RUSH THE VILIFIED
This whole Rush Limbaugh incident has been a telling window into mainstream America's attitude towards race. If you haven't heard, Rush made a comment on an ESPN football show about Philadelphia Eagles' quarterback Donovan McNabb to the effect that he wasn't that good, but that the liberal media desperately wanted to celebrate the success of the black quarterback, so they artificially talked him up. Since then, the media has vilified Rush, Rush has resigned from ESPN, the Eagles have stood by their QB, and McNabb has responded with class and grace.
I'd like to make three points about how this situation speaks to prevailing attitudes about race in America. Let me preface my comments by saying I am neither joining the masses to speak ill of Rush, nor am I defending his comments. Nonetheless . . .
1. Rush's observation is probably not all false. People in general, cry as they might in opposition, are not open-minded. We all have opinions and have formed our conclusions about things in life. When presented with new information to the contrary, we brush it aside; when given data that supports our conclusion, we trumpet it as gospel truth. If we think Bush is an idiot, any pro-Bush news is discounted and any anti-Bush news is held up as Exhibit A. If we think Kobe is a good guy, any Kobe-bashing is swept under our rug, and anything positive about Kobe is given credence as solid evidence. And so if we think that whites are more suited for the intellectual and managerial, blacks for the athletic and physical, we will filter information accordingly. Was all of the media in on this opinion, and pumping up Donovan as a result? Probably not. But are there people out there that believe in the physical superiority of blacks and the mental superiority of whites, for whom "smart" white quarterbacks and "athletic" black quarterbacks validates their beliefs? Undoubtedly yes. This is the point that Rush was making; that some people believe this. It is a fact in this country, a fact that naive people wish wasn't true, because they would rather believe that racism is no longer a problem in our country.
2. Rush's three co-anchors were silent during his initial comments; given a week to ponder, and to see how Rush was purloined in the media, they returned the following Sunday to issue scathing rebukes of Rush's beliefs. One wondered why we would go twenty years backwards in race relations, while another trumpeted that he never saw Donovan McNabb as "a black quarterback, merely as a good quarterback." I have three problems with the co-anchors. First, your initial reaction to someone's words is what's in your gut; your reaction a week later is what's been polished over to sound good. Second, it isn't that race relations were poor twenty years ago and solved today; maybe Rush's comments will be beneficial for race relations because they will get issues out on the table to discuss, rather than having people hide under the facade that everyone loves everyone and all is well on the race relations front. Third, Donovan McNabb is a black quarterback, and as such bears a greater burden of representation than white quarterbacks. Is it fair that as an Asian-American, I am often looked at to provide the perspective of all Asian-Americans? Yes, it is an unfair burden to bear. But it is a burden I will bear, because on one level, I do represent Asian-Americans in my conduct, just as I represent Christians, young professionals, and Philadelphians in my conduct. Is it fair for Charles Barkley to be a kid's role model? No, but he should take the responsibility, given that some kid idolizes him, to be a good role model.
3. It is so clear to me that we Americans would rather vilify the outright racist than deal with our own subtle racism. Whether we are aware of it or not, we are all racist; and there is something safe about speaking ill of the KKK, Rush Limbaugh, Farrakhan, or whoever else epitomizes for us outright racism. Because in pointing that finger, we deflect attention away from our own engrained, institutionalized racism. We can forget about the stereotypes we've bought into, the subtle mistrust, the unwillingness to be associated with systemic discrimination; because all of this personal dirty laundry gets lost in the spotlight shining on the polarizing figure of the moment. How many racist beliefs do we hold in our own hearts, related to the physical and mental capabilities of African-American athletes? How uncomfortable would it be to air out those stereotypes? How much easier, then, to vilify Rush, and to take the moral high ground in condemning his words. And yet how impossible racial reconciliation will be until we are honest and public about our own racism, rather than equating racism with polarizing comments and actions.
The prevailing attitude in mainstream America, whether spoken or not, is that racial divisiveness is largely a thing of the past, and that if everyone would just get along and stop making race an issue, everything would be fine. But the opposite of racism isn't color-blindness; color-blindness merely grandfathers in an institutional racism that mainstream America doesn't realize (and/or doesn't want to believe) still exists. By bringing up race as an issue, Rush offended people who live in a make-believe world who think that race is still an issue because angry people are still making it an issue. But like it or not, race is still an issue in our country. I do not agree with Rush's commentary, either about Donovan McNabb or about the liberal media. But I do not fault him for saying that race is an issue when we think of athletes.
This whole Rush Limbaugh incident has been a telling window into mainstream America's attitude towards race. If you haven't heard, Rush made a comment on an ESPN football show about Philadelphia Eagles' quarterback Donovan McNabb to the effect that he wasn't that good, but that the liberal media desperately wanted to celebrate the success of the black quarterback, so they artificially talked him up. Since then, the media has vilified Rush, Rush has resigned from ESPN, the Eagles have stood by their QB, and McNabb has responded with class and grace.
I'd like to make three points about how this situation speaks to prevailing attitudes about race in America. Let me preface my comments by saying I am neither joining the masses to speak ill of Rush, nor am I defending his comments. Nonetheless . . .
1. Rush's observation is probably not all false. People in general, cry as they might in opposition, are not open-minded. We all have opinions and have formed our conclusions about things in life. When presented with new information to the contrary, we brush it aside; when given data that supports our conclusion, we trumpet it as gospel truth. If we think Bush is an idiot, any pro-Bush news is discounted and any anti-Bush news is held up as Exhibit A. If we think Kobe is a good guy, any Kobe-bashing is swept under our rug, and anything positive about Kobe is given credence as solid evidence. And so if we think that whites are more suited for the intellectual and managerial, blacks for the athletic and physical, we will filter information accordingly. Was all of the media in on this opinion, and pumping up Donovan as a result? Probably not. But are there people out there that believe in the physical superiority of blacks and the mental superiority of whites, for whom "smart" white quarterbacks and "athletic" black quarterbacks validates their beliefs? Undoubtedly yes. This is the point that Rush was making; that some people believe this. It is a fact in this country, a fact that naive people wish wasn't true, because they would rather believe that racism is no longer a problem in our country.
2. Rush's three co-anchors were silent during his initial comments; given a week to ponder, and to see how Rush was purloined in the media, they returned the following Sunday to issue scathing rebukes of Rush's beliefs. One wondered why we would go twenty years backwards in race relations, while another trumpeted that he never saw Donovan McNabb as "a black quarterback, merely as a good quarterback." I have three problems with the co-anchors. First, your initial reaction to someone's words is what's in your gut; your reaction a week later is what's been polished over to sound good. Second, it isn't that race relations were poor twenty years ago and solved today; maybe Rush's comments will be beneficial for race relations because they will get issues out on the table to discuss, rather than having people hide under the facade that everyone loves everyone and all is well on the race relations front. Third, Donovan McNabb is a black quarterback, and as such bears a greater burden of representation than white quarterbacks. Is it fair that as an Asian-American, I am often looked at to provide the perspective of all Asian-Americans? Yes, it is an unfair burden to bear. But it is a burden I will bear, because on one level, I do represent Asian-Americans in my conduct, just as I represent Christians, young professionals, and Philadelphians in my conduct. Is it fair for Charles Barkley to be a kid's role model? No, but he should take the responsibility, given that some kid idolizes him, to be a good role model.
3. It is so clear to me that we Americans would rather vilify the outright racist than deal with our own subtle racism. Whether we are aware of it or not, we are all racist; and there is something safe about speaking ill of the KKK, Rush Limbaugh, Farrakhan, or whoever else epitomizes for us outright racism. Because in pointing that finger, we deflect attention away from our own engrained, institutionalized racism. We can forget about the stereotypes we've bought into, the subtle mistrust, the unwillingness to be associated with systemic discrimination; because all of this personal dirty laundry gets lost in the spotlight shining on the polarizing figure of the moment. How many racist beliefs do we hold in our own hearts, related to the physical and mental capabilities of African-American athletes? How uncomfortable would it be to air out those stereotypes? How much easier, then, to vilify Rush, and to take the moral high ground in condemning his words. And yet how impossible racial reconciliation will be until we are honest and public about our own racism, rather than equating racism with polarizing comments and actions.
The prevailing attitude in mainstream America, whether spoken or not, is that racial divisiveness is largely a thing of the past, and that if everyone would just get along and stop making race an issue, everything would be fine. But the opposite of racism isn't color-blindness; color-blindness merely grandfathers in an institutional racism that mainstream America doesn't realize (and/or doesn't want to believe) still exists. By bringing up race as an issue, Rush offended people who live in a make-believe world who think that race is still an issue because angry people are still making it an issue. But like it or not, race is still an issue in our country. I do not agree with Rush's commentary, either about Donovan McNabb or about the liberal media. But I do not fault him for saying that race is an issue when we think of athletes.
Comments