I used to make fun of the 43rd President because he was an oaf. Just plain stupid. But he was always stupid George W. Bush with the lowest approval rating in history...never stupid white trash George W. Bush. Apparently I wasn't doing anyone any favors by sparing him such racial epithets.
Apparently that kind of thing is still okay.
Today I came to the realization that I live inside a bubble that is my race. I am, and have always been, open-minded but today I know for sure that something is different for me than it is for the rest of the world. Perhaps my Southern upbringing has skewed my perception of progression. I live in a city that is--fifty years since Brown v. Board of Education--still desegregating its schools. Maybe the strong tradition of orality in my family has kept the stories of a bygone era too alive for me, while those truths remain invisible ghosts to the rest of you, too distant to be disturbing. Whatever the reason, it's different here in the bubble. In the bubble, we see images like this and are sickened. We are frustrated. And unfortunately, we are silent.
Today I was sick with confusion after seeing the editorial, and further nauseated when other bloggers and news sites tried to feed me bullshit about the purpose of the cartoon. I KNOW that the murdered primate is an allusion to Travis, the chimpanzee who gave a performance worthy of a "COPS" episode yesterday when he mauled his owner's friend. I KNOW this, and I do not care. I couldn't believe that most assessments I read pointed first to the author's "satirization of the economy," and then mentioned that race MIGHT be a slightly darker undertone.
Yes. And the sun MIGHT be slightly warmer than my floor lamp.
There is a dead monkey who is alleged to be the author of the stimulus bill. WHAT MORE was needed in order for this to be wrong? I don't care how thought provoking this Delano character usually is. What he submitted for national publication today is abhorrent. People are losing jobs by the hundreds daily, and this man will be allowed to return to work tomorrow despite being responsible for one of the most insulting and unimaginative pieces of propaganda I've seen.
Further, I was frustrated. Frustrated to know that tried my damndest to leave my bubble. I had warned everybody who would listen to me to support the man who has become President as exactly that--as a man. I begged my peers and like-minded counterparts to resist the temptation to support him as our President, because he is everyone's President. But maybe we SHOULD have hailed him as the Black Messiah--why not? Black Messiah, dead monkey, you take your extreme and I'll take mine, right? This all made me want to scream. But who is the only person who acts as my voice? Al damn Sharpton. Nobody--black nor white--takes Al Sharpton seriously (nor should they). I'm not sure who is still letting him be the poster child for equal opportunity, but what can you do?
So, back into the bubble I go. What will happen to these sentiments I have, I'm uncertain. The heat of my frustration and hurt may boil up in here, but there is likely no point in letting it stew into a rage. It will probably congeal again into complacency and quiet disdain, because despite every step of progress someone will still see one of the most phenomenal men alive as subhuman.
Apparently that kind of thing is still okay.
Today I came to the realization that I live inside a bubble that is my race. I am, and have always been, open-minded but today I know for sure that something is different for me than it is for the rest of the world. Perhaps my Southern upbringing has skewed my perception of progression. I live in a city that is--fifty years since Brown v. Board of Education--still desegregating its schools. Maybe the strong tradition of orality in my family has kept the stories of a bygone era too alive for me, while those truths remain invisible ghosts to the rest of you, too distant to be disturbing. Whatever the reason, it's different here in the bubble. In the bubble, we see images like this and are sickened. We are frustrated. And unfortunately, we are silent.
Today I was sick with confusion after seeing the editorial, and further nauseated when other bloggers and news sites tried to feed me bullshit about the purpose of the cartoon. I KNOW that the murdered primate is an allusion to Travis, the chimpanzee who gave a performance worthy of a "COPS" episode yesterday when he mauled his owner's friend. I KNOW this, and I do not care. I couldn't believe that most assessments I read pointed first to the author's "satirization of the economy," and then mentioned that race MIGHT be a slightly darker undertone.
Yes. And the sun MIGHT be slightly warmer than my floor lamp.
There is a dead monkey who is alleged to be the author of the stimulus bill. WHAT MORE was needed in order for this to be wrong? I don't care how thought provoking this Delano character usually is. What he submitted for national publication today is abhorrent. People are losing jobs by the hundreds daily, and this man will be allowed to return to work tomorrow despite being responsible for one of the most insulting and unimaginative pieces of propaganda I've seen.
Further, I was frustrated. Frustrated to know that tried my damndest to leave my bubble. I had warned everybody who would listen to me to support the man who has become President as exactly that--as a man. I begged my peers and like-minded counterparts to resist the temptation to support him as our President, because he is everyone's President. But maybe we SHOULD have hailed him as the Black Messiah--why not? Black Messiah, dead monkey, you take your extreme and I'll take mine, right? This all made me want to scream. But who is the only person who acts as my voice? Al damn Sharpton. Nobody--black nor white--takes Al Sharpton seriously (nor should they). I'm not sure who is still letting him be the poster child for equal opportunity, but what can you do?
So, back into the bubble I go. What will happen to these sentiments I have, I'm uncertain. The heat of my frustration and hurt may boil up in here, but there is likely no point in letting it stew into a rage. It will probably congeal again into complacency and quiet disdain, because despite every step of progress someone will still see one of the most phenomenal men alive as subhuman.
