TOTAL CONSERVATIVE

December 20, 2014


Writer Stretches “Racism” to Its Breaking Point

Only a couple of days after Michelle Obama told People magazine that she had encountered “racism” at Target when asked by an innocent bystander to take something off the shelves, Salon’s Brittney Cooper has stretched the definition of racism to its absolute breaking point.

Recounting her “nightmarish” journey into New York on public transit, Cooper relays the harrowing story of how she became the victim of white entitlement. Sitting on the train, ears plugged with headphones, with her carry-on bag taking up the seat next to her, Cooper was astonished when she “suddenly saw a white hand shoving my work carry-on toward me.” Instantly enraged when she saw that the white hand belonged to a white man, Cooper directed him: “Never put your hands on my property.”

With a response that I can only describe as greatly restrained, the white man in question told her, “Well, you should listen when I talk to you.” That wasn’t acceptably contrite for Cooper, of course, and she chalks up the man’s actions as those of a racist. More than that, she determined that it “encapsulates the breadth of the battle against racism we have to fight in this country.”

Indeed.

Cooper anticipates the argument that she is overreacting to “one jerk on the train,” though she doesn’t seem to make room for the possibility that she is that jerk. In defending her position, she reminds us that “the civil rights movement was catalyzed by a squabble over a seat on a bus.” Yeah…she went there. And though she quickly dispels the notion that she’s a modern-day Rosa Parks, that’s not the kind of comparison you can make and then backtrack from. I’ve no doubt in my mind that she sees her 2014 Train Incident as part of the same struggle.

In closing up her rambling discourse, Cooper says that she kinda/sorta misses the old days when white people were more forthcoming in their racism. Today, she thinks, she has to spend most of her time convincing white people “that things are racist to begin with.”

I’ll bet she does. In that struggle, she joins the far-left feminists (a club to which she likely already claims membership) in redefining the world’s words and actions so that every minority is in a state of constant oppression. No one is lynching black people in 2014, there are no segregated water fountains, and a black man is in the White House. Therefore, this social justice movement that has gained so much traction on websites like Salon has to find new kinds of racism to decry.

Don’t like Obama? Racist.

Painted your face black for a “blackout” football game? Racist.

Used the word “thug?” Racist.

Didn’t feel like being polite about it when a self-obsessed, arrogant woman with Beats headphones wrapped around her head took up two seats on a packed train? Why, of course that’s racist!

Whenever one of these social justice warriors is confronted with how much better America is for minorities today, they always have the same response: we’ve still got a long way to go. But, maybe we don’t. Maybe things are about as good as they’re going to get. Maybe once we’re down to incidents like the one Cooper got so worked up about, the movement has run out of gas. Because no matter how many articles you write or how many words you make off-limits, you can’t magically make racism disappear. The country – nay, the world – will never be perfect. And judging by the kinds of things these SJWs say, their idea of a perfect world would probably be a real drag.



Obamas Highlight America’s Racism Once Again


In the midst of some of the worst racial divisions the country has seen in years, the president and first lady decided it was a good time to tell People Magazine (America’s leading source for investigative journalism) about their own experiences with racial injustice. While observers might be justified in wondering how authentic these experiences are, coming as they do from one of the most powerful men on the planet, those concerns are surely put to rest by the depth and seriousness of the incidents.

Or not. Michelle insists that the protection they’ve experienced while in the White House was preceded by a period where “Barack Obama was a black man who had his share of troubles catching cabs.” She then launched into a “did that really happen?” story about her publicized trip to Target as first lady. Despite being surrounded by Secret Service and photographers, Michelle says “the only person who came up to me in the store was a woman who asked me to help her take something off a shelf. Because she didn’t see me as the first lady, she saw me as someone who could help her.”

The implicit racism in such an event – if it happened at all – is hard to find. Anyone clueless enough to A) not recognize Michelle Obama and B) be blind to the entourage surrounding her is not playing with a full deck. Either that or she was messing with the first lady deliberately, which would be hilarious.

Even allowing for the ultra-slim possibility that the incident played out like Michelle insists, how does that invoke racism? In her trip to Target, Michelle was dressed down but she wasn’t wearing a red shirt and a pair of khakis. It’s doubtful that the woman mistook her for an employee. So therefore, we’re left to assume that the first lady ascribes racism to anyone who asks her for assistance. If that’s the new definition of racism in 2014, then it’s no wonder the liberals are always up in arms about it. It literally is everywhere.

For his part, Barack said in the interview: “There’s no black male my age, who’s a professional, who hasn’t come out of a restaurant and is waiting for their car and somebody didn’t hand them their car keys.” He clarified that it had happened to him as well.

Time to pull out the good ol’ racism scale again. Let’s see. On one end of the scale we’ll put “Twice elected president of the United States.” On the other end of the scale we’ll put “Once mistaken for valet.” Hmm, interesting. Interesting. (Scribbles note on science-pad.)

Real racism, when heard or seen, should always be condemned. But when liberals looking to demonize white America insist that things today are only marginally better than they were in the early 1960s, they succeed only in sinking their own ship. The Obamas have every right to gossip about their “microaggressions” to the tabloids, but the truth is that things will never be perfect. Many white people have been mistaken for Target employees and car valets as well. Many more than have been, let’s say, elected to the highest office in the land.