Tone deafness speaks louder than words in racist language

Oklahoma state Sen. Joseph Silk (R) said of members of the LGBT community "they don't deserve to be served in every store." 

The fallout from the drunken, racist chanting that got Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s Oklahoma chapter banished from campus Tuesday and its two ringleaders expelled is not the only race-related issue that’s causing consternation.

Univision host Rodner Figueroa was fired Thursday over comments about first lady Michelle Obama.

“Mind you, you know that Michelle Obama looks like she's part of the cast of Planet of the Apes, the film,” Figueroa said.

Taken in isolation, Figueroa’s comment is shameful. Coming so soon after SAE’s expulsion and video showing the fraternity’s house mother Beauton Gilbow gleefully singing the n-word shows how hideously tone deaf Figueroa’s comments really are.

Granted, I’ve noticed that some people are defending Gilbow, including African-Americans, especially Trinidad James , the rapper whose song “All Gold Everything” is blaring in the background in the now-infamous video.

“It’s a rock and a hard place,” said James, whose real name is Nicholas Williams, in an interview with CNN. “I can’t be as upset at that lady. I’m upset at the fraternity because what they’re saying is a chant that’s just completely disrespectful to the black race. As far as that lady goes – man, that’s an old lady, man. Let that lady be.”

The rapper told CNN he doesn’t want people getting up in arms about others using the n-word when it’s frequently used in hip-hop music, likening it to parents telling their children not to curse after hearing their parents curse.

I’m not willing to give her a pass. Not because she’s old and not because she’s using a word she’s hearing in a hip-hop track. If I’m singing a song that has the word in it, I skip it or use another word, whether it’s on YouTube or it’s at karaoke. Or I don’t even pick the song to begin with. Some people equate being old with being able to say whatever they want. Being old doesn’t take away your responsibility to know better or to do better.

One of my Facebook friends, who is black and who is the sister of one of my very closest friends expressed disappointment that the two ringleaders were expelled yesterday, saying that simply kicking out the students does nothing to educate them on just how hurtful the words they used are and does nothing to attack the attitudes that led to the use of those words to begin with.

She also noted the role alcohol played in the chants, saying, “alcohol brings out the truth.” That’s why I can’t subscribe to the notions that one or two bad apples ruined the fraternity or the notion that only the ringleaders and the people participating in the chants should have to face the consequences for their actions. In addition to those reasons, I remind readers of an Edmund Burke quote for why I believe the entire fraternity should have faced the music: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

In addition, the disgraced SAE chapter hired prominent attorney Stephen Jones, who defended Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and plans to sue the university over its expulsion from the campus. Perhaps they could argue that Oklahoma University president David Boren overstepped his bounds by expelling the fraternity without anything even resembling due process, but the fact that they’re looking to lawyer up demonstrates a disturbing hubris.

Lost in the furor about the obviously contemptible racist chants and words in the past few days are the attitudes that still lurk beneath the surface. Attitudes that get exposed when alcohol freely flows or are laid bare in hip-hop songs that are sung along to far too enthusiastically are problematic, but so, too are the attitudes of people who try to dismiss #blacklivesmatter, either with a seemingly noble #alllivesmatter hashtag or by claiming that we live in a post-racial society. 

The latter assertion is laughable. Minority groups are still fighting for basic rights in this country. Look no further than Oklahoma, which is now unofficially the most embarrassing state in the country after people such as state Sen. Joseph Silk, a Republican, said of members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, “They don’t have a right to be served in every single store.”

The state is looking to pass legislation that would allow business owners to refuse LGBT customers because of “sincerely held religious beliefs.” On top of that, the Oklahoma House of Representatives passed legislation that would restrict marriage to people of faith, completely flying in the face of the First Amendment prohibitions against an establishment of religion because it also targets people who don’t believe in any particular religion. Not only that, but it also violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection clause, as does the legislation which would allow people to refuse to serve others because of religious beliefs.

Clearly, there’s a long way to go before our country can even lay claim to being the land of the free and a place where justice is really for all. It’s a journey that’s made much more arduous by attitudes of people who harbor racist views, either openly or hidden where it takes alcohol or anonymity to expose them.