Superville Review

I am currently checking out the newest book from University of Pennsylvania, Associate Professor, Dr. John Jackson, Jr., entitled Racial Paranoia - The Unintended Consequences of Political Correctness. In the work, Dr. Jackson, Jr. breaks down a United States of America whose transcendent gains out of the Civil Rights Era has produced legislative and social gains, relegating bald-faced proponents of racial animus to the fringes of society, but allowing true racial feelings to lie buried beneath a surface of political correctness. Those smiling faces might just be a cover for a racial tempest that reveals itself in more intimate and supportive surroundings. And this is, says Dr. Jackson, the facilitator of racial paranoia; in the case of black American's, the paranoia of seeing racism behind every smile, gesture or perceived slight and for white American's, the paranoia of saying or doing anything that can be misconstrued as "racist" in spite of intentions that might be far removed from that reality.

The book got me thinking about my own bouts of racial paranoia and I had to laugh because yes, I have seen a look on a white face or thought I saw a gesture that I took as an indicator or a negative feeling towards me and by extension, African-Americans. Dr. Jackson is definitely onto an interesting theory of a new paradigm in race relations. I think though that there might be a new found place where racial paranoia has yet to make an appearance. The message board.

Along with the technological advances that created an internet that allowed the global community to become smaller and allow an up-to-the-second access to information for anyone looking has come the "message board," that growing community of facilitators, combatants and commiserators; sometimes to positive end, but often times blatantly racist or ill-informed about any given topic which is a link to xenophobic positions. Being a lifelong fan of the Buffalo Bills and music and videos I can be found on any number of message boards related to the NFL, rock or rap concerts and youtube videos. Racism is alive and well, good people and most people spare no decency trying to hide it. Racial epithets, narrow minded views on politics, economics and social standing are par for the course on most message boards. You don't believe it? Please feel free to peruse a message board related to whatever your topic of choice might be.

It made me wonder if I would prefer the paranoia that Dr. Jackson writes about on our local message boards. There is a saying about people who get drunk and do things they would not ordinarily do; it's called getting "liquid courage." Well, cyber-courage operates under the same tenet. Hiding behind a keyboard from anywhere in the world, untraceable by everyman standards, probably not government standards (there is that paranoia), has allowed the normalcy of hatred and ignorance to rear its mental infantility without consequence of physical confrontation or a clearly public censure. In spite of many racialized message board posts being called for what they are by dissenters strongly condemning said occurrences, this form of "public" censure is still hidden. Without a face or video evidence of these written attacks "public" does not work with the same efficiency.

For those paranoid folks black, white, brown, red and yellow who long for relief from the weariness of seeing bogeymen in every interaction they have friends on the message boards who will be more than happy to tell them exactly how other feel about "their people."

Labels: Dr. John Jackson, Jr., Penn, Racial Paranoia, Racism, University of Pennsylvania

A few weeks ago West Virginia University lost its Head Football Coach Rich Rodriguez to the maize and blue tradition of Michigan. When it was determined that he would not coach the team in its Fiesta Bowl match with Oklahoma, Bill Stewart an assistant coach on Rodriguez' staff was tapped to fill the job for one night only. After an emphatic undressing of Oklahoma on the same field that saw them lose to Boise State a year ago, West Virginia hired Bill Stewart to be its new head man. Beloved by star quarterback Pat White and other players as well as the administration, Stewart's hiring brings up some unpleasant memories.

In the mid-90's as head coach of the Virgina Military Institute Stewart, tiring of watching a black player showboating through practice took the young man aside and quietly instructed him to not give people the reason to call him a nigger; likening this to his struggle to not present the image of a redneck from his native West Virginia. The player rightly reported the conversation to campus administrators and after being threatened with the termination of he and his staff, Stewart resigned in exchange for the continued employment of his staff, which included current Pittsburgh Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin.

ESPN reports that Tomlin called in his support for Stewart's hiring and West Virginia University President Michael Garrison made a point of alerting the public to this fact as well as the acknowledging that this incident was known by the university when Stewart was hired in 1999. So Stewart has a lot of black friends in high places and amongst the young men he coaches. By all accounts Stewart is an affable, friendly and honorable man. Which is why his advice to that VMI player more than ten years ago is so stupifying. It's shocking that anyone would equate hot dogging or show boating with blackness. Pistol Pete Maravich was one of the biggest showboats in NBA history. Larry Bird was a trash talker of epic dimension and in his very gaze was the arrogance of superiority over his opponents. Even more shocking is that Stewart felt like offering advice to this young black man needed to include his belief that showboating would create racial animosity; one wonders if it filtered in the Coach's mind that, suggesting a young man who must trust him and follow him, not do something to be thought of as a nigger would endear him to that player.

I would wonder, were it me, if my coach thought of me as a nigger based on flamboyance or showboating or whatever. While it might be true that too many players showboat and seek attention for plays that they should make, it is not true that nigger goes through the mind of those watching; they might think of said player as an ass or immature, but nigger? To Coach Stewart's thinking this is what goes through the minds of white fans.

Stewart says he has had no such incident before or after the VMI occurrence, but in his mind how does he truly view those black players who dance or perform after touchdowns or first downs? Are they niggers? Only Coach Stewart can answer that question. And it is a question that should be asked and answered before he's given leadership over a team full of young, impressionable black and white men.

Labels: Bill Stewart, Racism, University of West Virginia, Virginia Military Institute, West Virgina Football

The New York Times and television news outlets are reporting that Senator Barack Obama is receiving Secret Service protection. He is one of the earliest, if not earliest, recipients of secret service protection in the history of presidential candidacies. No specific reasons were given officially, although CNN reported racial threats divulged in hate correspondences. Allow me to say that I am far from surprised.

What is interesting is that there are still many in America who truly cannot get over the hue of a person's skin or get over their own arrogance in believing that they somehow, by virtue of their "whiteness" deserve more or have more right to accomplishment, power and leadership. In fact the lack of vision or concern of some of these types of Americans denotes, in an of itself, a lack of the quality that produces true leadership, the resulting command of respect and the circumstances that would lead to power or accomplishment in any endeavor.

So in response to those small minds and sadly, even smaller visions, I say, 'run Barack run.'

Labels: Barack Obama, Presidential Election 2008, Racism, Secret Service