Utah Free Press

Pres. BUSH Calls for a “Majority White” New Orleans

Originally published on August 8th, 2007, by Rich Okelberry

Some years ago, while serving in the Navy, I had a discussion with a black friend of mine about the prevalence of racism in our modern society. He argued that all whites were “closet” racists. I responded with the belief that his very statement was racist because it made blanket statements about white people based entirely on their race. My response was met with near rage and a statement that declared that black people couldn’t be racists because they had no power. His basic argument was that you need to be in power to be considered a racist. This statement has plagued me over the years. Not because it’s true but because it is so obviously not. How could someone, that I deemed to be a very intelligent person, hold such conviction about such a ridiculous idea.

While I still do not know the answer to this question, it has caused me to take greater notice of an ever growing acceptance of racist minorities in our society. Since that discussion long ago, I’ve developed a kind of Bigotry Test. It goes like this, when you see or hear something involving race, religion or sex, simply transpose the reference to that with and opposing group. For example, Mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin called for the rebuilding of a “Chocolate New Orleans” and was later quoted in a Martin Luther King Jr. Day speech saying, “This city will be chocolate at the end of the day,” “This city will be a majority African-American city. It’s the way God wants it to be.”

Now this one is easy, it’s hard for most anyone not to see that Ray Nagin is a full blow racist, but imagine it a little different, imagine President Bush saying, “”This city will be a majority White city. It’s the way God wants it to be.” Your TV would turn it’s self on, with every news channel repeating the statement every five minutes until his impeachment. Now let’s look at a few examples of bigotry that are not so obvious, at least until you apply the Bigotry Test. How about Ebony Magazine being called Ivory Magazine or the Black Entertainment Channel could have competition from the White Entertainment Channel. We all are called to celebrate Black History Month but how about celebrating White History Month. Of course these comparisons don’t only apply to race but to gender. What college or university wouldn’t benefit from the department of Men’s Studies vs. Women’s Studies? Is this the kind of equality that our great nation has come to accept?

An equality of unequal playing fields. In an attempt to somehow pay penance for the transgressions of past generations have we built up some kind of new bigotry pecking order? I imagine it would go something like this; Black women can talk trash about everyone with black males a close second, then comes non-black minority women followed by their male counter parts, then women who like every other minority gets to spout racial indignations at white males, all without even a whisper of outrage from the media. The irony about this whole pecking order is the fact that everyone that is considered a minority in this country easily outnumbers white males as a group. Doesn’t that mean that white men must now be considered a minority too?

I just hope that the next time you find yourself laughing to Chris Rock calling whites “crackers” or see Louis Farrakhan referring to his non-black brethren as “White Devils” that you pause for just a second and understand one thing… Even bigotry doesn’t discriminate, power or no power. Watch your favorite news cast, and the next time you see a “black” leader or “women’s rights” activist speaking try out my little bigotry test by inverting who they are talking about, “black” for “white,” “women” for “men,” etc… You’ll catch my drift much faster than reading this ramble.