Sunday’s Palm Beach Post’s editorial
dealt with the difficulty Floridians are experiencing in collecting
unemployment benefits, among the lowest in the nation, through a system which
is difficult if not impossible to negotiate.
The editorial included a quote
from a laid-off restaurant server who told the Post’s reporter, in
referring to former Governor, now Senator, Scott’s fear that collecting
unemployment benefits (including the Federal Government’s portion) would discourage
recipients from going back to work, that “I really feel like they did a
disservice by describing us, who have become unemployed through no fault of
their own, as lazy.” She went on to say
that “I’m a Republican. I voted for
DeSantis. I’ve never filed for
unemployment in my life.”
My question is why this
restaurant server is a Republican in the first place, and why she voted for
DeSantis, and probably Rick Scott and
Donald Trump as well, when Republican positions on economic issues offered her
nothing, while the Democratic position took her needs into consideration. What makes people like this vote Republican. Why? I
believe it is a fear on their part that Democrats would take away what they
have, and have worked for, and give it to others who did not work for it. It’s
that simple. It is thinly disguised racism.
And while on this subject,
here’s Leonard Pitts’ recent Miami Herald column which points out that
being “non-racist” is not enough. One
must be “anti-racist.”
Don’t
say, ’I am not a racist’
By Leonard Pitts, Tribune Content Agency on Jun 14, 2020
 |
| Pitts |
This column is presented as a public service.
A few days ago, Greg Glassman, the founder and CEO of CrossFit,
set off an uproar by belittling the death of George Floyd at the hands of
Minneapolis police. In a Zoom call with gym owners, he bristled at the idea of
memorializing a man whose killing outraged the nation and the world.
“We’re not mourning for George Floyd,” he said. “I don’t think
me or any of my staff are. Can you tell me why I should mourn for him? Other
than, it’s the ‘white’ thing to do?”
Then he took his scorn public with a flippant retort to a tweet
calling racism and discrimination “critical public health issues.” Replied Glassman,
“It’s FLOYD-19.” The social media backlash was furious, and Glassman issued a
statement, saying he was “deeply saddened” by the pain he caused. “It was a
mistake,” he insisted, “not racist but a mistake.” By Tuesday, according to the
New York Times, nearly 1,200 gyms had decided to disaffiliate from CrossFit,
and its founder was stepping down.
That said, we aren’t here today to bury Greg Glassman. He’s done
an effective job of that on his own.
No, this is for the next Greg Glassman, the next white person
who finds himself excoriated for saying or doing some racially offensive thing.
It is to beg that unlucky individual to not compound the transgression by
retreating as Glassman did to the cliche of cliches, the one that makes folks
sigh and roll their eyes, that signals like a neon flasher you are not to be
taken seriously. Don’t say what Michael Richards said after he threatened to
lynch a black heckler, what Amy Cooper said after she called 911 on a black man
birdwatching in Central Park, what Roseanne Barr said after likening a black
woman to an ape, what white folks always say when caught with their hands in
this particular cookie jar.
For the love of Heaven, please don’t say, “I am not a racist.”
So what should that person say instead? Glad you asked. Here’s a
template for future apologies:
“I am profoundly sorry for what I said or did. I apologize to
the people I hurt. There is no excuse.
“I won’t insult your intelligence by saying ‘I am not a racist’
because I know I am. As a white person in a society where every institution is
geared to advantage people like me, it is literally impossible for me to be
anything else. In that, I am like a man in a male-dominated society. He cannot
help being sexist, his good intentions notwithstanding. Saying he’s not sexist
is like a fish saying he’s not wet.
“Many of us as
white people struggle with that. That’s because we process racism as a
loathsome character defect, when really, it’s the water in which we swim.
“No, the question is not whether we are racist, but what kind of
racist we will be. Will we be the overt kind, whose behavior marks her from a
mile away? In many ways, her very obviousness makes her the least dangerous.
“Will we be the racist in denial, who thinks that because he
doesn’t use racial slurs and eats lunch with a black guy at work, he’s all
good? He’s ultimately the most dangerous, because his racism is reflected in
implicit bias but otherwise hidden, even from himself.
“Or will we be the racist in remission who knows good intentions
are not enough, that he must consciously commit not simply to being non-racist,
but actively anti-racist?
“That’s what I aspire to and what I hope I achieve more often
than not. But when I said or did the offending thing, I fell short. That
doesn’t reflect my intentions or my best self. So I ask your forgiveness.
“Like all of us, I’m only human. I will try to do better next
time.”
(Leonard
Pitts is a columnist for The Miami Herald, 3511 NW 91st Ave., Miami, Fla.,
33172. Readers may contact him via e-mail at lpitts@miamiherald.com.)
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