Chamblee54

A facebook friend recommended an Upworthy video, Racism explained by a good ol’ Southern boy. PG had to click on the link. He did not like what he saw and heard.
About nine seconds in, PG sensed that something was amiss. “I’m coming to you hear in my track. Today I got Ford F150 and I like it. Yeah I’m a redneck. I always have been…” Years of living in Georgia has given PG a taste of rednecks. This man seemed a bit off.
It turns out the speaker was “a filmmaker, actor, and anti-racism writer.” His name is Jorge Moran. Mr. Moran studied at Savannah College of Art and Design, and has directed several films. His bio mentions bouts with depression, as well as living in Los Angeles. He returned to Tennessee in 1992, after the Rodney King riots.
There are a lot of comments in the text about what “white” has done. As a little experiment, PG decided to substitute “christian” for “white.” “This country was built for christian people. I mean it’s time as Americans, as christian Americans came to terms from that and realized, “We are benefiting from that. We created slavery. We created a culture and system of christian supremacy that has benefited us for 400 years.” You think maybe it’s about time we stop being lazy as christian people and take some fucking responsibility.”
So you say christians should not be blamed for creating slavery. What about the white americans whose ancestors came to this county after the abolition of slavery? What about the majority of white americans, north and south, who did not own slaves? Is the color of your skin the only variable available for blaming something that happened hundreds of years ago?
Lets break down another bit of text. “White people are racists. Not all of them but white culture is. White country is. Our Nation is. Our American culture is full of white supremacy and we live in a white supremacist culture that caters to white people. Everything from the media to education, to art, to culture, to politics are white washed. What is not white washed. As far as the status quo, as far as the dominant culture, everything’s white washed.”
One of the things about American culture is the mixing of white and black. Rock and roll was invented by black people. Christianity, at least the Catholic church and its offshoots, was invented by white people. There is a lot of mixing. Whenever PG goes anywhere, he sees black people. To say american life is whitewashed is ridiculous. When you make statements like that, you make me want to doubt the next thing that you say.
This is not to say that there is no racism. Economic inequality is real. The toxic after effects of jim crow have not faded away. However, rhetoric of the type this video spouts off does not help. Maybe the calling out demanded by this video needs to be directed at Jorge Moran.
The speech has little that you have not heard before. It also does not have any practical way to make a change. “And let’s do something about it. Let’s speak up. Let’s vote. Let’s create legislation and policies that fight against this shit. Let’s make things fair and equal.” Actually, the Civil Rights act was passed in 1964. The Federal Government has been in the business of monitoring Civil Rights violations ever since. Exactly what laws do you want to pass?
When a video like this comes out, many people see it as their duty to praise it. If you do not praise the speech, or if you do not automatically believe every claim made, then you are labeled a racist. After a while, the term racism means less and less. Fire breathing entertainment for SJW is not going to create change. All this one is doing is collecting page views for UpWorthy. Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.