The lesson of Roseanne: America still has a race issue
T hanks, Roseanne Barr.
Yes, America still has a race problem. Early Tuesday morning, the comedienne and star of the toprated show on TV posted a Tweet that intimated that a former aide to President Barack Obama was the result of a union between the Muslim Brotherhood and the “Planet of the Apes.”
And she apparently thought this was OK. And had no qualms about sharing such revolting, blatantly racist rhetoric with the rest of the world via social media.
And that’s not all. A lot of people agreed with her.
Fortunately for the rest of us, ABC, the network that hosts the reboot of her immensely popular show, was not one of them.
They promptly cancelled the show, which revisited the popular sitcom and cast Roseanne as a supporter of President Donald Trump.
The move from the network brass came after Wanda Sykes, a one-time resident of Media and a producer of the show, said she would not return for another season.
Valerie Jarrett, the target of Barr’s barb, is black. Ironically, she was in Philadelphia to take part in a national discussion on racism. She urged the nation to use the incident as a “teaching moment.” She’s right about that. What is has taught us is that America still has serious race issues.
There was a time when such hateful drivel was reserved for our most private moments, maybe among friends, sitting at the bar, griping at the dinner table, or chatting at the office watercooler.
Social media allows us to share such bigotry with the entire world in the blink of an eye.
There is no blinking when it comes to the message Barr was sending.
This seemed to register with her only after she was dumped by the network, as well as her talent agency.
Barr issued a quick apology and announced she was leaving Twitter. It didn’t last long, she was back online overnight, again expounding on what she said, indicating she was on Ambien at the time she composed her thoughts and urging those who rushed to defend her not to do so.
Yes, what Barr said is a problem.
But it’s a sentiment clearly shared by too many who jumped on their phones, tablet and laptops in attempts to justify what she said.
They quickly jabbed their fingers in the faces of the Liberal left, saying this was one more example of a double-standard, that liberals are not held to the same line as a conservative voice.
Barr, who backs President Trump, is banned, while the critics of the administration and the president’s policies get a pass.
They want to discuss the comments of Joy Behar, one of the hosts of ‘The View’ and a strident liberal voice. They point to the White House Correspondents Dinner, and the nasty, snide remarks of comic Michelle Wolf, who unleashed a no-holdsbarred fusillade against the president and his spokesperson, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, that many believed crossed the line of civility.
What they don’t talk about is what Barr actually said.
She equated a human being, in this case an African-American woman, with a primate.
That so many people were willing to defend such an incomprehensibly ugly comment is proof of how far the nation still has to go when it comes to race relations.
The far more difficult question is why? What is the root of such clear division?
Is it the backlash against what should have been a defining moment in the nation’s racially charged history? Instead of embracing the election of an African American to the highest office in the land, too many elected leaders instead vowed that their job now was not to represent their constituents, but instead to ensure that Barack Obama was not re-elected. Much of their agenda – including the egregious decision by Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell to not even deign to offer Obama’s pick for the Supreme Court – a hearing stands as stark proof of that.
Donald Trump seized that mood, the fear that white America was somehow in danger of losing its status, and built it into the drumbeat of “Make America Great Again.” We didn’t realize it wasn’t great the entire time.
He painted Mexicans as rapists; ordered a ban on Muslims entering the country; spawned a war on immigration, casting those seeking to enter the country as “others”; offered inflammatory comments about women; declared war on the press, suggesting they were an “enemy of the people;” described some torchbearing white nationalists as “good people;” and vowed to build a wall on the southern border. What he has not been able to build a wall around is the growing racial unease in the country, the anger of so many who no longer believe they count, or are being listened to or are overlooked by those we elect to public office.
The result is a seeming constant lashing out, usually at minorities.
Roseanne Barr has offered us a teaching moment.
America still has a race problem.
The answer now is what do we do about it.