Black people screaming, "Racism!" White people screaming, "Reverse racism!" Chinese people screaming, "Sideways racism!"

SITUATION NUMBER ONE
A while back I tried (very unsuccessfully) to spread the gospel of Lyrics Born. One of the few people who actually gave him a shot was JoyPearl . She later admitted to me that she had listened to some of his stuff and liked it. I chalked that up as a victory in our ongoing war as to what constitutes good music. Then some time after that, I got home from work, jumped onto MSN messenger and she hit me with an IM. The conversation went something like this:

JOYPEARL: hey!!!
ME: Yo.
JOYPEARL: i just saw lyrics born on tv!
ME: Sweet.
JOYPEARL: hes not black!
ME (confused): Uh...I never said that he is.
JOYPEARL: i know
JOYPEARL: i just assumed that he was


SITUATION NUMBER TWO
A couple of weeks ago Igwe hosted an impromptu get-together at his crib. I planned on going but I fell asleep and didn't make it. I was later informed by Kuli and Jumole that I should have been there because there was a pretty heated debate about the Mavs. Apparently some cats were saying that my lil Averys are overrated. But what really piqued my interest was when Kuli told me that some girl there was saying that the media is hyping up Dirk Nowitzki when the real star on the team is Josh Howard.



As you have probably surmised from the title of this post, I'm going to talk about racism. Usually when we hear the word "racism" we're bombarded with the concept in its most common form: white people and their racism against...well, everyone else. But I'm not here to talk about that.

[Except to mention this: that type is not going anywhere. This past weekend my brother and I made our way to Norman, Oklahoma to visit relatives (at least, that's the reason that I went). On Saturday we rounded up the Junior Set to take them out to eat. First we picked up the younger two from their house. Then we went to get the eldest from OU (or as my Texas Ex brother referred to it, "the heart of darkness"). So when we get to her dorm hall, we're waiting in the lobby for an elevator to come down. Waiting along with us was this white female student who was walking with a very pronounced limp. She's actually the one who pushed the button for the elevator. When the door opens, we let her get on first and then follow her. As I'm turning around I see this girl diving off the elevator as fast as her limp will allow her. Thought that was kinda funny. When we finally got to my cousin's dorm room and told her the story, she told us about a scenario she had gone through two days prior. She had been driving down the road when two guys in the car next to her had starting screaming profanities at another car. When she looked over to see what all the commotion was about, one of the guys screamed at her, "We're not talking to you, you f--king nigger!!!" That's probably our fault. We, the Oh-So-Originals, did not do a good job of explaining the rules of the world to the Junior Set: when you're black, you don't have the right to look when strange men in cars start shouting profanities. But anyway, if anyone out there is pleased with the status quo of racism and was starting to worry that it was going away, rest assured. I'm here to confirm that it is not.]

What I'm actually here to talk about is racism in the inverse of how we're used to talking about it. One of the things that I find interesting about music (specifically hip hop) and sports (specifically basketball) is that they are among the very few fields in America where Black people can have a leg up on White people and rule as the majority. Ostensibly, anyway. In reality, a rapper is only as powerful as his record label allows him to be. And no basketball player in the NBA wields more power than Commissioner David Stern. However, for the purposes of this discussion the illusion that has been built up for the consumption of the general population (that rappers and b-ball players are all as rich and powerful as they think they are) is perfect.

[Now you might be reading this and thinking to yourself, "Wait, where is he going with this? Minorities can't be racist in this society!" Please stop right there. Yes, I've heard that argument. Yes, I understand that argument. And yes, I think there is some merit to that argument (but not nearly as much as I've heard some people try to ascribe to it). As far as this post is concerned, "racism" means thinking negatively of AND/OR assuming something about someone strictly due to their skin color. And people of all races do that every day.]

So I postulate this...what do you think would happen in this situation: A group of people is treated as less than/second class citizens for half a millennium. They've spent constant time and energy demanding their equality, which they gain fractionally. At some point, they discover their ability to dominate at certain aspects of life. Now, knowing their history and the struggle they've endured, you'd think that they would empathize with other groups of people who try to get a piece of the pie in which they dominate. Right?

Right?

Heh.

I find the two scenarios up top fascinating because it shows how alike people actually are, no matter how much some may want to protest. Now, one thing I need to very clearly explain is that I am in no way accusing the person in either scenario of being racist. I know JoyPearl isn't. And while I don't know if the young lady in the second scenario is, I don't know that she isn't either. I'm just using these examples as jumping off points for exploration.

When I was trying to get people to listen to Lyrics Born, not once did it even remotely cross my mind to mention his ethnicity (for the record, LB is half Japanese-American and half Italian-American), which is why JoyPearl's shock really surprised me. But the more I thought about it, the more I could understand it. She isn't really a connoisseur of rap. What she knows about it is what is pretty much presented to the world--what you hear on the radio or see on MTV and BET. From this perspective, the face of rap music is far and away that of Black males. The appearance of a White rapper is such an anomaly that VH1 was even able to get away with making a reality show about it. As you all know, I long ago eschewed that particular form for the independent hip hop scene. And I think this revelation really let me know how far apart these two worlds actually are. I don't want to go as far as to say that race doesn't matter in the underground but as I was thinking about this, I realized that it really almost never crosses my mind. I think the reason for this is that the independent scene is far more tolerant of diversity when compared of the public form, where image is quite often the most important element.

I find the second situation even more interesting. Now, Josh Howard is a very good player. He's even elevated his game this season to an All-Star level. But I don't think it's possible for anyone to pay any interest at all to the Mavericks and honestly come away with the conclusion that any player is better or more vital to the team's success than Dirk Werner Nowitzki. I don't care if you only watch a game or two every season or if you're one of those hapless saps such as myself who spends way too much time dissecting every article written by Marc Stein, John Hollinger and Kelly Dwyer. Either way there's no evidence to back it up. But apparently this girl was really trying to make that very argument. Kuli believes that it is because Dirk is White and Josh Howard is Black.

This type of thinking is nothing new. Twenty years ago, Dennis Rodman and Isiah Thomas received a lot of flak when they said that Larry Bird was "overrated" and "if Bird was Black he'd be just another guy." This year, a lot of people are apoplectic at the very real chance that Steve Nash may win a third straight MVP (although to be fair, in this case, there's more to it than just his race). Some people may say that it is conclusion-jumping to attribute these arguments about Dirk and Nash to race. However, there are some curiosities that can't be explained any other way. From everything I've heard and read from the "experts" (coaches and sportswriters), there are three players who have really set themselves apart as MVP candidates thus far this season: Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash and Dirk Nowitzki. But when fans voted for who they wanted to play in the All-Star game, only Bryant was selected. I guess there weren't enough Neo-Nazis to vote for the seven-foot Aryan from Germany (which begs a question: can skinheads or Klansmen actually be fans of football or basketball without being labeled hypocrites? Things that make you go...hmmmm).

Ok, so maybe the All-Star voting isn't the best barometer of determining whether or not there is covert racism in basketball. After all, fans also voted for Shaquille O'Neal to be the starting center for the East despite the fact that he's having by far the worst season of his career and despite the fact that Dwight Howard is clearly more deserving. Shaq and Dwight are both Black. Fans probably voted for O'Neal because he's who they're most used to seeing. They're more familiar with him. But what is racism if not a perversion of familiarity taken to an extreme?

Racism, of course, is driven by ignorance. Assumptions about non-Black rappers or negative opinions of White basketball players are usually based on inaccurate information, the same way White supremacists get their beliefs of people of other ethnicities. That is counteracted by awareness, which is gained by knowledge. JoyPearl was surprised by the fact that Lyrics Born isn't Black because she wasn't aware that a LOT of independent rap artists aren't Black. And I don't think any real fan of the Dallas Mavericks cares one way or the other what color Dirk is; we just ask that he continues to play at a high level.


"If y'all are losing, who's winning? It sure ain't us."


TITLE TAKEN
from a hilarious Chris Rock bit