Happy F**king New Year. It has been quite a while since I have put political thought into the ether that is the blogosphere, because honestly I know that my social media bubble has burst from asking people to think critically about their choices and their impact on people and society in general. Even when trying to simplify the message to DON’T BE A D-BAG, I have been met with resistance and hostility. When I am on John Fugelsang’s TELL ME EVERYTHING on Sirius XM, some of his less sympathetic callers have made their opinions of me known.
Not long ago, two seemingly POPULAR members of the LGBT community, Matt Rogers and most recent SNL alum, Bowen Yang, made comments regarding the upcoming Texas Democratic Senatorial primary race involving Rep. Jasmine Crockett on their podcast, La Culturistas. Appropriate much? Normally, the need to rail against the appropriation would be strong, but that’s a topic for a different day. I mean, a white man and an Asian man calling themselves Las Culturistas? Chile, please. Watching them together, I see one thing: A mediocre, but generically appealing white performer/producer with his bestie who actually is the talented one. Again, that’s yet another topic for another day.
Not to say that we as comedians and performers cannot have political opinions. But when something that is CLEARLY as asinine as telling people to whom they should donate their political dollars is based on your micro-aggressive, misogynistic, borderline racist, unsubstantiated, unresearched opinion from atop your platform that has been boosted not only by your alleged personal relationship with a major LGBT identified television executive, but your “friendship” and collaboration with what seemed to be a true rising star, I have to say something.
I think his statement is awful, but within the rest of his statement about Texas Politics there is a grain of truth. Being from Texas, I can tell you that the tides of change are not hitting the shores like they should in the Lone Star State, beginning with Governor Hot Wheels. The news is that James Talarico is the other front runner in the primary race. One of the interesting things about Matt’s statement in support of Texas Rep. Talarico is that he’s not as “well defined” as U.S. Rep Crockett. Rogers further described him as a "less defined" rising star who might better appeal to the "middle." In other words, a mediocre white man with a modest, but less “defined” track record of service that makes the white people of Texas feel okay about not having to confront their racist history and vote for a person of color to lead them. To say that they have been upset about President Obama’s win is an understatement. In my opinion, Rogers’ statement of not supporting the clearly qualified and proven black woman probably reflects a common feeling amongst many Texans.
“She’s too aggressive.” “She ‘sounds’ so ghetto.” These statements are so common when people talk about her, yet they continue to ignore her service and dedication to the People. As for Rep. Crockett, I feel that it is time that the good, “middle of the road”, white folks who are "uncomfortable" with her should remember that the polite ways of politics and any semblance of civility that they desire will never happen as long as they continue to think that the opposing side is going to be reasonable on any level, primarily because of those “other” white people. Those good white folks are still holding on to the belief that white folks on the other side of the aisle just need to "sit down and have conversations and dialogue", because that is what THEY, as good white folks do. We have sociopaths moving through our political society because of the willingness of some to believe that those other folks are somehow, deep down, just like them. It is time to stop looking at people like Marjorie Taylor Green , Lauren Boebert, Josh Hawley, et. al., and projecting their brand of whiteness as a foundation for a belief in a sense of fairness from these folks. This historically has never been true. As long as folks insist on it,we as a country are going to be continuously screwed as we ALL descend into this fascist state under this Republican led administration.
In addition to their fears, they should take a look at Representative Crockett’s record of working for her constituents, especially for those of us in the LGBT community, before being "put off" by a tone and forgetting that she is very educated, too. When the time for polite, intelligent conversation arises, she is more than capable of holding her own.
Let's face it. There will be a whole lot of my fellow Texans who would rather DIE than vote for a “N-word” (which is exactly how they will describe them when they are not in the room), male or female, educated to the nines, with proven track records for service and every other checked box that a person of color must accomplish for basic consideration in this country for anything. Those people are still willing to believe the lies and trumped up fears (xenophobia, homophobia) of people who STILL want us to believe in the stories of the Bible as law instead of the laws on the books, while STILL waiting on the benefits of Trickle Down theory. LBJ said it best:
"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you".
Many of those uncomfortable white folks continue to be put off by her ‘tone’ and use that as the sole basis to not vote for her, even as she still manages to deliver something substantial to her constituency in the face of the majority that she deals with and fights with daily. That means John Cornyn has nothing to worry about and the good white Texans will continue to suffer, and the uninformed ones will blame everybody else.
As of this writing, Rep. Crockett has not responded to Rogers and Yang, because honestly, the internet did it for her. By not responding, she is serving Black Girl 101 realness and not giving them any more air than they already have gotten. After building their platform to such heights, Rogers and Yang have done what many of us with some sort of platform wish that we had the access to do: talk to really famous people, create some amazing projects, be seen in some incredible places, and be able to live comfortably on our art and our voices. However, with that kind of platform, there are responsibilities that marginalized people in these positions must recognize and pitfalls when they don’t. I feel worse for Bowen Yang, because Matt Rogers will ultimately be forgiven a whole lot faster than Bowen will. Oh well, when you lie with some dogs you will get fleas. I just hope that they both get their flea medication and try to stay away from more flea bitten conversations
P.S. I will admit to having a little bias towards Rep. Crockett, because I did have the pleasure and joy to interview her before she made it to Congress, and to this day, I still think she will be a great force to get Texas at least to the 20th Century. Yes, I meant the 20th Century because they are gonna fight progress until it kills them. It already is happening in so many ways starting with the responses to natural disasters, guns and the children.
Racism and prejudice are killing this country. They used to be less obvious or more contained but now seem to beramping up and threatening to choke the life out of what is still great about this country. To those of us with platforms, let’s try to loosen up and not grip tighter. Also, to help loosen the grip contribute to US Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s campaign. If those two yahoos can tell you not to do it, then I am gonna ask you to do it.
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