2008 Woodie Awards
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Progressive Paulitics... A Little Less Conversation, A Little More Action
By Paul Perry on 3/1/07
Now I know a little bit about how John Kerry might feel. The near victor in 2004, swift-boated and flip-flopped out of the few thousand votes necessary to win the presidency, seemed almost resurgent and among one of the leading contenders for 2008 until "the joke." He said something along the lines of how students who do not study will end up getting stuck in Iraq, initially refused to apologize, then did so and gracelessly bowed out of campaigning for candidates in the '06 midterms and any second chance bid for the White House.
I made a joke, too. I wrote up a short, perhaps overly sarcastic post on the Daily Jolt that highlighted a number of events (a hip-hop concert, Sen. Obama's announcement for president and a day of service) celebrating African Americaness during the week of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and wryly remarked that "for anyone not interested in these activities, don't worry, things will go back to 'normal' very soon."
Friends and even those who did not know me personally or that I am, indeed, African American, have since told me they thought the joke was right on target (if not a sad indicator of the reality of diversity on our campus) and that they received the sarcasm with the laughs I intended. Others did not look so kindly upon my attempt at race-based humor.
On behalf of the Daily Jolt and for those who felt offended by my commentary, I stepped up to the plate and publicly apologized at the University Diversity public forum on Feb. 22. You must hold yourself accountable for every word you write and its effects on others. Fellow Eagle columnist Caleb Enerson is perhaps feeling the effects of this through the small-scale Lysistrata that is being threatened against him following his attack on feminism at a campus that is almost 70 percent female. Smooth move, buddy.
The diversity event saw lots of great discussion about everything from homophobia to misogynist lyrics in many of the hip-hop songs we enjoy. Most of the talk centered on issues in the African American community and that is what I will address here. A few highlights stuck out for me. A white female spoke out against the eagerness of some people of color to call whites "racists" at the first hint of prejudice. I related to her statement a great deal, as this term was leveled at me following my post by many who perhaps had no idea who I am or that it is functionally impossible for me to be racist in the manner in which I was being accused. Racism is a term that we as people of color cannot be too zealous in our use of. Racism is forcing people of color to the back of the bus, strategically underfunding their schools and avoiding issues that hit their communities particularly hard. It is prejudice institutionalized against a whole race, not a mutual misunderstanding between classmates or a joke misinterpreted.
I made a joke, too. I wrote up a short, perhaps overly sarcastic post on the Daily Jolt that highlighted a number of events (a hip-hop concert, Sen. Obama's announcement for president and a day of service) celebrating African Americaness during the week of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and wryly remarked that "for anyone not interested in these activities, don't worry, things will go back to 'normal' very soon."
Friends and even those who did not know me personally or that I am, indeed, African American, have since told me they thought the joke was right on target (if not a sad indicator of the reality of diversity on our campus) and that they received the sarcasm with the laughs I intended. Others did not look so kindly upon my attempt at race-based humor.
On behalf of the Daily Jolt and for those who felt offended by my commentary, I stepped up to the plate and publicly apologized at the University Diversity public forum on Feb. 22. You must hold yourself accountable for every word you write and its effects on others. Fellow Eagle columnist Caleb Enerson is perhaps feeling the effects of this through the small-scale Lysistrata that is being threatened against him following his attack on feminism at a campus that is almost 70 percent female. Smooth move, buddy.
The diversity event saw lots of great discussion about everything from homophobia to misogynist lyrics in many of the hip-hop songs we enjoy. Most of the talk centered on issues in the African American community and that is what I will address here. A few highlights stuck out for me. A white female spoke out against the eagerness of some people of color to call whites "racists" at the first hint of prejudice. I related to her statement a great deal, as this term was leveled at me following my post by many who perhaps had no idea who I am or that it is functionally impossible for me to be racist in the manner in which I was being accused. Racism is a term that we as people of color cannot be too zealous in our use of. Racism is forcing people of color to the back of the bus, strategically underfunding their schools and avoiding issues that hit their communities particularly hard. It is prejudice institutionalized against a whole race, not a mutual misunderstanding between classmates or a joke misinterpreted.
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