Talking Trash
But Accused of Racism
By Daniel Muniz

One morning while I was driving to work, I was flipping through the radio stations when I came across the local rock station. Although I do like listening to rock music from time to time, I don’t tune in to this station in my morning drive because years ago its morning show turned into a trashy talk show format. And since the disc jockeys are raunchy, it is just too tasteless for me to waste my time listening to it.

But what caught my attention in that one morning was that a particular disc jockey lamenting about the racial state of affairs of my hometown.

He explained that in 1983 when he moved to San Antonio Texas as a young man, he was simply regarded as an ordinary guy. And after more than twenty years later, he is now regarded as the “white” guy. This racial tension bothers him greatly because since his show is raunchy and irreverent, it can have a number of racial overtones that underscores his biting sarcasm. But the problem is that he is sometimes accused of being racist even though he is unabashedly liberal.
 

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In fact, he insists that in the past twenty years he has bedded more Hispanic women than white women, therefore there is no way he can be prejudiced.

Of course I found his frustration amusing.

For the past two decades, he has ranted and raved over the airwaves and there was even a time when I was in high school that I thought that he was hip and cool. Now that I am much older, I only listen to bits and pieces of his commentary as I flip through the radio stations during my morning drives.

I know that he is not racist. He has more of a Howard Stern type of humor which is tacky but he pokes fun at all sides of the political and socioeconomic spectrum. But this disc jockey experiences the same problem that other white liberals run into which is “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” syndrome.

It is very entertaining for white liberals to watch racial arsonists like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton make outrageous claims about how terrible and racist this country is. These arsonists love to inflame racial tensions and incite class warfare to further their political agendas. Consequently, there are a lot of conspiracy theories circulating about how elections are rigged and how white people are intentionally disenfranchising minorities.

These activists and community leaders are able to get away with a lot of cheap shots and raise the level of paranoia that the “white man” is out to get them because the media is not about to prove them wrong. In fact, the press loves it because outlandish accusations generate hype which commands a lot of media attention. In one broad stoke, the press can instantaneously demonize religious conservatives and Republicans.

White liberals also love stoking the fire because it benefits their purposes too. They don’t care how untrue or unsubstantiated these bogus accusations are because political points can be scored whenever their opponents are trashed by racial arsonists.

As a result, a very unhealthy racial environment has been created.

And as this disc jockey discovered, it has become too easy for him to be lumped into the same category as Christians and Republicans which is what he resents. And some white liberals are finding themselves inadvertently caught in the same trap of political correctness.

The fault of this disc jockey is that he only condemns the hasty characterization of himself.

He and other white liberals as well as those who consider themselves to be independents don’t mind one bit when conservatives are harangued by activists. But that is really the heart of the problem. By allowing these fraudulent mischaracterizations to flourish, anyone including white liberals can easily be accused of racism the moment that they step outside the realm of political correctness.

And it has already been happening. The activists for the Jena 6 condemned the 2008 Democratic presidential candidates for not jumping on their bandwagon. Radio personality Don Imus was a huge supporter of Democratic causes and candidates but he was dropped like a hot potato when his humor was labeled as racist even though he has been spouting off the same comical commentaries for decades.

Unfortunately, when racial tensions become uncomfortably high, political compromises for common sense solutions become untenable. For example, there are some white liberals who have been labeled as racist because they have suggested that it might be a good idea for immigrants (especially the illegal ones) to learn English as a way to help them get out of poverty.

So when white liberals find themselves in the hot seat, they need to look in the mirror because they helped encourage the racial problems of this country by allowing so many conspiracy theories to go unchallenged. Racial paranoia is incendiary and inflammatory but it accomplishes its goal. However, the civility of our society goes down the tube which ultimately affects everybody.

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