Volume II No. 07
 10-02-03
 Racial Insensitivity: Real Or Imagined
 author: Vance Cureton
 © Copyright 2003

 October 1st, 2003. Just another day in America. Nothing happened that
 will be read in the history books 100 or 150 years from now. But, low and
 behold, as far as the daily fabric of life is concerned. Wednesday past,
 was a day of some significance.

 Over at ESPN, conservative loudmouth Rush "The Idiot" Limbaugh 
 resigned over the brewing firestorm because of his inappropriate and
 racially insensitive comments about the on-field performance of Philadelphia
 Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb. McNabb if you really don't 
 know is a "black quarterback."

 Limbaughed stated on ESPN's Sunday morning NFL pregame show, 
 "I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL. 
 I think that the media has been very desirous that a black quarterback 
 do well. They're interested in black coaches and black quarterbacks 
 doing well. I think there's a little hope invested in McNabb and 
 he got a lot of credit for the performance of his team that he 
 really didn't deserve. The defense carried his team."

 Limbaugh's comments reflects the man's ignorance about the game of
 football. Afterall, he is a political commentator. And sadly, Limbaugh's
 comments also reflect his apparent world-view in which "non-white" 
 people are always suspect, and somehow "less-than" white people.
 Why else bring the issue of race into McNabb's qualifications, in the 
 first place, unless the above is true.

 Rush Limbaugh certainly has the right to hold to his bigoted, narrow,
 view of American society. And perhaps - in a more perfect world than
 this one - he should not have to resign for speaking in the forthright
 manner the way that de did Sunday morning. -- No matter how ignorant
 and misinformed his words were. 

 But, because Limbaugh is a known quantity { as a political commentator }
 that it is impossible to separate the man Limbaugh tried to be on ESPN's
 Sunday morning show, and the man Limbaugh "is" daily on his national
 radio talk show. A man who rails against minorities, liberals, special
 interest groups, and anyone who isn't like him and his gun-toting, pick-up
 truck driving, ditto heads. 

 ESPN should have known better. They gambled, although they actually
 prospered for a while, with increased ratings. But, in the end, Rush was 
 Rush, and he just did not belong. Somewhere in the NFL corporate offices 
 a lot of people are no longer sweating buckets now that this incendiary, 
 backward-thinking character is out as one of of the on-air faces of a premier 
 NFL pregame show.

 As if Rush's racial insensitivity was not enough, the Federal courts 
 have doomed generations more of Native American children to the 
 indignity of an NFL team bearing, and profiting from the name, "Redskins."
 U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly invalidated a 1999, federal
 board decision to cancel six highly lucrative Redskin's trademarks.

 Too bad. Although, this is not the legal case that may one day force 
 the courts to ultimately decide on the appropriateness of the term "Redskins" 
 for a professional sports franchise. It was a setback for Native American 
 activists, who seethe in anger at the manner in which societal insults 
 to their culture, history, and religion, are taken for granted. Why they 
 ask is it okay that a professional sports franchise can bear such an 
 abominable name such as "Redskins." But likewise a derogatory moniker 
 identifying "Jews," or "Italians" or "Blacks" would never be allowed 
 or even contemplated?

 It is a good question to ask. Why do the majority of Americans feel 
 so little empathy for the proud culture of Native Americans? Is it too 
 much to imagine that the dignity of a race of people be of more societal 
 importance than the name of a professional football or baseball team?

 If only...

 So much for the day, that was October 1st, 2003. It was a day just like
 any other. And then, it was not.

 Lest you believe that we have only bad news to bear. On Monday
 of this same week, the Western Shoshone Nation filed suit claiming
 that the federal goverment has never fulfilled its obligations in the
 Ruby Valley Treaty of 1863. The Shoshone are claiming rights to more
 than 60,000,000 acres across the American west. Mainly in the states
 of Idaho, Utah, Nevada, and California. In addition to this the Shoshone
 claim more than $100 billion dollars worth of gold and minerals have
 been exploited from their legacy.

 Is this a nonsense suit, you ask? -- Maybe.

 We prefer to think -- and hope -- that all Native American people in
 this country will no longer sit idly and be "living fossils."

 It is their legacy. And they have a right to fight over all the broken
 treaties of days long past.

 Every single one.
 

 ReadingPost.Com
 © Copyright 2003

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