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The Willful Ignorance of Privilege: from Oscar to Trump

The Willful Ignorance of Privilege: from Oscar to Trump

Last updated on: February 29, 2016 at 12:41 pm by Erin Wathen

The Willful Ignorance of Privilege: from Oscar to Trump 2016-02-29T12:41:03-07:00 Erin Wathen

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His performance was met with broadly divergent sorts of reviews… But Chris Rock did some truth-telling at the Oscars last night re: the racism of Hollywood. Was it funny? You bet. Was it always in great taste? Not especially. But good humor rarely is–and neither is prophetic wisdom. Sit with that one for a minute.

I will admit, my attention was in and out. I watched the opening monologue, then put kids to bed. Then watched a few minutes and loaded the dishwasher… Then half-watched the sound/light/costumes bit (nobody cares!) while I scrolled social media, then got bored and went to bed right after Lady Gaga. (Dude, but that was awesome). All things considered, I am not prepared to share extensive commentary this morning, but I do know this: in the opening alone, Chris Rock managed to get to the heart of it… not just the racism of Hollywood, but the racism of most white Americans in general; and the current political climate in particular.

“Is Hollywood racist?… Is it burning-cross racist? Nah… Hollywood is sorority racist. It’s like, ‘We like you, Rhonda… You’re just not a Kappa.’”

Insert “America” for “Hollywood” here, and that’s our malfunction, in a nutshell. The vast majority of Americans are, you know, glad that slavery is over and that we can all sit at the counter together and drink from the same water fountain. But there’s a point at which skin color still makes for an otherness; a boundary that most folks are just as comfortable leaving intact. It comes to the surface in subtle ways–like the way we organize ourselves in the lunch room (or in Greek houses); the way we staff the highest ranking positions at the firm; how we draw the district boundaries for public schools; and the ways we cast our mainstream/high grossing forms of entertainment.

We like you Rhonda. You’re just not a Kappa.

For many years, America pretended this kind of tension was a thing of the past–that any remaining divides were part of the natural order, just “cultural differences,” and no big deal. Not really hurting anybody. People who were “true” racists knew not to say stupid shit in polite company, and everybody got along fine.

*via flickr, creative commons

The quiet racism that had mostly simmered beneath the surface of American education, commerce and entertainment for decades, came boiling up to the surface–a volcano of long-suppressed rage. And now, 8 years later, we see escalating instances of police brutality against people of color; a House AND a Senate whose sole aim in life is to block anything that comes from the Oval Office; and a general public that is comfortable using the coded lexicon of “Thugs” and “the cultural problems of the inner city” in passing conversation.

And then there’s Donald Trump. Have mercy. He is not even “we like you, Rhonda” racist; he is straight up, unapologetically, just got endorsed by the effing Klan racist. While we’d like to separate “that” kind of racism from “this” kind of racism, his success as a Presidential frontrunner demonstrates clearly how the bland, beneath the surface kinds of racial tension–politely ignored for decades–has paved the way for this terrifying moment in history.

We’ve ignored it. And it didn’t go away.

Much as we’d like to think otherwise, the “polite” racism of Hollywood–so well articulated by Chris Rock last night–is the same as the hateful, toxic, overtly incendiary displays we’ve been witnessing from Trump and his supporters. It all comes from a place of willful ignorance that can only be enjoyed by those in privilege. And it’s on all of us.

If we want to change this story in our lifetime, it is going to take a concerted effort, and a lot of uncomfortable conversations. We’re going to have to stop pretending that we are unaffected by friendly, Hollywood types of color blindness, and recognize the ways in which our worldview has been shaped by what we see (or rather, don’t see) on the screen.

To that end, read–and share far and wide–the story about Trump’s State of the Union interview. In which he found 8 ways from Sunday to avoid talking about race and privilege.

Trump says he can’t denounce the endorsement of a former Klan leader because he “doesn’t know anything about it.” This goes on for a bit… he pretends to have literally never heard of the Klan. Cannot possibly know anything about their beliefs or practices. He’ll have to do some research, he says, before he can reject the support of this particular organization. Because, hey, they might be alright. Maybe they’ve just gotten a bad rap?

What’s more disturbing? The fact that he will not reject the support of this group–or the fact that he pretends complete ignorance of this chapter of American story, and the horrific role that the Klan played in it? I’m leaning towards the latter. The ignorance–pretended or otherwise–is more dangerous than overt displays of discrimination. Because ignorance allows it all to just keep happening, again and again. And his ignorance in this regard–contrived and disingenuous as we know it to be–speaks for that of the American multitudes.

Racism? There are no racists here.

We like you, Rhonda. You’re just not a Kappa.

Want to have some fun on this Monday? Take Trump at his word–assume that, like he implies, he has never heard of the KKK, no awareness of their beliefs and practices… And let’s take it upon ourselves to educated him. Fill up his mailboxes. Send him newspaper clippings from the 60s. Send him links to the websites and blogs of hate groups. Send him stories and pictures. Educate this poor man–who clearly went to an underfunded public school in Kansas– about the historical and ongoing practices of race-based suppression. Let there be an avalanche of envelopes–like when Hogwarts had to send 8,000 owls to the Dursleys? Because they don’t like to think about the whole magical community that exists behind closed doors in their own damn city? Because they like to exercise the willful ignorance of their own privilege… Yeah. Like that.

Send those owls, people. Whatever way you know how.

Because if we ignore ignorance, it will absolutely never go away.

*photo cred

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academy awards; chris rock; oscars; donald trump; racism; KKK; progressive christianity; white privilege

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