A VIEW FROM THE CHEAP SEATS
By Rich Trzupek
Kramer Conquers All
The nominations are now closed folks. There is no need to consider any other candidates. The civil rights lobby has found its man of the year: Michael Richards.
We�re not really kidding (for a change). The civil rights crowd couldn�t have asked for anything more. A middle-aged, nationally known white guy who flips out in a racist rant? Jesse Jackson could barely contain his glee. It would not be surprising to learn that Jackson was on the phone to Richards� agent to set up an interview before Kramer finished his ugly tirade.
The wonderful thing about this incident, from a guy like Jackson�s perspective, is that it justified everything he has been saying for the last 20 years. �You think the world has changed? Just look at Michael Richards!�
It�s tough for guys like Jackson to stay relevant in 2006, as opposed to 1966. Back then, there were legitimate�undeniable�concrete examples of racism that were institutionalized into the fabric of American life.
Black Americans were subject to laws that restricted their right to vote, barred them from educational access and denied them due process.
The KKK was larger, dangerous and very active. The government, at all levels, had done little to change things over 180 years.
Today, institutioned, government-backed racism is a thing of the past. Shoot, we can�t even get a law passed that would require voters to present some form of identification on election day, out of fear that doing so would discriminate against minorities. You need an ID to get a driver�s license, to use a credit card and to enroll in school. But to vote? No sir. That�s how far we bend over backwards to avoid any charge of racism, no matter how ridiculous, in 2006.
Those institutional changes create a huge problem for guys like Jackson. They can�t exactly deny that those changes have taken place, especially when they were part of bringing them about in the first place.
But, if they are to stay relevant (and, most importantly, stay funded) racism must continue to exist. As a matter of fact, it would be most helpful to their cause if racism is worse than ever.
And so it is, in the view of many civil rights groups. The institutional racism of the past has been replaced by something evenworse: a silent, sneaking racism that lurks just beneath the surface.
Middle-aged white men still hold the power, they just pay lip service to equality, while exploiting minorities behind closed doors. This is the worst form of racism ever: one that smiles to your face and then stabs you in the back the minute you turn around.
That seems a rather far-fetched tale for a lot of Americans. Even a fair number of Democrats dismiss guys like Jackson as cranks, who must be bought off with appropriate amounts of funding and donations, but goof-balls none-the-less.
And then, along comes Kramer.
One could almost hear Jackson and the rest of his crowd jumping up and down with glee, �See! See! We told you so! That�s the way you think. You try to hide it, but that�s how you really feel! We KNEW it!�
You�ll have to decide for yourself whether Richards speaks for your inner demons or not. Surely he�s not alone. Yet, I don�t think that I�m alone either�as a middle-aged white American�in saying that he doesn�t speak for me. More importantly, he (and those like him) don�t matter any more. They are irrelevant in 2006, and that�s what guys like Jackson can�t�or won�t�understand.
We can not see inside anyone�s soul. All we can do is judge people by their actions. And, as a society, we must demand one thing only: that we judge each individual on his or her own merits. That�s all that matters.
And, in that context, the preconceived notions, when and where they might exist, are of little consequence. People have always had some kind of preconceived notions about groups of people. That�s not going to change. It�s our nature. And it�s not necessarily a bad thing.
We look for patterns and themes in life, for good and for ill. It�s a part of human nature that we will never be able to turn off. Just as we observe that people who live in Boston talk in a particular way, or people who live in Southern California tend to be laid back, so we also observe that �hey, there�s a lot of Asians doing really well on the SATs� and �Australians sure seem to like their beer!�
There are threads of truth in those generalizations, which is why we make them in the first place. In and of themselves, those generalizations are harmless. They make life a little more interesting and help prevent us from glopping all of society into a gelatinous, boring, vanilla goo.
The important thing is not to take any of those generalizations seriously when we interact with a particular individual. And, in that way, society has changed�immeasurably. We are so worried about treating individuals fairly that we won�t even allow ourselves to profile young Arabs as possible terrorists, when terrorists tend to be well, you know.
So, as abhorrent as Kramer�s outburst was, nobody should lose any sleep over it. By all indications, his actions have always been color-blind and�now more than ever�will continue to be so. It is action not secret thoughts, that we should be concerned with.
Besides, Jesse Jackson has a new, bestest friend. Hopefully one that will keep the good Reverend distracted for a few months. That would be wonderful, wouldn�t it?
Even ugly stories can have happy endings.
