It’s a comedic catchphrase these days, popularized by an online clip from a 2005 TV show Wonder Showzen on MTV2. It’s not as iconic as Gary Coleman’s “What ’chu talkin’ ’bout, Willis?” or Fonzie’s “Ayyyyyy” or even Bart Simpson’s “Don’t have a cow, man.” But what it lacks in pedigree, it makes up for in ubiquity and social relevance.
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Across the country, it’s a staple of schoolyards, Internet discussion groups, Twitter, and sitcoms.
For instance, when a character on NBC’s Parks and Recreation explains to a co-worker how to do laundry, he says, “Okay, so you always separate your lights from your darks.”
She responds, “That’s racist.”
Perhaps the greatest sign that the punch line has gone mainstream came last week when NPR’s All Things Considered reported on “that’s racist.” Correspondent Neda Ulaby explored how a phrase once considered one of the most serious accusations possible has become a gag line. The only problem? It’s not clear she actually gets the joke.
Ulaby relied heavily on Regina Bradley, who teaches African-American literature at Florida State University. Bradley admits her students say “that’s racist” all the time: “They were simply using it to lump discussions of race and race discourse all together. Because they were just saying because we brought up issues of race that was considered to be racist.”
Okay, so apparently the reason these kids say “that’s racist” is that they’re not too bright. But, wait, there’s more. According to Ulaby, Bradley also believes that the students are using the joke to establish up front that they themselves aren’t racist. Good for them!
Hold on, another explanation is that kids simply mimic the stuff they see on TV shows like 30 Rock and South Park.
I don’t want to overanalyze, but it seems as if everyone’s bending over backward to come up with the least obvious explanations for a pretty obvious joke.
For instance, here’s Ulaby again, talking about Hannibal Buress, a comedian and writer for NBC’s 30 Rock, who uses the phrase: “‘That’s racist’ works in comedy, Buress says, because it pushes buttons.” Okay. How does it push buttons? Why does it push buttons?
We’re never told. Instead, we get a NPR tutorial on the persistence of racism. “Scholar Regina Bradley says it also works because racism’s often expressed differently than from a generation or two ago,” Ulaby explains. “The segregated neighborhoods and swimming pools of Bradley’s grandparents have yielded to more subtle forms of discrimination. That’s reflected in how ‘that’s racist’ is being used — to shut down conversations or as a joke.”
But what’s the joke? We don’t find out until a 14-year-old-boy says it plainly: “I think I or other people just sort of do it as a way of mocking people who are overly sensitive about race issues.”
Bingo!
NPR could have done the whole story in 30 seconds. But instead it spent more than five minutes trying to grapple with a wonderful yet utterly inconvenient truth for the ostentatiously liberal network: Young people just aren’t as uptight about race as their parents, never mind their grandparents, are. And, by the way, the days of segregated swimming pools and neighborhoods haven’t merely “yielded” to “more subtle forms of discrimination”; they’ve yielded to — wait for it — less discrimination.
No, racism hasn’t vanished. And the legacy of racism has a long half-life.
But the simple fact is “that’s racist” is the sort of thing those darn kids today say to make fun of their aging Gen X and baby-boomer parents.
It’s also a common joke among conservatives, precisely because we’re used to being called racists for the weirdest things. If I write on Twitter something about how I don’t like “Obamacare,” some fellow right-winger will immediately respond with some variant of “that’s racist!”
And that’s the joke. And the people who’ve spent the last few decades screaming “that’s racist,” not as a punch line but as a heinously unfair accusation or in an attempt to bully people, don’t seem to get that the joke is on them.
Unfortunately, brother jesse and preacher al still think if they throw the phrase out it will get the right to kowtow to their every whim. And most corporate heads will sit in the corner, begin crying and ask the justice brothers how they can make it right. Apparently, the titans of industry might need to listen to their teenage spawn to find out that they've been had.
There is racism in our Country. There always be racism to some extent. You can't make everyone like everyone else. However, the days are over where it is a factor in the business world.
The race baiters need to be called on their game. Just as the bully will stop when you punch him in the nose, So to will these guys when you point out they have no clothes.
It's been said that one of the fringe benefits of the tea party movement, and to a lesser extent, Scott Brown's election, is that the average person got to watch the left play 52 race-card pickup, so now everybody knows what the professional right has known all along: That 90% of accusations of racism are nothing more than shameless attempts to bully the right into silence.
"No, racism hasn’t vanished. And the legacy of racism has a long half-life."
Indeed, that is correct, but the racism is where it's always been. Read Michael Barone's analysis of the 6th Court of Appeals decision on the Michigan Civil Rights law:
@johnniebgoode: Don't worry, we ridicule anyone who seriously tries to tell us not to say "that's gay" or any variant of it , as English is an evolving language and f****t especially no longer refers to homosexuals but to people are annoying (see South Park).
The problem with this being that, unfortunately people my age (I'm 22) have also begun to do the same with calling people Hitler/a Nazi, as we have grown up witnessing this slur be thrown about by pundits, protesters, and politicians alike with the same disregard as calling people racist. Now this could be proof that we are less sensitive towards such clearly moronic argumentation, but it is also somewhat sad that this insult has become so ubiquitous that the horrors this group perpetrated have been trivialized to the extent that everyone from Christie to Walker to conservatives in general are compared to Hitler/Nazis. Those of us who understand these jokes understand that they should not be funny, but after being called racist, sexist, Islamophobic, homophobic and a Nazi more times than I can count for holding not even conservative but libertarian ideals in the liberal haven that is Ann Arbor, these insults have all become comical.
Unfortunately, the accusation is nothing more that a scheme to manipulate and it is a pretty effective scheme. I think that people are aware of what motivates the charge of racism but they still cower when it is made. I can't see any antidote in the forseeable future. However, until we stand firm against this form of manipulation we will continue to be a slave to its effectiveness.
Until the Republican party is willing to seriously support a cultural conservative/paleoconservative for the presidential nomination, it is clear that the threat of being tarred as a racist is still very powerful. Those who say "That's racist!" cannot vote; those who'd like to sweep that little joke under the rug are in charge of the media, education and entertainment industries in America. The bad guys are still very much in power and will be for quite some time.
I agree with the article. Unsubstantiated and reflexive charges of racism has been steadily losing steam.
In a related issue, there is the highly disturbing news of "urban" (media code word for black) youths acting out violently: Miami, Boston, Chicago, Philly, Milwaukee, on and on. Shootings, flash mobs looting stores, random beatings of folks in street (mostly on whites), etc. Drudge has been linking these stories, which get no national MSM attention in analyzing as a trend.
Now, these acts have *substantiated* race-based aspects to them, so it will be very interesting to see how they are addressed.
Before they stopped posting my civil, non-troll remarks, I used to ask commentors on The Nation by what means could I criticize Obama without being labeled a racist.
What phrases to avoid, what language to employ, so as to be critical without appearing racist.
As the arbiters of what is racist and what isn't, I supposed them to be experts.
I also asked by what mechanism they determined the Tea Party is racist in opposing Obama, but would've remained silent had a white President pursued an identical agenda.
Oddly, nobody ever offerred guidance or advice. Other arguments (or just me) they would attack with gusto.
To his credit, Chris Rock (the comedian) actually took on that last question. He concedes that there would be still opposition to Obamacare and stimulus spending if the President were white, but that the protests would have been less vehement and agitated.
I'm not saying I agree with him, but at least he answered the question.
This column was racis. The author is racis and now I am a racis for being on this site. Which means all of you are racis, probably because you were raised that way to be racis. Now let's look at it "in context": there's no there there so stop trying not to be racis and just admit that we all are racis. That's why you should vote for the Democrats.
Dude, wait, WHAT? This non-sequitur of a comment makes my brain hurt with its inanity. First, what is a "raci"? Second, how is people being "racis", whatever those are, a reason to vote democrat? I thought the point of voting for someone was that you agreed with them, in general, on the direction the country should move in order to continue to prosper.
"Until the Republican party is willing to seriously support a cultural conservative/paleoconservative for the presidential nomination, it is clear that the threat of being tarred as a racist is still very powerful."
As honest as I believe your sentiment is, it is still color-based and, therefore, racist. Even if Herman Cain was nominated, then elected President, those "racist Republicans" would still be deemed so. Ever hear the title "Uncle Tom?"
Don't fool yourself. Race is just a distraction device for Liberals.
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