Today I perused a forum where people are discussing whether or not Kanye West is a racist. You probably all know the moment: Taylor Swift wins the award for best video at the VMA's and Kanye interrupts her speech by grabbing the mic and saying that Beyonce should have won. Y'all can click here and watch it in case you missed it and if you did see it, watch it again.
Hold on. This is one of those moments where I hear screeching breaks in my head. Here's what happened: a black man interrupted a white woman. Right? OK. In my opinion, this was rude and perhaps even misogynistic. Let's say that it was the opposite. Let's say that Taylor Swift interrupts Kanye West and says that Beyonce should have gotten the award. I almost chuckle to myself as I imagine that scenario because it seems so unlikely. But humor me for a moment. Would Taylor Swift be accused as being racist? I don't think so. Let's think about something else and I'm going to be very clear about this: Reverse racism is ridiculous. Think historically, which is one way in which we have to view racism. How many white people were slaves on plantations owned by people of color? How many white people were lynched and tortured in this country (US) and all over the world for being white? How many white people today have the fear that they are going to be killed, raped, attacked, ignored, oppressed (the list goes on) for being white? Think about it. Looking at this forum, I can see that clearly many people disagree with me.
