I think it does matter, though, and I think it matters why people did it. Police could be irritated by this for more reasons than racism. People I know are irritated by this for more reasons than racism. It's not like racism is all there is. I spent some time looking up the song- I was little when it came out, and I know almost nothing about Chicago, so it never occurred to me it was about a black person. Then I surveyed my friends- who are older- and asked them if it was racial. They didn't think so. But they also weren't that interested. It's really possible that police are more irritated by the second guessing of their actions than by the color thing. I realize some people here are old, and some of you are probably living in racist areas, but people here (and in the streets) need to realize there is a law and order contingent that crosses racial lines. All lives matter- and the police guard a lot of those live.
And have you looked at black racism lately? I've got several black students on my Facebook- and my God- the stuff they post. If I was posting things like that, or if my white students were, we'd be reviled (rightly, I think). At a time when whites are now not the majority, it's probably time to reign in the constant emphasis on white racism- and look instead for police violence motivated by classism and perceived thuggery (which can be black or white- we've got plenty of biker thugs around here, who I am very wary of, since they are one of the big conduits of meth in our area.)
For some people, racism is the only lens (or frame) that people have to evaluate black and white relations, but IMO it's a lot more nuanced than that where I live- and probably everywhere. Not that people wouldn't like to jam a misfitting frame on it- because race baiters will always be with us, as we've seen on this thread, but just because some people want everything to be about race, unfortunately a lot of the time it's about class, or mental illness, or drug addled behavior, or youthful stupidity- race is really just a sloppy, superficial frame- and it's a shame we're not digging more deeply, because I think we'd fix the problems faster if we did. When you tell people who aren't racist, that they are, and folks who are clearly racist (and who hate whites just because they are white) get a pass, you're not going to make much headway. |
