voices of those who speak out about racism

Because all charges of “racism” are valid and merit our careful consideration right? Like Rep. Cynthia McKinney, former Congressperson from my state of Georgia, who slaps a Capitol police officer and then starts yelling “racism.” Right..saw that one coming from a mile away. Or how about this gem this week when Isaiah Washington, Dr. Burke on ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy, claims that his dismissal from the show was due to…here we go again….”racism” and that he “didn’t speak like [he]’d just left the plantation.” (The ironic part here is that he was canned because he made a comment against what, we can only assume from this, is an even more protected class!)

This is what “voices…speak[ing] about out about racism” are often talking about. The charge of “racism” is too often used as a “Get out of Jail Free” card after a black person screws up in the public eye (see McKinney’s actions and Washington’s comments for example). The sad thing is that these usually meritless and often silly charges obscure the rare, but legitimate, highlighting of racism in our society. However, when the left and their friends in the media, given credence and coverage to charges of the type made by McKinney and Washington, they are likely do more to harm the cause of identifying and exposing real racism in America. I think most Americans will respond to real racism but will sit back and roll their eyes and laugh at the McKinney/Washington type claims.

I feel that racism will be “stemmed” when white folks start recognizing their role in the perpetuation and institutionalization of racism. When white folks say that we should not teach kids (and I am presuming that you’re including white kids too) to see racism, then we are basically saying that those same kids should ignore the voices of those who speak out about racism.

Also, I’ve posted about using the terms, PC, Political Correctness, Politically Correct, etc. on previous posts. The best debunking of PC that I have ever read can be found over at Zuky.net.

Here’s an excerpt:

Simply put, the great “PC” cliché, as commonly deployed in mainstream discourse, is cultural propaganda designed to befuddle and misdirect while defending the current power structure. All politics deal with power relations, and in the debate over America’s alleged climate of “political correctness”, there’s a stark asymmetry of power between the defiant megaphone-wielders who complain of being constrained by humorless hypersensitivity from below, and the under-represented people of color, women, LGBT, handicapped, poor, and otherwise marginalized or dispossessed people who have no choice but to absorb the linguistic, cultural, and physical barbs of the ruling class. The megaphone-wielders feel psycho-emotionally oppressed by their inability to crack puerile ethnic jokes without criticism; the under-represented simply are oppressed.