I’m Not The Only One

by Daniel Cuevas

Originally published on Political Storm on October 3, 2007.

2004 marks the 40th anniversary of the implementation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. A result of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, Congress guaranteed all Americans the right to vote in every state in the Union. The Act banned such discriminatory practices, in both the private and public sectors, as voting discrimination, separate entrances and bathrooms, separate sections of buses and the denial of service to blacks by commercial establishments. It also attacked the infamous state-based Jim Crow laws.
The Civil Rights Act was passed in hopes that one day all Americans truly would be treated equally. But despite the passage of the last four decades, equality has not been achieved. What has happened is that the social favoritism that Whites once enjoyed over Blacks has swung in the complete opposite direction, with whites now receiving the scrutiny and scorn once reserved exclusively for Black Americans.
Guilty White liberals, especially those in the media and in various activist groups, have appeared to denounce Whites in the public eye who express sexist or homophobic sentiments. But when it comes to Black celebrities expressing these same hurtful ideas, or when these celebrities even go as far as hurling racial epithets, the liberal-minded seem to look the other way at times.
Take for example White Atlanta Braves ballplayer John Rocker, who in 2000 said in a Sports Illustrated interview that he would never ride the #7 train in Queens. The athlete went on to describe the train’s passengers as welfare mothers, illegal immigrants and AIDS-ridden homosexuals with purple hair. The massive media bashing that resulted from his inflammatory comments was quick and effective. I’m pretty sure no White guy will ever make another public statement like that.
But what about the racist statements made by Black comedians, actors and musicians, using words like “White boy” and “cracker” to describe Whites. I’ve seen this in movies, stand-up comedy shows and television programs, even the ones not geared to Black viewers. Let’s see White comedian Jeff Foxworthy refer to a Black man on stage as “that Black boy.” Not gonna happen.
Then, let’s move to the world of hip-hop, where White rapper Eminem caught a lot of protest (and publicity) in 2000 by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) for his antigay lyrics. The series of GLAAD protests were so widespread and effective Eminem eventually decided to make amends to the gay community by performing a duet with openly gay singer/musician Elton John.
But quick, liberals! Cover your eyes and ears as Snoop Dogg paraded down to the MTV Video Music Awards a few years later, emphasizing his pimp persona by leading two gorgeous women by leash and dog collar. How interesting that this celebrity is able to, even if only in jest, treat grown women on camera like they were his pets.
Hip-hop was at one time riddled with “pimps and playas” (though I think this fad has faded away), referring to women as hos and bitches. Reggae, especially its dancehall sub-genre, is another haven for antigay expression. Homophobia is apparently welcome in the nightclubs and concert halls of the English-speaking Caribbean, and in America it receives a free pass as well.
Most reggae fans will remember the Buju Banton song, “Boom bye bye in a batty boy head.” (Batty boy is a slang term for a gay man, “batty” meaning “buttocks”) I don’t know what you think “boom bye bye in a batty boy head” means, but I and many others interpret it as delivering a fatal blow or gunshot to the head of a homosexual. The song did receive some protest when it came out in the 1990s, but DJ’s in New York radio stations eagerly played the song over the air, and it is still considered a popular favorite despite its chilling message.
Beenie Man, another dancehall performer, is not without his own offensive lyrics, in which gays are referred to as “chi-chis.” Here’s a few of Beenie Man’s lyrics from one of his past hit songs:
“We burn chi-chi man and then we burn sodomite and everybody bawl out, say, ‘Dat right!’/ Hang chi-chi gal wid a long piece a rope.”
If a genre of White-oriented music like country-western, rock, bubble-gum pop music or heavy metal unleashed a swarm of artists over a period of several years whose songs degraded women and encouraged homophobia, how would the media react?
If it sounds like I’m nit picking, perhaps I should explain the main reason I’m distressed by this preferential treatment. I once asked a colleague why he thinks the mainstream media and watchdog groups so readily turn a blind eye to celebrities of color who display sexist, homophobic and even racist behavior in public.
He answered that most White liberals don’t castigate minorities, especially Blacks, for inflammatory behavior because they assume the Black celebrity just doesn’t know any better. The Black celebrity is uneducated, uncultured and ignorant, the mainstream supposedly believes. If that’s not what they believe, that’s certainly the impression I’ve gotten from them.
My friend’s answer changed the way I think about Black and White celebrities. Is this really the mindset of the mainstream that Whites are expected to be thoughtful and careful of what they say, and Blacks are dumb brutes who aren’t expected to be held to the same standards as their Caucasian counterparts? It’s shocking to even wonder if this racist mentality still exists in the 21st Century.
To think that even in 2004, an entire race of people are still being treated like children is to say the least, unsettling.
It’s quite ironic, that perhaps out of fear of being labeled as a racist, guilty White liberals are in fact being racist by holding Blacks in the public eye to a lower standard.
There is some hope. Virgin Records recording artist Beenie Man found out the hard way that his antigay lyrics are no longer tolerated outside of his native Jamaica when he performed at New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom last month. Armed with signs and chants, protesters outside the concert hall screamed “No more murder music!” The protest was made possible thanks to Outrage, a British gay rights advocacy group and J-FLAG (the Jamaican Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays), both of whom have begun a crusade against dancehall artists who insist on encouraging violence against gays and lesbians.
Beenie Man’s concerts have been canceled throughout Europe this year, and he was recently dropped from an MTV-sponsored performance in Miami. According to the New York Times, Buju Banton recently performed at an Olympics party in Athens, but only after being warned to omit any antigay lyrics. And there have been sporadic outbursts of justice and equality as advocacy groups protested the objectification of women by rap acts like Sir Mix-A-Lot and 2 Live Crew. Black activists like the Rev. Calvin Butts has been on the forefront of protesting rappers whose lyrics encourage violence and the continued degradation of women.
There are some who may say this preferential treatment for Blacks is long overdue because of slavery and the blatant institutional racism that followed the Civil War until the end of the 20th Century. But my mother taught me that two wrongs can never make a right. People like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. fought for equal rights, not special rights.
If Americans of color can ever hope to have their demands for racial equality taken seriously, they must continue to call out their own celebrities when they publicly exhibit behavior deemed socially unacceptable for White celebrities. Inflammatory and ignorant statements cannot be simply written off as a “Black thing.” If White Americans wish to prove that they are truly committed to enforcing the whole “All men are created equal” thing this nation was founded on, they must not hesitate to do this.