Dumping racist symbols is a start

Grab some pine, Aunt Jemima.

The longtime cartoon symbol for a brand of pancake batter and syrup was benched permanently by her parent company, Quaker Oats, “to make progress toward racial equality.”

That benching took 130 years. You don’t want to rush into those big corporate decisions.

Other racist, offensive and insensitive symbols have been biting the dust in the wake of the protests following the murder of George Floyd.

So, everything is cool now? Maybe not. W. Kamau Bell, comedian and host of CNN’s “United Shades of Color,” tweeted Thursday, “Just so we're clear, white people, firing Aunt Jemima & giving us Juneteenth off are not the frontlines of defeating white supremacy & dismantling structural & (institutional) racism. Better schools, a just criminal justice system, access to healthcare was more what we were thinking.”

That makes sense. Getting rid of Aunt Jemima doesn’t make up for George Floyd and all his death represents.

But these symbolic actions are, one hopes, a sign that people are waking up, paying attention, and giving a fig and opening up to real change and progress. Then again ... On Sunday, a noose was found in the garage stall of Bubba Wallace at the site of a scheduled NASCAR race in Alabama, less than two weeks after the Black driver got NASCAR to ban the Confederate flag at its tracks and facilities.

Sadly, not everyone is open to real change and progress.

Still, the mighty SEC has served warning to the state of

Mississippi that if it continues to fly its state flag, which contains a rebel flag, the conference will “consider” keeping SEC championship events out of that state.

Mississippi’s is the last state flag to feature the Confederate stars and bars. The state’s universities no longer fly that flag, and some cities have banned it, but it still waves proudly over much of the state. By a 2018 penal code, the pledge of allegiance to the Mississippi state flag “shall be taught in the public schools.”

Maybe the SEC prod can cause some rethinking.

In Atlanta, behind the voices of people like black journalist Terence Moore, there is a revival of the demand that the Braves ban the fans’ “chop and chant.” The team recently stated it would “continue to evaluate how we activate elements of our brand.”

We have a winner! That statement is the sports world’s worst, most tonedeaf reaction to the events in 2020. Antichant protesters are in for a battle. I’ve been in the Braves’ ballpark when fans rock the house with the chop and chant, and I can tell you that this bit of racism is not going to go away as quietly as Aunt Jemima did.

But it will go, and that will be another skirmish won in the war.

I was around during the ’60s, when the nation was rocked by protests and demonstrations against the war in Vietnam and against institutional racism. Although those actions certainly brought about change, eventually, I don’t remember any instant positive responses we’re seeing now.

I remember the opposite. When Tommie Smith and John Carlos protested on the Olympic medal stand in Mexico City in 1968, they were thrown out of the Olympic Village and branded as traitors.

Now, in response to widespread protests, sports leagues and organizations are moving away from their noprotest policies. The U.S. Soccer Federation announced that its rule prohibiting demonstrations “was wrong and detracted from the important message of Black Lives Matter.”

The USOC is showing signs of backing off its hardline noprotest rule, but the International Olympic Committee is not. This could lead to a big showdown at next summer’s Olympics in Japan. If an American athlete or athletes protest and are kicked out, there’s a chance they won’t have to leave town alone, as Smith and Carlos did. Sometimes the United States has to show the way.

It would be a huge tragedy if, when all the accounting is done, the only changes from the turmoil of 2020 are that Aunt Jemima and war chants and racist symbols went away.

That’s the challenge now, keeping the momentum, however symbolic, going in the direction of the real change W. Kamau Bell talks about.

But let’s not trivialize symbolism. When NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell apologized for the league’s handling of peaceful protesters, it signaled a longoverdue recognition of the legitimacy of the message of Colin Kaepernick and others.

The NFL is planning its 2020 season, and President Trump tweeted his support, adding, “However, if they don’t stand for our National Anthem and our Great American Flag, I won’t be watching!!!”

So we’re starting to see positive results.