Racist "prom-posal"

Because she’s white! Hahahahaha

 

One problem with the whole "joke that fell flat" defense is... that's not actually a joke. It's just racist. I mean, I guess he thought it was funny to do a blatantly racist prom-posal, but... welcome to the internet, kid.

He's pretty much getting what he asked for. Hope it was worth it.

 

High school kids are just as casually racist nowadays as they were in my day, both whites and blacks. But social media thankfully didn’t exist back then. This is gonna follow this kid throughout his life. Sad. But hey, at least she said yes.

 

A nuanced discussion of race? Here? Don’t bother.

 

Sterling was kicked out because he made the league look bad. The statements weren't worse. They were more public. The difference was not which thing was worse, it was which got more attention.

 

Because...I NEVER ONCE MEAN TO SAY A GAY PERSON OR A MENTALLY CHALLENGED PERSON...they are words that to me do not have the meaning they do in public.

 

What do they mean to you?

 

You deserve all the humiliation coming if you invite the cameras while doing it in this attention-seeking way.

Damn glad promposals didn't exist in my day. I would've said "fuck prom" before ever doing something like this. It was terrifying enough asking by simple phone call.

 

He's lucky it happened at Riverview High School in Sarasota...if he went to Booker High the reaction might have been a little rough.

 

Here's the problem with letting it go with the "Its just a joke" defense.

Guess what, you send that message, that's how people decide, "well that was okay before, I'll just keep saying it, no harm TO ME" then "hey you know what? I'll up the stakes a little." That's called socialization.

Did I say stuff about "retards" and "MRs (mentally retarded)" people when I was 10? Yes, but that was in the early 70's and guess what, society told me that was unacceptable and I changed. That's how its supposed to work, you push back and say that's not acceptable.

Once again, "its a joke"? Look to the very essence of that statement:

To whom? Only to the majority.
Now what's funny? Its funny to the majority and its funny because they are making light of a minority, the repressed minority, not the majority.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Over sensitive? Maybe, but eradicating racism, even at the smallest levels, is more important IMHO.

 

BTW, what's at issue is not saying "cotton-pickin mind" and not knowing where it came from, the kid's sign blatantly says "IF I WAS BLACK I WOULD BE PICKING COTTON...." At least face facts rather than try to minimize by changing what was said. There's no room for misinterpretation or "geez, didn't know this was racial."