New York Post columnist goes on a racist tirade about the new black and white logo and uniforms for the Nets.
Check this out:
As long as the Nets are allowing Jay-Z to call their marketing shots — what a shock that he chose black and white as the new team colors to stress, as the Nets explained, their new “urban” home — why not have him apply the full Jay-Z treatment?
Why the Brooklyn Nets when they can be the New York N——s? The cheerleaders could be the Brooklyn B—-hes or Hoes. Team logo? A 9 mm with hollow-tip shell casings strewn beneath. Wanna be Jay-Z hip? Then go all the way!
Now, look. It’s not like anyone turns to the NY Post for quality, thoughtful journalism. It’s called a tabloid for a reason. But Christ on a cracker, there are limits. This writer is talking about black identity, which he perceives the Nets’ new uniforms as representing, and he’s making it very clear what he thinks the defining qualities of blackness are.
Oh, the dodge will be “Oh, gosh, no, I just meant the ‘rap culture’ that Jay-Z represents.” It usually is. Yeah, “rap culture” my entire ass. I can guess what the dodge will be because that’s what it always is. Because this kind of shit happens a lot, and some of us have a sense of pattern recognition.
The core of racism is that non-white people are perceived as Other, in a sociological sense. They are socially defined as human beings by their race in a way white folks are not, and of course that’s much easier if you can reduce them to stereotypes. The current set of stereotypes is all guns, bitches, and bling, but we rotate them every so often. This is not new; Frederick Douglass, on his speaking tours, was repeatedly told that white audiences would be more comfortable with him if he’d sound less educated and more “plantation.” White folks back then had their stereotypes of black identity, and they didn’t like them challenged, just like today.
What’s most offensive about the NY Post piece is how it doesn’t even make a case for its reading of black identity. It just takes for granted that the reader imagines it the same way, because hey, he’s just saying what everyone’s thinking, right?
And what really upsets me is the extent to which that may be true.
(Oh, and one minor quibble: as a 9mm owner myself, there’s no such thing as “hollow-tip shell casings”, for heaven’s sake. Do your homework.)