Battle Royal

[djugurba]

I wrote this as the other thread (thread we will not speak of) was being locked.

Hopefully this thread can keep on topic and avoid the personal attacks that sometimes follow.

The other thread is empirical evidence of ongoing racial tensions in this country.

The more occasions we have to discuss things like this t-shirt, the quicker we move towards a genuine conversation about race. It's been far too long in coming.

But to solve any of this, our society has to get uncomfortable again. We need to dig up and look at the history of race and at the many ways racial tensions are perpetuated. We need to acknowledge our own role in the matter. We need to commit to making our future role different.

People of all colors/creeds can be (and are) racist against every other possibility. This can be overtly, subtly, or inadvertently. This can flow from belief system, intention, laziness or ignorance. But it should be challenged wherever it is. And we should all care to get it right.

In the American South, ignorance is no excuse. The guy selling the t-shirts, a bar owner in Marietta (northern suburb of Atlanta), could not possibly have been unaware of the historical use of chimps, apes, monkeys, etc. as a way to denigrate black Americans. His defense is transparent and loathsome, but unfortunately not uncommon. It bespeaks the urgent need to prevent attitudes such as his from flourishing - but the solution isn't a protest. The solution is a conversation.

Regrettably, it's a conversation most Americans will choose never to have.

Take a few minutes and read Ralph Ellison's "Battle Royal." It should be instructive and cautionary. Some, unfortunately, will probably laugh. But it's worth talking about.

http://www.wicknet.org/english/bfreeman/Anthology/battle_royal.htm