A small item in the news this morning reports that a federal judge in Montana has admitted to sending a racist-charged anti-Obama joke in an email to several buddies. Richard Cebull, chief judge for the US District Court of the District of Montana, was reported by the Great Falls Tribune to have forwarded a joke in an email sent from his official court internet account to several buddies. The joke involved Barack Obama, his mother, and sex with dogs. Accompanying the forwarded joke was a note from Judge Cebull himself saying "Normally I don't send or forward a lot of these, but even by my standards, it was a bit touching. I want all of my friends to feel what I felt when I read this. Hope it touches your heart like it did mine."
When asked about the email by a reporter from the Tribune, Cebull admitted sending the racially-charged email, and said he sent the joke because it was “anti-Obama”, and not because of the racist tone of the joke. While Cebull agreed that the email is racist in nature, he denied being a racist himself. "The only reason I can explain it to you is I am not a fan of our president, but this goes beyond not being a fan,", said Cebull. The original news story can be found here: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/...
The take-home message: Judge Cebull is not a racist, he just thinks and does the same things that racists do.
What is the one thing that racists most fear? Not the near-by presence of persons of different skin tones. Racists know what to do in those situations. No, what upsets racists the most is being accused of being racists. Racists hate being called racists above all things, and go to great lengths to deny the racist appellation, even as they admit the racist nature of their actions. “Sure I hate black people, and Mexicans too. But I'm not a racist!”
I can't remember the last time I heard someone publicly admit to being a racist.
Because the word “racist” has come to means so much more than dislike of another racial group. The word “racist” carried intimations of low intelligence, a fearful backwardsness, and the zealotry of lynch-mob passions. The image that comes to mind is part hooded night-rider terrorist and part backwoods country boys from Deliverance.
I doubt that Judge Cebull is any of those things. I am guessing that Judge Cebull thought he was simply sharing a funny joke with his private circle of friends. Indeed, the judge is quoted as saying “It was not intended by me in any way to become public”. The problem here, for the judge, is not that he was sending around racist attacks on the President, but that his actions became public. And for that, the judge is ready to apologize. So long as everyone understand he is not a racist.
I am guessing that “racist” ranks right up there with “liberal” or “socialist” as the most-hated labels in public life. And I enjoy seeing conservatives trying to find the wiggle room between their acknowledged racist actions and the label “racist” as applied to themselves. To the same degree that I anguish when liberal politicians run away from acknowledging their liberalism.
Perhaps we should change the definition of racism to include denying that one is a racist.. Just as “denial” is now seen as one of the defining traits of alcoholism or drug dependency. It is so frequent that individuals will denying being a racist themselves when caught engaging in racist behaviors, it has become a common repertoire when asked about racist behaviors..
I think the upset with which people view the label “racists” is a testament to the power of the Civil Rights Movement. And I for one am glad that people do not like to be called “racist”. Let them explain themselves: “it was never meant to be public”; “I know lots of the blacks”; “so a person can't tell a joke any more?”.
I think it is important that we all get to see our actions as others see them. That way lies a path out of the backwoods.