Video of British “soul” singer Amy Winehouse, under the influence and singing some juvenile ditty replete with racial epithets, surfaced over the weekend on the world wide web, courtesy of News Of the World. The video, recorded by her husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, shows Winehouse and a female friend in an apparent advanced state of inebriation starting to sing a song that begins with the word “Blacks.” The duo halt their saucy rendition and implore the husband-cameraman to assure them that he is not actually taping the scene. After they are satisfied that they are enjoying utter privacy, they go on to sing a verse and a half of some jingle that is consists mainly of a string of familiar racial slurs. Winehouse accompanies the shocking display with at least one hand gesture that involves her stretching the corner of one her eyes back while singing a word that is often construed as derisive toward Asians.
The troubled star Winehouse has since claimed that there was nothing racist about her or her behavior saying, “I’m the least racist person going.” Photos of Winehouse among an array of drug paraphernalia are also available with the NOTW story.
New York City educator Debbie Almontaser was, according to the New York Times, forced to step down from her position as founding principal of the Kahlil Gibran International Academy public school, before it even opened. It was her dream that the school could mold a curriculum that would serve a broad cross-section of NYC kids and produce graduates fluent in Arabic and with a clearer understanding of the Middle East and Islam, so as to be prepared and qualified to go forth, as “ambassadors of peace and hope,” and bridge the ever-widening chasm that separates East from West.
Almontaser, a Yemen-born, New York-bred Muslim, tendered her resignation in the wake of a deliberate smear job by a New York Post reporter who artfully misused her words, quoting her out of context and omitting qualifying clauses from her statements that mitigated what the Post presented as militant rhetoric.
Daniel Pipes, director of the self-described “think tank,” Middle East Forum, a conservative watch dog group with their eye trained on Muslims, sees Almontaser’s efforts at the Gibran school as part of a long-con strategy of Muslims to promote radical ideals through “soft” jihad. Pipes contends that Muslims are slowly and, more importantly, lawfully infiltrating, at a molecular level, all facets of American society. Pipes fears Muslims with radical leanings are operating under the radar and are ultimately intending to impose sharia law in the United States.
Whereas Pipes might view Barack Obama as a potential Manchurian Candidate type of un-witting operative, a less savvy group of fear mongers began work in January smearing “Barack Hussein Obama” by planting seeds of dread via a chain e-mail that claims that Obama is a closet “radical” Muslim extremist. The email reminds us that “the Muslims” endeavor to destroy America and that one of them in the White House would certainly accelerate their affecting that end.
What if Barack Obama is Muslim? He certainly chose a strange route along which to run for president. You would think a Muslim extremist mole would at least come up through the Republican Party to take us off of the scent for a while longer. But no, this crafty underhanded bastard has risen to the precipice of prominence as a radical reform Democrat. That’s “reverse psychology,” where you hide in plain sight and so forth. More diabolical still, as a college student, Obama changed his name from Barry back to his original christening, Barack. Damn, he’s good.
Who would suspect a guy of East African heritage with an African surname and a middle name identical to the family name of an infamous Islamic dictator of being Muslim? The length of exacting calculation to which this man and his cabal of coup d’etat hopefuls must have gone is horrifying to contemplate. But, the most daring and paradigm-inverting tactic that he has employed thus far has been to speak at length on the subject of race at a critical juncture of a tightly contested bid for his party’s nomination.
He had to do something to divert the scrutiny of the press from his glaring Muslim-ness and steer the focus toward a safer subject. So this cunning operator presented himself as someone who comes from a culture and community that struggles with its own conflicted sentiments toward the white race in general.
The 9/11 Truth-ers and Loose Change folks–the people promulgating the notion that the Bush administration, in cahoots with World Trade Center ownership, blew up the WTC themselves and blamed it on al Qaeda as an excuse to wage war on Iraq, or some such business–never saw this one coming. The only problem with the Loose Change theory is that Cheney and Co. quite obviously needed no complex and impossible-to-pull-off conspiracy in order to go to war. They just told some lies to buy some time, sent in the troops, were found out in their lies, and re-elected. Where is the necessity for an intricate conspiracy plot in all that? Here’s the conspiracy you fricking yahoos, it’s not this president who is doing al Qaeda’s bidding, it is the next president who is a secret Muslim.
If Obama gets to the White House, is he going to blow up his own crib, family, flat-screened TV, and his own ass, like some crass suicide bomber? If your goal is to assassinate the leader of the free world does it make you re-think your plans if you are the leader of the free world? Or, would he quietly wait it out through two terms of molding the new Great Society and, after he’s out of office, with his full compliment of Secret Service entourage in tow, pass the floor plans of the White House, along with lists of security pass codes and descriptions of secret handshakes to some thickly-bearded guy in a turban on a bridge in Ankara or Damascus?
What if they are right about him being Muslim but wrong about him being “extreme”? What if he’s just a regular old Muslim, like five or six of my neighbors? Most are single mothers who I rarely see or hear anything out of unless they are coming from or going to one of their multiple jobs. Directly across the street from me is an African-American Muslim bachelor who drives a fairly new pick-up truck. There is often a lot of foot traffic in and out of his house. But it’s mostly just the white work crews he regularly hires to lay tile and frame walls. He’s remodeling his house. Pretty scary.
What Up, America?
In my line of work, I hob-nob with Caucasians of every stripe. I have been shocked and disappointed by the reaction of many White folks–many of whom I have known for years and consider friends–to last month’s “speech on race” by Barack Obama. When I learned the speech was in progress (and lacking cable) I frantically searched the radio dial to find someone broadcasting it live. I finally found the one and only station.
I found the speech to be honest and very moving. I was swept away–surely Americans would embrace a man capable of such modest, intelligent bravery. The abject, hysterical hypocrisy of the “Reverend Wright Controversy” would soon be put to rest…
From the neighborhood bar, to the hallways of various work places, to snatches of conversation overheard on the street, these White people were not only unimpressed by (what they’d actually heard of) Obama’s speech, they were very angry at him. They viewed him as a phony and a racist.
Almost every day, I hear White people drop the “N-bomb”, mock Black speech patterns, sneer about Blacks supposedly being parasites, over-sexed, stupid, violent, loud, messy and arrogant. I hear them state matter-of-factly how their music sucks and their clothes are silly. What angers these Whites most of all is how Liberals “coddle” and “make excuses” for them.
In some circles, it is talked about in code words. In others, more crude terms are used. While some White people strenuously agree with such talk, others sigh and nod knowingly. Some try to diffuse such situations with “humor”. Once in a while, some White people actually defend Black people. These Whites are usually, in so many words, referred to as naive or worse. One thing I never see in these cases is people leaving that neighborhood bar, workplace or street corner with friendships dissolved forever, never to return. Yet that is precisely what some people expect of Obama, based on a few comments by his minister.
These White people almost never consider themselves racists–they are merely saying things that “everybody knows”. This crap is so deeply ingrained in White American culture, so ubiquitous, that it is almost a part of our identity. If I totally avoided people who engage in this type of racist behavior, or the establishments which tolerate it, I would never be able to leave my house.
The sick part of all of this is the amount of projection involved. When White Americans say something rude or lascivious, or attempt to dance, or bust a move athletically, when they borrow money or intend to buy illicit drugs or sex, when they depict a person with false eloquence, self serving generosity, or unthinking religiosity, how often do they affect a “Black” accent?
What Mr. Obama politely called “White Anger” is real and in many cases, justified. This other stuff is just raw, ignorant racism. Everybody knows that if the Republican Party “repudiated” everyone engaged in this type of behavior, they would have to fold up shop tomorrow. Sadly, the Democratic Party wouldn’t be in very good shape either.
Back to the live broadcast of Obama’s speech: when he’d finished, the voice of a middle aged white man broke in… “Oh brother, give me a break!” he said. I then realized that the only radio station I’d found that was broadcasting the speech live was a right-wing talk show–to mock it.
These are the (legal) things Marion Kind has done for money: cabbage picker, office clerk, landscaper, ice cream man, injection molder, forklift driver, film and stage actor, drycleaner, comic book artist, truck driver, dishwasher, fanzine putter-outer, bartender, housepainter, singer, UAW shop steward, warehouse and packaging person, courier, waiter, guinea pig, illustrator, poet, writer, fashion model, five instrument recording artist, assembler, construction, cabbie. Not saying he did them well, only that he got paid.
My boyfriend thinks Ali G is racist. I just don’t think that he understands some of Ali G’s jokes–so when I tell him that he’s a DUMBASS (I’m a nurturer) for not laughing at Ali G, he plays the “I’d laugh if I wasn’t completely morally offended” card–to which I make my “I’ve lost my erection” noise–I’m not sure how to spell that sound. It’s a sort of “Beeeeeyooow,” going downhill noise. So now we’ve been fighting all morning about whether Ali is racist.
Jesus, I think two white people fighting about what’s racist…is racist (or a really good college class). The one time I’ve been called a racist–to my face–was when I broke up with a mixed (half black, half white) guy that I was dating and he told me that I must be happy to be away from him so that I could go back to my “latte lunches and dinner parties.” Being a starving artist who frequented the local food bank quite often, I was like “oh man–that sounds nice…” But he really meant “white activities.” What I was really glad about when we broke up had nothing to do with race…it was more about not having porn playing on the TV all day long as casual ambient soundscapes.
I told my ex that breaking up had nothing to do with race–it had to do with CRAZY. But maybe that’s racist. I have to admit…I’m always thinking people are being racist. I’m like my ex (except for the porno muzak thing). I thought my cab driver in NY was offensive. He referred to a Chinese man as “speaking in Gibberish.” Then he quickly felt guilty and said to me, “I shouldn’t say that. Some Chinese spirit will get mad at me and throw noodles at me in my sleep.” My ex mother in law–a sweet Catholic mother of 8 children, loved and adored by all who know her–got angry when a car stereo salesman tried to “Jew her down.” They know not what they do…well, maybe.
I’m not in the best of moods–I think I’m gonna start working on a book called ‘It’s not fucking true, not EVERYBODY poops’.
I’m at Starbucks in Hollywood and the guy next to me is describing last night’s pitbull attack. “Blood everywhere. I was punching his head trying to get him to let go of the Corgie…you could have dropped bombs on the dog and he wouldn’t have let go…look at that girl…oh fuck, check her out…so you could have dropped bombs on that dog and he wouldn’t have let go.”
What the fuck is wrong with people. Everyone is dumb or a whore. Or talking loudly. I’m in a town of dumb people. Or as I should start to come to think of them, “my people”. In New York it was neurotic and here it’s dumb. As a friend once said to me, “dumb is easier to navigate then neurotic.” True. Now the pitbull guy just said “Women are designed for sex”. Well, I guess that’s why I have those arrows that appeared on me at the age of 22, pointing to various parts of my body–“you can put it here…or here…or up here…or rest it on my shoulder. It’s all good.”
I’m gonna get up and move to another table–I’m gonna get up, scream “RACIST!” and then screech out of the parking lot with Fergie’s “London Bridge” blasting…so everyone is offended.
Weedman was a correspondent on “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart and lived in New York City right up to the time the Iraq war started. During the Gulf War she lived in Amsterdam and learned Dutch and did odd theatre. When the Iran contra thing was happening she was growing up in Indiana listening to Bowie and Costello. After Kurt died she moved to Seattle and lived there for five years as a writer/performer. She is most well-known for her AWARD winning self absorbed solo shows. Her book, A Woman Trapped in a Woman’s Body, was recently named by the Kirkus Book review as a “Top 10 Indie Book of 2007”. Now she lives in Los Angeles and has had a dreary day appearing on “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and played “hysterical woman” on several episodes of “Reno 911”.
www.laurenweedman.net