Color Me Racist

I went to go see the movie Gran Torino yesterday and it was great. Much funnier than the ads have been selling it, although there’s plenty of drama in it as well. At dinner my mom asked me what it was about and I explained it was about how Clint Eastwood plays a lifelong racist who becomes close with the Hmong family that moves in next door to him.
“Speaking of racist what did you think of that speaker at the inauguration yesterday?” she asked me? I wasn’t quite sure what she was referring to seeing as I watched the entire inauguration and didn’t notice anything particularly offensive, with the possible exception of Aretha Franklin’s hat. What was that thing? She then explained the thing she was referring to was Reverend Joseph Lowery’s prayer he gave, specifically the colors rhyme he did at the end. She couldn’t believe he’d say something like that in this day and age. Here it is.



You see my mom heard about this and why it was so offensive when she was listening to Charlie Sykes on her way to work that morning. And he was shocked, SHOCKED, that such a speech would be made in this day and age. He thought this speech was “straight from the way back machine”. I listened to this segment of his show on his website and it appears there were four things about the prayer that offended Sykes and his listeners.

1. He considered the speech racist. He felt that using the words "yellow" and "red man" were offensive and out of date.
2. The line "when black will not be asked to get in back" didn't sit well with them because Obama's black and had just swore in as The President of the United States. How much farther ahead can you get?
3. He didn't like that it ended with praying for "white to embrace what is right".
4. Some listeners didn't like that he was making a joke during a prayer

I guess I can kind of see where they’re coming from although I happen to disagree with all of them on pretty much every single level. I’ll start with the joking during prayer. I’m fine with it. He wasn’t telling us a dirty limerick or starting an Andrew Dice Clay routine, he was throwing some humor into a very serious moment. I think that’s good and not just because I’m an inspiring comedian. I think humor is important and underrated. I think sometimes jokes and satire can explain an idea or point of view better than a straightforward answer ever could. If you don’t believe me watch an episode of The Daily Show, or South Park. I thought the “Cartoon Wars” episode of South Park was one of the best pieces of satirical writing I’d ever seen. And this is nothing new. Everyone from Shakespeare, to Jonathan Swift, to Mark Twain have used humor as a way to get through to people. So the idea that prayer and religion are now going to become a joke because “the liberals” are in power is, for lack of a better word, laughable.
Then there’s the whole “it was racist, he said red man and yellow” argument. Flippant yes, but he was hardly being racist. It would have been one thing if he started going off about “the gooks” or “the feather heads” or something like that. But to me, what he was really talking about was that he hopes people of all colors (and yes we do have different colored skin, it’s ok to say out loud) will work together and put our differences behind us. It wasn’t hate speech and if it was I think it was the most adorable hate speech I’ve ever heard and that the Klan really need to get a new P.R. person. That might be a little difficult because I’m pretty sure the Klan hates Jews as much as black people.
Finally it seemed like the two lines that really got under Charlie Sykes skin were “we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back” and “when white will embrace what is right.”
“Did anybody point out to the Reverend Joseph Lowery ‘um would you turn around here? The President of the United States is black…Hello we’re kind of here.’” Mr. Sykes asked his audience. “No one else has to do what’s right? Just white has to do what’s right. Really?”
I think I can respond to those to statements two ways. Firstly, the idea that now that Obama is president racism is over and everything is right in the world is both a gross oversimplification of race relations and completely stupid. We’re no way near the end racism. Any race. The fact that an African-American was elected president is a big deal and a great sign of the progress we’ve made in what is a relatively short period of time. But it’s going to be years, I’m talking centuries and generations before everyone is really on an equal playing field. It’s human nature to classify things and notice differences. And we’re probably going to keep doing this until we’re in the Gene Roddenberry days of Star Trek where we’re exploring other planets and meeting other species. Who we’re probably going to be racist towards. Speciest? Like I said, it’s human nature.
And finally, and I specifically left this point for last, it’s a rhyme. He was doing a little poem and I don’t mean to insult but this is elementary school, Dr. Seuss level material. Reverend Joseph Lowery wanted “white to embrace what is right” because it rhymed. He wasn’t calling out for the white man to get his shit together, he was being cute. I think, there’s a possibly, that Charlie Sykes wasn’t so mad at what was said at the inauguration but at who was being inaugurated. And no, I don’t think he dislikes Obama because he’s black. He doesn’t like him because he’s a liberal, which is fine. Disliking a person because of their political views as supposed to the color of their skin is actually exactly what Dr. King was preaching about all those years ago. So color me racist, but I’ve got to agree with the rest of “the liberals” who thought it was the best part of the entire inauguration.