Thursday, July 15, 2010

Are We Really A Multicutural Society Or Are We Just Faking The Funk??

So I was at work today and some people were talking about the Braves game that the department is attending tonight. A couple of people were talking about doing the "Tomahawk Chop". For those of you who don't know what that is, it's a motion that the fans make with their hands simulating a chopping motion with a tomahawk in hand. Someone mentioned that it was offensive to Native Americans. That person happened to be Native American and he said that in the past at Braves games, he has asked people not to do it because it was offensive and would do the same tonight. Everyone laughed and completely dismissed this. One person even had the audacity to say that they were still going to do it and there was no reason for anyone to find it to be offensive. I was outdone and incensed. Although I am not Native American, I am African American and am all too familiar with symbols that offend an entire race of people. I asked them how dare they tell him what he should be offended by. I said it was totally inappropriate to tell someone who's ancestors were basically annihilated what he should find to be offensive. A young Latino woman said that she's not offended when bars serve chips in sombreros on the Cinco De Mayo. I told her, just wait until the racial profiling laws concerning Latinos catch on nationwide, then she might feel differently about symbols that are offensive to her culture. Her people have not been oppressed like Native Americans and African Americans but the writing is certainly on the wall that we are headed down that road. What galls me about this whole situation is how this society thinks they don't have to respect or recognize the culture and struggles of others. Society doesn't want to acknowledge how those past struggles have spilled over into today and affects how people are treated and how people are thought of. Nobody wants to call a spade a spade. Native Americans had their land stolen and were damn near obliterated by the so called "founding fathers". African Americans were kidnapped from their home, brought to a strange land against their will and forced to work for free building a country in which they have not had all of their inalienable rights for the overwhelming majority of this country's existence. They were raped, beaten, hanged, murdered and every other atrocity you can imagine. What people are most unwilling to acknowledge is that these atrocities were perpetrated by the government, not some random renegades carrying out their own agenda. We are all expected to not only revere these people but also allow these crimes to be swept under the rug while the same mentality continues to run amok in a still pervasive and lately not too subtle manner. I don't expect white people and/or the government to apologize for the sins of the past. But I do expect it to be acknowledged as the greatest crime against humanity and that it still has its effects today. I would also like for it to be acknowledged that white people benefit from slavery. I don't expect them to relinquish the "white privilege" because I'm sure I wouldn't if in their shoes. Why would I reject something that makes my life easier? All I'm saying is just acknowledge it....acknowledge it. Racism is still here contrary to popular belief. Remember we are only one generation removed from Jim Crow. The Civil Rights Act is less than 50 years old.

I guess when you live in a society that gives you the luxury of believing your culture is the only one that matters, it's easy to get tunnel vision causing you to be dismissive of others but that doesn't make it right.........There are other people living here too, open your eyes and your mind....

4 comments:

  1. I can't believe they told him - in his face - that HE shouldn't be offended. Seriously?? I'm glad you said something, and had I been there, I would have said something, too! That's just RIDICULOUS. I mean what if the practice was to hop on one foot and shout "darkie" - would that be ok? People are stupid.

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  2. ROTFLMAO!!!!! Girl you got me in stitches! I got a mental picture and it was a wrap....Classic!!!!!

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  3. Could you see a whole football stadium of that? What if it wasn't The Washington Redskins and it was The Washington Darkies and they decided to do the Bankhead Bounce every time the team did something good? LOL!

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  4. LMAO! OMG! Stoppit girl u killing me! *faints*

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