It certainly hasn’t been a dull summer. Let’s go down the list in no particular order shall we?
- Shirley Sherrod
- Black Panther Party of 2
- Mel Gibson
- Oscar Grant – That guy in the video getting shot in the back by police officers
- Arizona and their immigration reform
- NAACP vs The Tea Party
- Racebending and The Airbender
- Discussion on repealing the 14th Amendment
- And, of course, The Old Spice Guy
Yes, The Old Spice Guy. If there’s been any effective weapon against the wave of FOX News-scare-white-people tactics it’s been The Old Spice Guy. How is it that a commercial is more challenging to the status quo, than anything else on television or in the media right now? Why has that commercial caused such open national glee in a time when Americans seem to be so divided about everything?
Is this the start of something new or is it just a rare example of successful marketing? I hope it’s the former but as I look at the above list, and add O.S.G. to it, he is sadly the exception and not the rule. We still have a long way to go if he is in fact the start of something new. There’s a lot of venom in this country when the subject of race is injected in the dialogue. Especially when the racial matter is a black & white one it’s our deepest, biggest, most infected national wound and we refuse to take the bandage off and clean it properly. The wound is keeping us from being 100%, it’s still making us ill, and still killing us. One man of mixed race attaining the highest office in this country isn’t going to fix that. The wound is serious and it needs serious medical attention. STAT!
One of my favorite comedians right now, and has been for a while so I’m glad to see him getting his due, is Louis C.K. He has a brilliant show on FX (“Louie”), that is basically about his life as a single father of two raising his kids in NY while also managing to be a comedian and alive in general. Anywho, a bit in the 2nd episode is one of the best moments I’ve ever seen on television. The segment opens up on Louie and a bunch of his (real life) comedian buddies playing poker. As comedians do there’s a lot of crass jokes and insults being thrown around at the table. It’s all good macho fun until “faggot” is thrown out in the same “we’re just joking around” kind of way. One of the comedians at the table who in real life is close friends with Louis C.K. is also an openly gay stand-up named Rick Crom. The jovial banter quickly (but not abruptly) ends and Louis asks Rick if he gets offended when he uses the word in his act. Rick gives an amazing monologue about the term faggot and what it means to hear it as a gay man. After he calms Louie’s anxiety about using the word in his routine by saying “I think it’s funny when YOU use it but do you want to know what it means?” He continues with a history lesson about the origin of the word (whether it’s accurate or not isn’t important…it’s not about that.) He talks about how when they use to burn witches they would use a bundle of sticks for kindling (this bundle of sticks were called faggots), and since homosexual men weren’t worthy enough for the stake they through them in with the kindling, hence “flaming faggot”. He also added that every gay man at some point in his life has had that word violently shouted at him by one or a group of people and every time they hear the word all of that pain comes right back into the forefront. Then he finishes with “so use it, get your laughs. But now at least you know what it means.” The rest of the comedians are silenced. Watch the clip here.
I applaud Louis C.K. for putting this scene in his show – apparently it’s based off of a real conversation he had with Rick Crom. It shows a maturity I rarely see in today’s comedy/ society. Louis also has a great bit about being white and acknowledging the privileges of it. He talks about how it’s hard to use a term like “nigger”, “faggot”, “kike” and really get under the skin of a straight white man. There really isn’t a word that like his comedian friend brings up a truck-load of traumatic images and experiences. I don’t think a lot of comedians today or people for that matter consider this aspect of any marginalized groups point of view. Everyone isn’t on the same equal plain. Some are higher up and it’s generally easier to hit people with stones if you’re throwing them down then if you’re throwing them up. Which brings me to Mel Gibson and all the other messes this summer brought with its intense heat (funny how the heat always brings out the good ol’ fashioned racism in this country.)
I don’t want to go on and on about my admiration for Louis C.K. but those two examples of the effects of discrimination is fascinating. Everything I’ve listed above and many more have a similar affect to my person like the word “faggot” affects a gay man. I don’t necessarily need to hear the word “nigger” shouted out at me to feel a fear boil back up to the surface. A video of a young innocent black man like Oscar Grant being pushed face down on the floor of a public transportation station by two transit cops and one of them shoots him in the back does the same thing. It brings up images of black people being sprayed by hoses of water, attacked by dogs, hit by clubs and bats all at the command of police officers. Those images come right to the front of my mind and they aren’t even mine (meaning I didn’t live through them). I did however live through Rodney King and the LA riots.
Hearing Mel Gibson say that he hopes his wife gets raped by a “PACK of niggers” also has an effect. The guy I used to watch catch bad guys alongside Danny Glover! “PACK!” He said, “PACK!” Everything he said and did is messed up on so many levels I could spend en entire entry on that alone. (I mean telling the mother of your children that you hope she gets raped – pack or no pack – is sick.) Let’s look at the dynamics between Sgt. Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) and Sgt. Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) and in a very simplistic way try to compare it to Hollywood’s concept of racial politics in America.
Sgt Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) is a flashy, mysterious, maverick (Mel Gibson was in a film called Maverick … weird) type who plays by his own rules. His Special Forces training in the military makes him a true LETHAL WEAPON. He’s the character, if given a choice, I would most want to be. He injects the adrenaline into the story. He has the sexy story line, (not to mention has sex.) We even get to see him in moments of intimate passion with various ladies. Heck he almost banged his partner’s daughter in the first film.
Sgt. Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) is a steady, family man, ready for retirement that goes by the book. He was in the military, but not Special Forces. He’s a good cop, but not extraordinary…good. He’s cranky and tired and TOO OLD FOR THIS. It’s not until he meets Riggs that he becomes anything more. We don’t really see Roger get it on, sure there’s a scene where he pulls his wife into a bath tub with him but we cut away before we get to any heavy breathing. I like Murtaugh, and I think most people do, but he’s not the fun guy. Riggs is.
In the film they’re supposed to be equal partners in crime busting but they establish pretty clearly that Riggs outmatches Roger in every way. Roger is relegated to taking the viewpoint of the audience, he has to constantly be in awe of his partner’s abilities. This dies down as the films progress and they do strike a balance of sorts, but it took a while. I do think it’s worth pointing out this notion of false equality. The first film is a particularly good example of this. The two are never equal, one is clearly the heavy lifter, one clearly has more screen time, one clearly has better fitting, hipper clothes. The other is a parent. I’ve always wondered how it would have played out if the were brutally honest about their status in the film.
Murtaugh: (in Danny Glover accent) Hey Riggs, how come you get to do all the cool stuff and make sexy time with the beautiful ladies in this franchise?
Riggs: (In vague Australian, American accent) Well Rog, that’s because: (1) I’m a sex symbol, and (2) no one wants to see a pack of darkies bumping uglies in the dark. I mean who will be able to make you out without the lights on?
Murtaugh: Riggs, you really are racist.
Cue 80’s saxophone riff. BWAANAAAY WAAAANAAAY BWAANAAY!!!!!
This disparity made me think about the NAACP, Tea Party, New Black Panther party (of 2) and Shirley Sherrod. If you’ve seen any of the footage of FOX News covering of these events you’ll learn about a very interesting phenomenon; Black people are racist and are discriminating against White People. Okay. Before I begin, let me say that I do believe black people can have a deep seeded hatred for whites. I do believe there have been moments where a black person in a position of power has misused said position to enact some sort of revenge or discrimination against a white person (s) But I do not believe that this is a common practice to the point of generating fear the way FOX news did with both the New Black Panther Party and Shelley Sherrod. To see and hear such contempt at the thought of reverse racism was mind-boggling. It seemed that the newscasters and other conservative talking heads were so happy to finally be the victims of oppression that they were SO happy to use the term racist offensively instead of defensively. This is what I thought Fox wanted to say about all this reverse racism –
FOX: “See black people we’re (White Americans) an oppressed people too, how could you (Black Americans) do this to us? There is just too much inequality, too many glass ceilings, too many consequences of institutionalized racism that we can no longer remain passive victims of you’re (Black Americans) abuse. This has been a long time coming, we will march and take to the streets until the balance of power in this country is truly like our news coverage…Fair and balanced.
But I hate to break it to you FOX, it just don’t work that way. Sorry. If the NAACP challenges The Tea Party movement on it’s MANY racist actions, signs, etc., the Tea Party movement may not be an inherently racist institution but there are a bunch of individuals who are racist in the party. Then, instead of chastising and amputating those ignorant limbs of their organization, the term “racism” gets thrown back at the NAACP?!? Look I’m not the biggest fan of the NAACP, there are many things wrong with the organization, the biggest one being that they still use the term COLORED. Old, antiquated, and out of touch sure. Racist? No. You need power for that and last I checked the biggest event the NAACP was able to pull was the attempt to LITERALLY bury the “N” word. In a coffin. That they put in the ground. (Sigh) Apparently the “N” word is either a vampire or zombie because it’s risen from the grave and shown up, deformed, on a bunch of Tea party signs.
Black people are about 12 to 13% of the population. We are not the majority FOX News, we’re not even close to taking anything over. “Nearly half of African Americans born to middle-income parents in the late 1960s plunged into poverty or near-poverty as adults” and “forty-five percent of black children whose parents were solidly middle class in 1968 – a stratum with a median income of $55,600 in inflation-adjusted dollars – grew up to be among the lowest fifth of the nation’s earners, with a median family income of $23,100.” These are my parents, I’m a product of this type of situation. I remember very clearly growing up a child of the eighties My mom had a good job and my dad had a good job with a (at the time) with a prominent telecommunications company. When he got laid off in the early nineties it shook our family. Everyone had to work. We were previously middle class but we weren’t secure enough to survive something like that without sacrifices. Like both my parents getting two or more jobs. Something they still do to this day. And we survived. We kept our house and stayed in our relatively safe, suburban neighborhood. Many friends I grew up with didn’t. My parents were one of the first generations of black people in the country who went to college and got decent jobs afterward. They were comfortable and able to afford a somewhat stable middle class existence. But what makes their experience so much more fragile is that they were the first generation. Not the 2nd or 3rd. They didn’t have wealthy parents, or accumulated generational wealth, land, real estate, etc. So, when something like mass lay offs happen to them it has a lasting effect that’s damn near impossible to recover from. I don’t think people realize this.
Yes, we will all be minorities very soon in this country but that time isn’t here yet. Calm yourself. You’re anxious and you’re nervous and you feel like your drowning. But all your doing is making a bunch of noise and tiring yourself out, you must calm down, catch your breath and stand up. Because the water… it ain’t that deep.
Fortunately during all this craziness I’ve taking solace in a truly funny ad for Old Spice deodorant and body wash. Maybe I’m alone in thinking that the commercial is revolutionary but I don’t think so.
(1) It’s different and in this world of same, that’s something.
(2) Its lead played by Isaiah Mustafa is doing something I’ve seen very seldom. Something the ‘Lethal Weapon’ movies only let Mel Gibson do. And that is being the confident, sexy and funny alpha male without being a gross stereotype.
I applaud the writers and casting directors for allowing this to happen but I want to really applaud the actor himself for his portrayal, he’s really funny. It was his force of personality that won the role that probably wasn’t written for a man of color and it’s his delivery that we quote ad nauseam. The actor’s/character’s race is the least important thing about the commercial and conversely became the most important. It’s hard to think of a television show with a confident, leading man who happens to be black. Will Smith is confident but he isn’t really a sex symbol. Denzel is intense but getting older. Jamie Foxx is hit and miss and is seems more misses lately. I just think it’s bizarre that in a time with an African American president the one positive black male role model we can all agree on is a soap salesman. So I ask, can Old Spice disinfect the wound of racism?
As much as I’d like a commercial to be a lasting ointment on the national wound that is racism I don’t think it will be. Commercials are by their very nature fleeting, so I continue to search for an ointment elsewhere. I continue to search for something that will last longer and generate the same type of barrier crossing popularity. Something that will give us a clear illustration of how things should, and could, be – if we as a country are to have any kind of future. Today I am hopeful because I believe I have found that vision of the future. I’ve seen its messenger. So, without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, I give you Ms. Janelle Monae.
