Thank You Paula Deen

I want to go on record as thanking Paula Deen. She has been the most recent catalyst in bringing out the more subtle (can't think of a more apropos word for it) forms of racism in the US. The George Zimmerman trial has brought it all to light for me.

Many white people find it easy to "like" certain types of black people. If you wear a shirt and tie, and speak the same as what I believe to be an educated white person, I "like" you. Thus I can't possibly be a racist. If you DON'T wear pants that sag, or hoodies, when I decide the weather's not right for it, I "like" you. If you're more Bill Cosby than Cornell West, I "like" you.

It's usually the more in-your-face black people that I don't "like". Those ones who speak in Ebonics, or those people who don't give a shit what white people think, that I don't "like". And I'll find any reason I can to point this out. Just look what Paula Deen has shown us lately.

People who really don't believe they're racist have come to her defense from out of the woodwork. "How can you blame Paula Deen for what she said so many years ago, and not blame rappers and other "unlikeable" blacks for what they say or said?" is their battle cry.

These white (and sometimes black, if you can believe it) people will NEVER understand the level of hurt black people have experienced in this country. They are incapable. They will go through their lives in search of the new reason they can get to display their subtle racism. Trayvon Martin could probably attest to that, if he were still alive to do so.