The Good, Racist People -- when Forest Whitaker gets stopped and frisked

[mronegative]

I just felt like I should share this

Op-Ed Guest Columnist
[h1]The Good, Racist People[/h1]By TA-NEHISI COATES
Published: March 6, 2013

Last month the actor Forest Whitaker was stopped in a Manhattan delicatessen by an employee. Whitaker is one of the pre-eminent actors of his generation, with a diverse and celebrated catalog ranging from “The Great Debaters” to “The Crying Game” to “Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai.” By now it is likely that he has adjusted to random strangers who can’t get his turn as Idi Amin out of their heads. But the man who approached the Oscar winner at the deli last month was in no mood for autographs. The employee stopped Whitaker, accused him of shoplifting and then promptly frisked him. The act of self-deputization was futile. Whitaker had stolen nothing. On the contrary, he’d been robbed.

The deli where Whitaker was harassed happens to be in my neighborhood. Columbia University is up the street. Broadway, the main drag, is dotted with nice restaurants and classy bars that cater to beautiful people. I like my neighborhood. And I’ve patronized the deli with some regularity, often several times in a single day. I’ve sent my son in my stead. My wife would often trade small talk with whoever was working checkout. Last year when my beautiful niece visited, she loved the deli so much that I felt myself a sideshow. But it’s understandable. It’s a good deli.

Since the Whitaker affair, I’ve read and listened to interviews with the owner of the establishment. He is apologetic to a fault and is sincerely mortified. He says that it was a “sincere mistake” made by a “decent man” who was “just doing his job.” I believe him. And yet for weeks now I have walked up Broadway, glancing through its windows with a mood somewhere between Marvin Gaye’s “Distant Lover” and Al Green’s “For the Good Times.”

In modern America we believe racism to be the property of the uniquely villainous and morally deformed, the ideology of trolls, gorgons and orcs. We believe this even when we are actually being racist. In 1957, neighbors in Levittown, Pa., uniting under the flag of segregation, wrote: “As moral, religious and law-abiding citizens, we feel that we are unprejudiced and undiscriminating in our wish to keep our community a closed community.”

A half-century later little had changed. The comedian Michael Richards (Kramer on “Seinfeld”) once yelled at a black heckler from the stage: “He’s a ******! He’s a ******! He’s a ******!” Confronted about this, Richards apologized and then said, “I’m not a racist,” and called the claim “insane.”

The idea that racism lives in the heart of particularly evil individuals, as opposed to the heart of a democratic society, is reinforcing to anyone who might, from time to time, find their tongue sprinting ahead of their discretion. We can forgive Whitaker’s assailant. Much harder to forgive is all that makes Whitaker stand out in the first place. New York is a city, like most in America, that bears the scars of redlining, blockbusting and urban renewal. The ghost of those policies haunts us in a wealth gap between blacks and whites that has actually gotten worse over the past 20 years.

But much worse, it haunts black people with a kind of invisible violence that is given tell only when the victim happens to be an Oscar winner. The promise of America is that those who play by the rules, who observe the norms of the “middle class,” will be treated as such. But this injunction is only half-enforced when it comes to black people, in large part because we were never meant to be part of the American story. Forest Whitaker fits that bill, and he was addressed as such.

I am trying to imagine a white president forced to show his papers at a national news conference, and coming up blank. I am trying to a imagine a prominent white Harvard professor arrested for breaking into his own home, and coming up with nothing. I am trying to see Sean Penn or Nicolas Cage being frisked at an upscale deli, and I find myself laughing in the dark. It is worth considering the messaging here. It says to black kids: “Don’t leave home. They don’t want you around.” It is messaging propagated by moral people.

The other day I walked past this particular deli. I believe its owners to be good people. I felt ashamed at withholding business for something far beyond the merchant’s reach. I mentioned this to my wife. My wife is not like me. When she was 6, a little white boy called her cousin a ******, and it has been war ever since. “What if they did that to your son?” she asked.

And right then I knew that I was tired of good people, that I had had all the good people I could take.

Link

 

[cryingfreemancoa]

Well this further proves my belief that the majority of white people believe black people steel and will rob you.

 

[trappstar]

Great article. Anyone that says racism doesn't exist isn't a black male. It's that simple.

 

[luckyluchiano]

I have a response, but it will be seen as racist and I will be reported, so I will not comment.

 

[mangudai954]

More than ever I feel there needs to be a conversation about race, racism and the various ways its affected and continues to affect people here in the US on a social, cultural, legal, and economical level. But this debate need to be held on a NATIONAL level. You can listen to entertainers, social commentators, lower level politicians or people in the blogosphere on such topics. But I feel that Obama has the perfect platform and position of power to really bring such a topic to the forefront. But it'll never happen.

 

[boris]

The story of the delicatessen employee accusing Forest Whitaker of stealing is pretty vague. All it states is that he was accused of stealing. We don't know why these accusations were made. 

Am I missing something?

 

[DrizzyNYC]

The story of the delicatessen employee accusing Forest Whitaker of stealing is pretty vague. All it states is that he was accused of stealing. We don't know why these accusations were made. 

Am I missing something?

It doesn't take any more reason other than being black sometimes.... Some people just can't comprehend that.
Word to the police who stop me to make sure my car isn't stolen (I don't even drive a luxury car)

 

[Betonblck]

The story of the delicatessen employee accusing Forest Whitaker of stealing is pretty vague. All it states is that he was accused of stealing. We don't know why these accusations were made. 

Am I missing something?

Yea, yea, yea. Sure it's vague and "we don't know the whole story". Sure "we don't know the whole story of what happened that night with Trayvon Martin". We can go on and on.

 

[dmbrhs]

Great article. Anyone that says racism doesn't exist isn't a black male. It's that simple.

When has anyone ever said racism doesn't exist?

Now, if you said we live in a racist society, then I would say that you're completely wrong.

 

[panaricanretro]

^^^not a black male.

 

[luckyluchiano]

When has anyone ever said racism doesn't exist?

Now, if you said we live in a racist society, then I would say that you're completely wrong.

Asian or White? Or Cali Resident? High Schooler?

 

[Nouss]

More than ever I feel there needs to be a conversation about race, racism and the various ways its affected and continues to affect people here in the US on a social, cultural, legal, and economical level. But this debate need to be held on a NATIONAL level. You can listen to entertainers, social commentators, lower level politicians or people in the blogosphere on such topics. But I feel that Obama has the perfect platform and position of power to really bring such a topic to the forefront. But it'll never happen.

Deadass and it seems like the only known characters discussing this topic are comedians and somes sports writers. Thats a damn shame. Thats not a large enough platform.

Boris, you black bro? Im just saying i shouldnt have to be in a suit not to be followed in a store. And the worst part is (almost) every black male in the US had been a victim of this.

 

[elpablo21]

Nice read.

In 1957, neighbors in Levittown, Pa., uniting under the flag of segregation, wrote: “As moral, religious and law-abiding citizens, we feel that we are unprejudiced and undiscriminating in our wish to keep our community a closed community.”

I am trying to imagine a white president forced to show his papers at a national news conference, and coming up blank. I am trying to a imagine a prominent white Harvard professor arrested for breaking into his own home, and coming up with nothing. I am trying to see Sean Penn or Nicolas Cage being frisked at an upscale deli, and I find myself laughing in the dark. It is worth considering the messaging here. It says to black kids: “Don’t leave home. They don’t want you around.” It is messaging propagated by moral people.

Sad but true.

 

[pabstblueribbon]

Great article. Anyone that says racism doesn't exist isn't a black male. It's that simple.

Black males aren't the only people on the end of racism though.

 

[mronegative]

I think what the article is trying to challenge, is this notion that the racists are this mean, low down, evil caricature. And that, that caricature is used as an excuse to say, "we don't have a racist bone in our bodies." That a racist is just a 1960s white Mississippian.

There's such a thing as polite people racism, and it's not okay to brush all those honest incidents off, because they add up to mean something. Because you don't see that happening to other famous white people. And he went there all the time.

I mean, it was an honest mistake, of course.

 

[luckyluchiano]

Black males aren't the only people on the end of racism though.

are they not currently/historically the biggest victims of it in the USA?

 

[pabstblueribbon]

are they not currently/historically the biggest victims of it in the USA?

Oh god. Here we go

Not gonna spin this thread or get into an argument.

Black people have it the worst.

There I'm out.

 

[luckyluchiano]

Oh god. Here we go

Not gonna spin this thread or get into an argument.

Black people have it the worst.

There I'm out.

Glad you realize.

 

[ohmygosher]

Black males aren't the only people on the end of racism though.

are they not currently/historically the biggest victims of it in the USA?

Native Americans were and still are.

 

[luckyluchiano]

Native Americans were and still are.

nah

 

[juju]

It doesn't take any more reason other than being black sometimes.... Some people just can't comprehend that.
Word to the police who stop me to make sure my car isn't stolen (I don't even drive a luxury car)

the car thing is so true. i use to drive a honda accord and never got pulled over. then i got a firebird, holy **** i got pulled over ALL the time and let go. why? because they pulled me over for nothing to see if the black kid in a classic muscle car stole it.

 

[mronegative]

Native Americans were and still are.

They're victims of imperialism and Manifest Destiny, first and foremost.

 

[gatzbygordon]

 racism is alive and thriving...

especially with the law enforcement community..

hispanics and the brothas are targeted all the time.

 

[Nouss]

Quote:
I am trying to imagine a white president forced to show his papers at a national news conference, and coming up blank. I am trying to a imagine a prominent white Harvard professor arrested for breaking into his own home, and coming up with nothing. I am trying to see Sean Penn or Nicolas Cage being frisked at an upscale deli, and I find myself laughing in the dark. It is worth considering the messaging here. It says to black kids: “Don’t leave home. They don’t want you around.” It is messaging propagated by moral people.

Nice read.


Sad but true.

Absolutely chilling quote.

SMH at comparing atrocities but I do agree with Native Americans.

 

[jones23me]

Ok Ok Ok, im black and i must i say I know we have it the worse, BUT i have found out in my years of living that if you're not White or atleast look the part then you are stereo-typed from the time eyes are layed on you, From that we get racial profiling in which it happens all the damn time to blacks and hispanics. Sucks people still treat others different due to their skin color versus their actions. But believe it or not watching them watch you and treat you different makes you act like a ANIMAL at times. "WHY THE **** YOU FOLLOWING ME AROUND" and why security come over here when i got a pocket full of money and i jus came to cop a fit for the night.