Kiss My Black Ass

If you are unfamiliar with the Twitter account, @yesyoureracist, you must check it out. The idea behind it is to pick out tweets from various ign’ant ass people, and to reassure them that despite their protestations to the contrary, they are, in fact, racist.

Yes you are. RT @naomisharif: I’m not racist….but I don’t like Chinese people

— Yes, You’re Racist (@YesYoureRacist) November 24, 2012

Yes you are RT @enjoycaroline Three black kids are in the hallway of my apartment building. i’m not racist but i think they’re here to steal

— Yes, You’re Racist (@YesYoureRacist) November 23, 2012

Piggybacking on that idea, I think someone should create a Twitter account “dear media: yes, that’s racist,” [working title] because watching the media attempt to avoid calling racist shit “racist shit” is starting to grate on my last nerve. There are certain things that are blatantly in-your-face racist, and when those things happen, they should be called blatantly in-your-face racist or holy-shit-that’s-racist, and not “some-call-it-racist,” or “some-say-it’s-racist” or other mealy-mouthed nonsense.

For example, when a radio station’s Christmas Parade float consists of dragging a black guy behind a tow truck while some asshole shock jock cracks jokes about a black Christmas fairy turning “crackers” into Beyonce, for the love of blog, call it racist:

G-105 apologizes for parade float that some called racist

Neither the G105 “Showgram” nor its host, Bob Dumas, are strangers to controversy. The popular local morning radio show is known for a range of stunts over the years that follow a familiar pattern: the hosts enrage some of the local citizenry, Showgram fans rally to their defense, the station gets free publicity and then apologizes.

This week, the Showgram is under fire for its float in last Saturday’s Raleigh WRAL Christmas Parade. The entry featured a black man dressed in a skirt with fairy wings, strapped to a harness that was suspended from the back of a tow truck. Dumas, riding on the float, described the scene to parade goers as “Tyrone the Black Christmas Fairy” who was going to turn “crackers” into Beyonce.

Many people watching the parade or reading accounts of it later called the image inappropriate and took to Facebook and Twitter.

“I cannot believe that this happened,” Raleigh Mayor Nancy McFarlane wrote on Facebook to a concerned citizen. “Raleigh will not tolerate racism or anything that comes remotely close. This parade is a Raleigh tradition that includes everyone and should be treated as such.”

Michael “Breeze” Rackoff, who up until late last week was the director of the Showgram, said he questioned the concept of the Christmas fairy when Dumas first proposed it in a staff meeting. The man suspended from the truck, Tyrone Dunston, is not a Showgram employee but is a longtime fan of the show.

Rackoff thought the show’s parade entry should have had a different motif.

“It was originally going to be a military theme, up until the very last week,” Rackoff said Wednesday. “There was also that idea of Tyrone hanging from a tow truck as a Christmas fairy, and I specifically remember looking at several people and saying, ‘Ah, isn’t that kind of racially insensitive to drag a black man behind a tow truck, be it in good spirits or not?’

“Obviously, no one thought it was an issue,” he said.

Obviously.

[News & Observer via TPM]

[cross-posted at ABLC]

This Christmas Parade Float is All-the-Way Racist, Y’allPost + Comments (118)