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Is anything just “racist” anymore?

Jill

“At Rick Perry’s Texas hunting spot, camp’s old racially charged name lingered.”

Paint Creek, Tex. — In the early years of his political career, Rick Perry began hosting fellow lawmakers, friends and supporters at his family’s secluded West Texas hunting camp, a place known by the name painted in block letters across a large, flat rock standing upright at its gated entrance.

“Niggerhead,” it read.

I mean, sure, the n-word is “racially charged.” But also racist.

39 thoughts on Is anything just “racist” anymore?

  1. That reminds me of a line from the NYT coverage of the arrests of Occupy Wall Street protesters on the Brooklyn Bridge. The story said that the protesters were upset about what they allege to be inequities in our society. Uh, no, those inequities aren’t just alleged, the overwhelming concentration of wealth in the hands of the wealthiest Americans is a fact. The only question is how you feel about it.

  2. Perry wouldn’t be the first Republican politician to buck up his chances in a primary election by revealing a deeply held racism. I’m sure he’s unembarrassed.

  4. Seriously. I get so tired of people/the media in general being afraid to call anything or anyone racist, as if being called a racist was worse than actual racism. If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck….

  6. I’m reminded of the Vancouver Olympics opening ceremonies, which featured a video package listing the previous Winter Olympics host communities. You can guess where this is going (or just hit Wikipedia if you’re not aware of the rather… uh… jarring name of one previous host city).

    Thinking back, I have to wonder how the First Nations participants reacted, given the lip service paid to the original residents of the land during the ceremonies.

  7. The n-word may be ‘racially charged,’ but I don’tt see it in this example. This is just plainly the historical inheritance of living in a place where racist beliefs were explicitly enforced by law until they have now learned how to enforce them implicitly, but to explore that, would I suppose be more in depth than most news organizations are willing to go.

  8. auditorydamage:
    I’m reminded of the Vancouver Olympics opening ceremonies, which featured a video package listing the previous Winter Olympics host communities. You can guess where this is going (or just hit Wikipedia if you’re not aware of the rather… uh… jarring name of one previous host city).

    Oh, come on. They don’t really hammer Lilles in Norway.

    (But seriously, I remember those ceremonies too, and it’s not until you made this comment that the obvious problems with “Squaw Valley” ever occurred to me, despite usually being aware as possible of such names in this country. I wish it wasn’t so difficult, didn’t require such constant vigilance, to move past privilege.)

  9. Well, we still have a professional football team called the “Redskins” and a lot of people seem to think that’s just fine.

    So…still some work to do.

  10. Chuchandra: How many liberal, non-white football fans have you met? Generally, the kind of people who follow professional sports teams are very conservative, so that may have something to do with the glacial pace of change in team names.

  11. Just would like to point out that *niggerhead* in this context is racist. However in the interests of accuracy it can also be used to describe a pile of rotten wood ie black wood. As an example it is an old out of date term for a piece of rotten wood that is partially buried under water ie a niggerhead or at least it was used in that context by old fisherman in the 1800s and early 1900s.

  12. This avoidance of the word ‘racist’ is such a plague, and I don’t even think it’s new. Its implications are pretty damning, too, given that ‘racially charged’ is such a clunky phrase with so many extraneous letters that writers can’t even use the excuse that they’re using the most efficient phrasing.

  13. igglanova:
    This avoidance of the word ‘racist’ is such a plague, and I don’t even think it’s new.Its implications are pretty damning, too, given that ‘racially charged’ is such a clunky phrase with so many extraneous letters that writers can’t even use the excuse that they’re using the most efficient phrasing.

    Perhaps because actual racists would be screaming five minutes after publication that the use of the n-word in that context isn’t racist and critics are the real racists for pointing out the racism.

    I wish I were exaggerating, but I would not be surprised if there is an element of truth to my snark.

  14. auditorydamage: Perhaps because actual racists would be screaming five minutes after publication that the use of the n-word in that context isn’t racist and critics are the real racists for pointing out the racism.

    I wish I were exaggerating, but I would not be surprised if there is an element of truth to my snark.

    Sadly, this makes perfect sense.

  15. Yeah, it seems pretty likely. Doesn’t say anything better about the integrity of the publications, though. I’d say ‘GROW A FUCKIN SPINE’ but you just know it’s not gonna happen.

  16. Rick Perry?

    Is this the same idiot who wants to involve the U.S. military in our so-called “drug war” inside Mexico?

    As if our drug policies and our military haven’t enough lives already…

    But now we can fuse the two! Now we can spike the price of yet another meaningless conflict and get absolutely nothing accomplished whatsoever. Why, it’ll be just like Iraq and Afghanistan–except closer to San Antonio! Gosh, now we can watch drones blow-up funerals and weddings in Juarez, and go shoe shopping all in the same day!

    This man is a genius. Pure genius.

  17. Ugh, this story…when I read it last night or whenever, I was at once completely disheartened and totally enraged…and also just so so fucking tired of racist bullshit like this pretty much getting a pass.

    And yeah, “racially charged” instead of “racist”. Nice. Reminds me of reporters and such using euphemisms like “unwanted sexual contact” instead of “sexual assault/rape”. They don’t want to use the real terms because they sound so awful…and that’s precisely fucking why you should. Because the reason the terms sound awful? Is because what they describe IS AWFUL, and softening it through prettier language is fucking insulting.

  18. Civil rights history provides a lot af anecdotes of this nothing is racist meme. After Emmitt Till’s lynching the Citizen’s Council claimed that the purpose of segregation was to protect Blacks from this very type of violence. Segregation, not racist. Indeed, it was pro-black.

    Ergo, the importance of States Rights. You couldn’t come out and just say you why you really supported segregation. Afak only Russell and Eastland came out cleanly in ’64. Byrd and Thurmond and the rest would maintain it was all about the constitution, not hatred for Blacks. And people at the time took these distinctions seriously. John Stennis was hailed as a hero, endorsed by the BYTimes even, when he replaced openly racist Theodore Bilbo. By then Stennis had already prosecuted black men by using confessions extracted from police torture. No racism there.

    Only lynching and joining the Klan (by the 1930’s) was considered racist. And even then, what does being the leader and founder of a Klan chapter mean?

    …he once had a fleeting association with the Ku Klux Klan. And what does that mean? I’ll tell what you it means. He was a country boy from the hills and hollers of West Virginia. He was trying to get elected. –Bill Clinton on Robert Byrd

    No racism.

  19. Yep. Language is just another tool of oppression.

    People come to believe that ‘racism’ is a bad thing? The powers that be redefine ‘racism’ so that any criticism of white people by minorities is ‘racist’.

    People come to believe that ‘torture’ is a bad thing? The powers that be redefine ‘torture’ so that nothing we do to non-Americans fits the definition.

    People come to believe that ‘rape’ is a bad thing? The powers that be… okay, I’ll be honest, most Americans don’t actually believe that ‘rape’ is a bad thing. That’s what ‘rape culture’ means.

    But, at any rate, the way it works is that the PTB assert, against all evidence, a new definition of a word. ‘Racism’ means discrimination against white people. ‘Sexism’ means discrimination of men. And so forth. And when they make a big enough fuss about it, the ‘neutral’ arbiters of truth like the NYT cease to use the word at all. Because it’s ‘controversial’ to call someone racist, and they have to remain ‘impartial’.

    auditorydamage, you’re not snarking. That’s exactly how it works.

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  21. I remember a few years ago there was a landmark somewhere in CA whose name had the n-word in it, and they were *finally* changing it. It was pretty wretched to see how many people–who had no personal investment in this place–were all upset that people ‘felt the need’ to change the name. (As if somehow taking racist slurs out of our landmarks is more racist than leaving them in.)

  22. My students do this all the time. They say things like “There’s something…kind of…racial…about the way the Indians are portrayed in Peter Pan.” And I say “You mean ‘racist.’ The portrayal is incredibly racist. For next class, please read this essay on the perception of Native Americans in Edwardian England, so we can discuss exactly what Barrie is doing here and why.”

    In that case, I think they’re pussyfooting around because they know I love the book, and somehow they think that means that I’ll be upset if they admit that it’s racist.

  23. The usual dodge to avoid calling something racist is that “we can’t know what’s in the hearts and minds” of people who use that kind of language. Richard Cohen of the Washington Post, whom I ordinarily have little use for, had a good line on this: He called in “the CAT-scan theory.” (In the specific instance, he was talking about anti-Semitism, not racism, but it’s the same principle.)

  24. When I lived in Dallas, TX I was repelled to hear about the Koon Kreek Klub (charming, huh?) which is west of there, out in Henderson County. It’s a big private fishing/hunting reserve-community that is not only exclusive, but also segregated (except, I was told, for the service staff). And suddenly all the giant strip clubs in Dallas made sense to me–these spaces aren’t really only about watching women take their clothes off, just as the KK Klub isn’t only about hunting and fishing: it’s about entering into another space/time when you can not just turn back the clock, but go even further to revel in being a first-class citizen while all the second-class citizens have to pleasure you.

  25. logoskaieros:
    I remember a few years ago there was a landmark somewhere in CA whose name had the n-word in it, and they were *finally* changing it. It was pretty wretched to see how many people–who had no personal investment in this place–were all upset that people ‘felt the need’ to change the name. (As if somehow taking racist slurs out of our landmarks is more racist than leaving them in.)

    I think you’ve hit the nail on the head here, painting over the rock is hushing up the history of racism, not making a stand against it.

    My opinion is that there are instances of the n-word being ‘racially charged’ but not racist, however this isn’t one of them. Actual examples are things like Dick Gregory’s autobiography ‘N—–r’. Richard Pryor’s album ‘That N—–r’s Crazy’ or hip hop pioneers NWA.

  26. Fat Steve:
    The n-word may be ‘racially charged,’ but I don’tt see it in this example. This is just plainly the historical inheritance of living in a place where racist beliefs were explicitly enforced by law until they have now learned how to enforce them implicitly, but to explore that, would I suppose be more in depth than most news organizations are willing to go.

    True. The media will just latch on to the n-word and use that as a quick, sound-bite on the evening news. You have to look deeper at the historical context of Texas and it’s relations with minorities throughout it’s long history. I’ve been watching PBS’s “Prohibition” recently, which gives you a clear understanding of where racial hatred starts and the terrible effects it continues to hold on America.

  27. Politicalguineapig: Chuchandra: How many liberal, non-white football fans have you met? Generally, the kind of people who follow professional sports teams are very conservative, so that may have something to do with the glacial pace of change in team names.

    I know this wasn’t directed at me, but: a lot. Let’s not pretend that the problem with the Redskins is that it’s only white and/or conservative people watching them. There are a metric ton of self-identified liberal people and POC (who are not indigenous people) who don’t see any problem with naming a team the Redskins or with doing the tomahawk chop at Braves games.

  28. Politicalguineapig:
    Chuchandra: How many liberal, non-white football fans have you met?

    A lot. Not only can I say anecdotally that nearly all my male friends are football fans regardless of race or political orientation (pity I can’t stand it,) but also the Nielsen ratings showed that ‘Monday Night Football’ was the only show with consistently similar rating shares among both Caucasian and African American viewers.

  29. Apparently “In the U.S., more than hundred “Niggerheads” and other place names now considered racially offensive were changed in 1962 by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, but many local names remained unchanged.” There’s a lake in the Adirondacks that got its name changed from Nigger Lake to Negro Lake, and later to something else. Pine Lake? I forget.

    Agatha Christie’s book ‘Ten Little Niggers’ was changed to ‘Ten Little Indians’ and finally ‘Then There Were None’. I saw a stage version of that and the island was Soldier Island. So militaristic, it was disgusting

  31. Tei Tetua:

    Agatha Christie’s book ‘Ten Little Niggers’ was changed to ‘Ten Little Indians’ and finally ‘Then There Were None’. I saw a stage version of that and the island was Soldier Island. So militaristic, it was disgusting

    I don’t understand what you mean by this. Are you implying that ‘Soldier’ is as offensive as the n-word or are you mocking the idea that someone could be offended by any word in the name of a play? Either way it’s a false equivalence, and not in the slightest bit funny or clever.

  34. “Hunting Camp” is racially charged. It’s been my understanding that these have traditionally been the meeting grounds for the white brotherhood.

    “N**** drivel” is racist.

  36. I have exactly no surprise that Perry’s family had a hunting camp with a racist name, or that the US media is refusing to call it racist.

    Unfortunately, I also have exactly no surprise that this past weekend, a white feminist at SlutWalk NYC carried a racist sign. Yeah, yeah, the quote is from Yoko Ono and John Lennon. But it was wrong for them to say it, and it’s wrong for this woman to use it. It’s racist. And as feminists and progressives and social justice advocates, we need to be calling this out when it crops up in our own ranks, not just among our opponents. And if we want women of color to commit to solidarity with us, then we must commit to solidarity with them. Which means, for one small example, not making signs like this, and if we see other white feminists doing it, telling them it’s racist and not ok. Yes, the woman in the picture put the sign down when one of the organizers, a black woman, asked her to. But no black woman should have had to see the sign, much less be the one to ask nicely for it to be put down. No black woman, no woman of color, should have to see or hear any racial slur in feminist space or at feminist events.

    Mods: OK, not strictly on topic. I wouldn’t post it here if there were an on-topic thread for it. I’d love it if we could have one, actually. Can we?

  37. what amazes me is the mental gymnastics people do to rationalize how issues involving “nigger” are not racist. this is just another example.

  38. FatSteve, Esti, Chuchandra: Okay, I guess my response went a little over the top. Not being a fan of most sports myself, I kind of take it for granted that almost all sports fans are white. I suppose the fact that my state tends to be really white and cold also influences who shows up to games. (If one’s used to a warmer climate or doesn’t want to freeze while waiting for a bus, watching the game inside one’s house tends to be appealing. From observation, I’ve noticed that perceptions of the temperature tend to vary by race. If it’s 40-45 degrees, the white kids will still be in short-sleeve tees, and everyone else who can afford it will be bundled up in their warmest coats.)

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