You remember this pool party incident?
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6tTfoifB7Q[/youtube]
In case your head has been in buried in the sand for the last couple days, Eric Casebolt (the body-slamming officer) resigned, and the McKinney police department apologized.
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But the Fox News spinning machine has been hard at work trying to defend Eric Casebolt even after the [white] police chief unequivocally said that what he did was indefensible.
And people left and right are proclaiming, “I’m not racist, but that 14 year old girl should have been held down and the gun should have been pulled.”
I saw a status update by one of my white friends that day that said, “If you’re having trouble seeing why this is a problem, imagine if the girl was white.” I mean, what if this was a cute, blond haired, blue eyed white girl being body slammed by a police officer who had both of the officer’s knees planted into her back? We already know what Fox News would say to that before we turned on the channel.
The black people were told to sit and were handcuffed — the white people were simply asked to leave.
As a black person, this is depressing and enraging, and it’s no surprise that the entire incident may have been caused by slurs of racial profiling.
But, you’ll hear the insistence, nobody there is racist…….
Including a teacher in Frenship, TX named Karen Fitzgibbons, who posted on Facebook:
“I’m going to just go ahead and say it … the blacks are the ones causing the problems and this ‘racial tension.’ I guess that’s what happens when you flunk out of school and have no education. I’m sure their parents are just as guilty for not knowing what their kids were doing; or knew it and didn’t care. I’m almost to the point of wanting them all segregated on one side of town so they can hurt each other and leave the innocent people alone. Maybe the 50s and 60s were really on to something. Now, let the bashing of my true and honest opinion begin….GO! #imnotracist #imsickofthemcausingtrouble #itwasatagedcommunity”
A teacher.
But this is nothing new. White people have never been racist, to hear them talk.
I mean, a common saying in the segregation days was, “Southern Whites are the Negroes’ best friend. But no integration.”
Just wanted to keep the races separate, you understand. And in the days of slavery — the black people were being well cared for. They just happened to be better suited for work in the field, is all, instead of being burdened with the cruel realities of white civilization. That wasn’t racism.
There has hardly been a time in the United States when white people have admitted to their racism (outside of a few die-hard extremists).
The problem is not that people are proudly racist. The problem is that people don’t recognize it when they see it. A racist is a monster to most people, and people don’t see themselves as monsters.
Even Fitzgibbons insisted that her post “was not directed at any one person or group” — which is clearly false, as she said in her original message that ” the blacks are the ones causing the problems.”
It’s time to be honest about this. Many people think they’re awesome people and don’t want to be accused of being racist. But we’re probably all a bit racist, and that’s NOT something that’s just OK. We should combat it from a logical standpoint so that we can ensure that all of us are treated equally.
But at the same time…as a black individual, it is a bit sad to see that the most blatantly racist statements are coming with a heap of denial…as they have been for the past few hundred years. But the times are changing, and we shake our heads at the “I’m not racist, but” people of the slavery and segregation era.
If the trend continues, using that phrase today will be an embarrassment, as well, especially as people will look back and see how far back blacks were compared to whites when it comes to medical care, employment, social environments, law enforcement, the education system, the justice system, and literally every single goddamn part of US society we’ve studied.
So if you stop the train of progress…it’s probably still moving, and you’ll be on the wrong side of history.
Or you can join us in difficult honesty and logical examination of what transpires as we continue to make sure it gets better.
Thanks for reading.
UPDATE: The teacher has been fired!
Frenship ISD issued the following statement today:
On Wednesday afternoon, Frenship Independent School District was made aware of a statement posted on a Facebook page by a Frenship ISD employee earlier this week.
Frenship ISD is deeply disappointed in the thoughtlessness conveyed by this employee’s post. We find these statements to be extremely offensive, insensitive, and disrespectful to our Frenship community and citizens everywhere. These comments in no way represent the educational environment we have created for our students.
The employee whose account is responsible for the post will be relieved of her teaching duties at Frenship ISD.
We hold our employees responsible for their public conduct even when they are not on active duty as district employees. Employees are held to the same professional standards in their public use of electronic media as they are for any other public conduct. This recent conduct was unacceptable.
Frenship ISD hopes communities, parents and students understand that these remarks do not reflect the views of our district, teachers and staff.
[Image Courtesy of jsayer under Creative Commons License]