Diving in with Ice Cube
It appears that others see that the race issue needs further examination. Not the blatant confederacy, KKK, white power type of racism but the continuous, acceptable flow that exists everywhere, every moment of the day. I want to say it’s ignorance but I think that would be ignorant. You can tell. You can tell when someone knows when they are saying something they shouldn’t say. The other day, Cody did a re-enactment of someone about to tell a racist joke or make a racist comment. The swiveling of the head looking right, then left and then the ducking in, moving closer to the recipient for the commentary. It’s everywhere from the seemingly positive (well, you know, Orientals take school so much more seriously) to the obviously negative (blacks and Hispanics bring the property value down. It’s a fact! That doesn’t make me racist!!). Now it looks like a show (created by Ice Cube and Culter - the guy who did The War Room) on FX in March will be diving head first into this taboo arena. Not in a “wife swap” kind of way, which can be quite entertaining simply because the two subjects are so polar opposite, so there’s conflict and of course, there’s always something to be learned from “the other side”. To me, the Trading Races is more like a scientific study goes Hollywood. I could be wrong, as I only caught a little on the news and have only been able to find limited, regurgitated information on the web. Doesn’t it seem that there is one guy out there interviewing, documenting and reporting the news and everyone else just kind of gets his stuff and has one of their people read or write it? To me it does.
Anyway, shockingly, I digress.
Two families. One white, the other black. They live in the same house for a month to six weeks. State of the art makeup artists have each person in the makeup chair for a grueling five hours (it bugs me if I have to spend more than thirty seconds doing the whole makeup gig). The black family is turned into a white family, and vice versa. They go about their business experiencing life “from the other side” and then go home and interact with each other. Stereotyping reaches so many different levels from language to interpersonal relationships to sports to education, it simply does not end. Why? Because no one likes to be caught off guard, blindsided if you will. If you can anticipate someone else’s response or actions in a certain situation you have, in your mind, maybe got the upper hand or can gauge your reaction. No one likes to be “out of control”. Don’t we all do that? When we have to deliver unpleasant news to someone, how many different scenarios do we play in our heads? We try to anticipate. The only way we can anticipate is to use from our own frame of reference and other outside sources. I don’t only go by the information that I have personally experienced but I also try to glean from external sources, trusted sources. It helps to empower us. But much of the time we garner from sources that are less than trusted. Are less than honorable. Simply because we do not know the ulterior motives. We do not realize or want to acknowledge that many of the sources of information today have ulterior motives. Correction. Strike today. This is not a condition that is exclusive to our generation. Rather it has existed since the beginning. I wasn’t there, but I can safely say that it has always been this way. The reason democracy is a great idea is because it involves everyone. As much as those in power want to cast the communist light on those of us who believe we all should be involved in our society, that is the actual definition of democracy. A societal government run by and for the people. Unfortunately, any time you start working with people all of their vices, shortcomings, sinful behaviors, and ulterior motives come into play. That is why it is crucial to have everyone involved. When you only have, say, a certain segment of society represented, democracy is weakened, because so many are left without a voice. But those in power, throughout history, have always wanted to spin a positive light on their leaders’ actions. As it stands currently, information is shared with the masses by only a few people. Because of certain deregulations within the FCC, what used to be a very diverse market is now very very narrow. Only a few rich white guys own all the sources of information – cable news, newspapers, magazines, publishing, satellite etc. Not a good thing. That’s why I listen to community radio – like Pacifica. Ones without corporate ties.
I’ve done it again, haven’t I? Geez. Digression is a disease.
This “Black. White.” premise is promising. You get the titillating tidbits – the guy at the counter telling the black-now-white guy that it’s a good “white” neighborhood actually saying it’s the last bastion. This is not unusual. I would love to express surprise and stagger back holding my hands to my mouth sputtering the words “NO! It can’t be!” I have seen it over and over again. Racist commentary expressed like air through the nasal passages. What I do find perplexing is the assault on political correctness. Say..wha?
The definition:

- Of, relating to, or supporting broad social, political, and educational change, especially to redress historical injustices in matters such as race, class, gender, and sexual orientation.

Why do people find this so objectionable? Why do people balk at the notion of having to think about the offensiveness of their commentary? I would think it is because people want to speak freely, express their honest opinion without having to bowdlerize those opinions because of others over-sensitivity. Or is it that people get really really frustrated having to change anything they are in the habit of doing? Could be a mix of both. I remember driving a neighbor’s kid to school with my boys. He wasn’t my favorite kid on the block, frankly, he was the least favorite. But his mom was working and he needed a ride, so I thought I would help.
I don’t know what brought it up but this kid started in on the infiltration of Asians (from India to China to Japan –hated them all) into our neighborhood. How it used to be such a great neighborhood but now it was ruined. I looked in the rearview mirror and saw his mom and dad sitting in my backseat. I, being my usual diplomatic self, told him that if I heard another racist word come out of his mouth, he was walking. Everyone has just as much a right to live here as he and his family do. Sheesh. Third grade. It wasn’t him. It was what he heard at the dinner table, in the kitchen, in response to news report, in response to a traffic altercation. Kids are sponges and they usually pick up the filth that we adults throw down. Even the most innocent and miniscule germ laden remark is picked up and stored.
On the show, not only do we get the outside world’s response to race but we get the inside view as well. The families chosen are purposefully open minded. It isn’t like they are looking for redneck racists to score on. I believe what they are trying to expose is not the extreme but the normal. What we truly experience every day. What has become the magnet on the refrigerator or the appliance on the counter, something we see repetitively to the point that we no longer register it. The casual barb. I believe at one point the white woman uses the word bitch in a conversation. She is surprised by the negative response, and we see her crying saying “I was just trying to talk black.” These are not people whom one would consider racist or insensitive. It appears the makers of this show made a conscious effort to get people that were acutely aware of social injustices and made an attempt to pay particular attention to their actions. I find that so telling. I don’t think there is a human being in this country that does not have a streak of racism somewhere within themselves. I think the moment you say you are not a racist, you set yourself up to be categorized under the heading “denial”. What causes this is anyone’s guess and I’m sure that there is some governmental study being conducted as I write being funded by our tax dollars that is trying to find the answers. I think that we have all experienced negative incidents with members of the opposite sex and members of other races and religions. Unfortunately, those negative incidents are burned into our training, and depending on when it happened during the formation of ourselves determines the significance. If you are molested as a small child by an uncle, it is almost certain that there will be something in your mind that triggers distrust towards older men. If you are attacked by a group of white men as a teen, you will have strong feelings about groups of white men in the future. Is this stereotyping? Well, if you freak out every time you see a group of white men, there’s a problem. But if you assess the group with a sense of caution, using that experience to make you wise yet not fearful you are not stereotyping. Some incidents are so traumatic, so life-altering it is almost beyond comprehension to believe that one can ever overcome the destruction. But it seems to me that when incidents that occur involving a certain segment of our society are magnified, repeated and emphasized by a biased media that seems to use stereotyping as standard practice, it would cause an incredible burden. Imagine living in poverty, which in of itself is wrought with violence fear and uncertainty. Imagine being a bright teen who takes school very seriously and is desperately trying to make it out of the situation into which he was born. It is exhausting, battling the constant pressure of those who mean you harm, of those pulling at you for your time your attention your efforts your resources. Imagine having to guard the little you have all the time, because there is always someone with less who wants what you have. You can never drop your guard. You can’t dress as you want, perhaps presenting in a more conservative “bookish” way because again, you will be targeted by your peers. So you dress down, you dress as they do. Then you are in the wrong place at the wrong time and your life is over. Because of the actions of others around you, because of the reporting of media sources bias in regards to societal position and race, you are cast as someone you are not. I can not begin to fathom what that boulder looks like from below and how impossible that mountainous incline must seem. To point at a success story and say “see he did it!” is like expressing that two swimmers are equals when one has a rock tied around his ankle. All might seem equitable on the surface, but who knows what lies beneath?
Quite a while ago, my brothers, sister and I got together and decided to get my mom a car phone. The thought of her having car trouble, stranded in the dead of night, on an abandoned road, in the woods….well, we wanted her to be safe. Sure enough, she gets the phone and promptly breaks down. What I remember most about her story was that three separate cars stopped to help her. All of them black.
To me that is so incredibly significant. I have found that to be true on almost every occasion in my own personal experience. I think back to the number of times I have had car trouble, and every time, it has been either a black man or a man from what appears to be modest means that stops to render aid. The cliffnotes should never ever replace the novel. We really need to try to see the individual. Remember, Bundy was a good-looking white guy. You just never know what someone is all about from the exterior.
So, I am looking forward to this show. The more insightful, circumspect shows that cause us to reflect, to consider our own perspectives, the better.