How Not to Address Racial Bullying

Just don't talk about it.  Pretend it doesn't happen. Or, if you try to do that and the story still won't die, give it the 70 seconds of airtime it deserves and make it clear there will be no further comments.

I want to be fair to the media here. Part of the reason why this story slipped under the radar is that the woman at the center of this story has made it clear she doesn't view this as behavior that is unique to the RNC, and has turned down multiple requests for interviews. I can't fault her for not wanting to relive this humiliating and frustrating experience over and over again. Life goes on.

What I can do, though, is talk about my own frustration-- because there are broader aspects to the way this incident played out that will not be brought into the public discussion, and they should be. While CNN was still burying this story, Jamila Bey did a piece for the Washington Post that is very worth a read in full, particularly since the camerawoman was a close friend of hers.  In particular, the part of the story that happened after the officials for the convention showed up to investigate is worth paying attention to. She writes:

"At this point, I expected my friend to tell me how the RNC apologized profusely, how they genuinely seemed to feel bad and how they themselves became outraged by the whole thing. She didn’t. Rather, she told me that RNC security investigated by asking of the assailants, 'Were they black or were they white?'"

I've never been a security guard before, but I expect there is some sensitivity training involved when it comes to getting a physical description of the people you are trying to track down from someone who has just been attacked. To say that this was an indelicate way of going about it is to be charitable. A more accurate assessment of their lead-off question might start with the words overtly offensive. It should also include the phrase statistically challenged and possibly indicate that they were blind in every sense of the word. Surely, the actual RNC officials who came by later would do better, right?  They couldn't possibly try to minimize what happened by immediately falling back on the defense that these people (who, let's not forget, had front row seats by the press pit) must have been attendees, and not actual delegates or people with any influence in the party.

Except, of course, that's exactly what happened.

I keep hearing we live in a post-racial world, one where "reverse discrimination" prevents people from getting the jobs they deserve. "Legitimate" male white privilege is just a figment of your imagination, and certainly wouldn't happen if you were barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen making sammiches for your six kids where you belonged. Or, you know, in a zoo or something.

I am enraged by this. Everyone should be enraged by this. But mostly, what I'm enraged by is that these nameless bigots got to spend some extra time in the strip clubs and then go home to their local political scene and their families with no repercussions whatsoever. Predictably, the comments in the few places where this was given the attention it deserved  have been "pics or it didn't happen", or "they were plants".

This should have been a wake up call. Instead, the offenders get a slap on the wrist, and we get a snooze button and get told to go back to sleep. Don't worry. I'm sure the alarm will go off again. That's a comforting thought, isn't it?