have other problems in the new society of media. This article for instance on RawStory.com- an op-ed about what kind of boys they are and the stupid apology presented by their parents for them.
No doubt you've seen the racist chant from the member of SAE at Oklahoma University. And no doubt you've seen some of the backlash, which was swift and instant, another sign that indeed, we are not the same society in terms of tolerating this sort of thing like we were ages ago.
However, we have other problems in the new society of media. This article for instance on RawStory.com- an op-ed about what kind of boys they are and the stupid apology presented by their parents for them.
Racism is a learned behavior. That's right. You don't come into this world as a hater of black humans, white humans, or whatever-the-other-color-that-isn't-you humans. So if that's what we believe, and I do, then how is it we are going to spend the next few weeks publicly humiliating these boys and their families. They are already getting threatening phone calls and messages, as if this will somehow teach them to "unlearn" what they've grown up with.
These are privileged white boys. That's not their fault. Think about that. They didn't choose where they were born, any more than you or I did. They were raised in a society that is in the deep south, in likely what is or was a very segregated white area, and then went on to a big university where they flocked to be among their own kind in an all-white fraternity. Now they're caught singing what was probably a song in their fraternity for far too fricking long, which in turn has made them appear to be simply racist pigs. And they may well be. Or they may simply be boys who never ever had to deal with a minority in any important situation in their lives. No influences that were of a minority, no friends, and certainly likely not many kind words among their sphere of influence about minorities.
These are privileged white boys. That's not their fault. Think about that. They didn't choose where they were born, any more than you or I did. They were raised in a society that is in the deep south, in likely what is or was a very segregated white area, and then went on to a big university where they flocked to be among their own kind in an all-white fraternity. Now they're caught singing what was probably a song in their fraternity for far too fricking long, which in turn has made them appear to be simply racist pigs. And they may well be. Or they may simply be boys who never ever had to deal with a minority in any important situation in their lives. No influences that were of a minority, no friends, and certainly likely not many kind words among their sphere of influence about minorities.
But articles like the one on Raw Story aren't going to change that or help this situation. I get the fun this writer is having at the expense of these boneheads, but there's a much deeper issue at hand. By casting out people who are brought up in such privileged and segregated neighborhoods we don't help these boys unlearn anything. Sure the swift move taken by the University of Oklahoma was appropriate and so was them being punished. But slamming these boys and putting the scarlet letter R on their arm while removing their chance at further education at the school will do nothing to make them change their belief systems. We should embrace them immediately and put them to work doing some community service in the city where they might learn the real situations that minorities face while removing the fear(s) they have been taught about those minorities.
What they were doing is awful. But this wasn't murder and it wasn't even a crime. And for one second if we're going back to the premise they were taught this, then all of us need to step back and acknowledge that hypothesis and start considering that this was what these boys knew. Stupid or not, they probably had little exposure to the world as most of us see it and didn't need to. And certainly with parents who write apologies for them (or present them), you can see just how pathetically sheltered these guys were and maybe still are.
That doesn't excuse it! I'm not sympathetic to what they did.
But I'm empathetic to the fact that if you cast them out, isolate them and make their lives a public humiliation, which is what this blogger is doing at Raw Story, then all you'll achieve is them learning they should keep their racism quiet, while resenting the community at large, the same one that taught them these awful things.
I don't think now that racism is coming more forefront in society where we can discuss it, that that's the reaction we want to have for these poor fools. Calling them names, labeling them as simply bigots or worse evil, is an even bigger miscarriage of justice than what they were doing.
Give someone a hug, they'll poor their heart out to you. Cast a person aside, and you'll harden their hearts and never hear from them again. And just because these boys were lucky enough to grow up white and privileged, doesn't mean they don't have something better to offer society. We as a society need to learn how to stop venting our own angers on others and instead welcome people into the fold who are misguided or misled. And these two souls are just that.
I don't think now that racism is coming more forefront in society where we can discuss it, that that's the reaction we want to have for these poor fools. Calling them names, labeling them as simply bigots or worse evil, is an even bigger miscarriage of justice than what they were doing.
Give someone a hug, they'll poor their heart out to you. Cast a person aside, and you'll harden their hearts and never hear from them again. And just because these boys were lucky enough to grow up white and privileged, doesn't mean they don't have something better to offer society. We as a society need to learn how to stop venting our own angers on others and instead welcome people into the fold who are misguided or misled. And these two souls are just that.
No comments:
Post a Comment