Brian Couzens, a professed white man admits that
he didn’t know February was Black History Month.
Yes, you read right. In 2007, there are still non-Blacks
who do not know that February is Black History Month.
The admission came courtesy of Hartford’s daily
paper the Courant which featured an interview regarding Couzens’ reasons
for booking the highly controversial white drag queen that performs
in blackface and mimics negative stereotypes of Blacks.
Charles Knipp, a.k.a. Shirley Q. Liquor is still
booked to perform in Hartford, Connecticut on February 23 at popular
gay nightclub Chez EST.
Couzens, the club’s manager said that while
he wasn’t aware of Black History Month, in retrospect, he
probably wouldn’t have booked Knipp’s act for February
had he known, but the show would still go on.
All I want to know is what rock was this person living
under to not know February is Black History Month?
But more seriously, Couzens’ comments directly
speak to the divide between Blacks and whites and lends credence
to the notion that one can live in one's own world while the rest
of the world passes by.
While Couzens may not be a blatant racist, he is
guilty of unconscious racism.
Unconscious racism as one federal judge
put it “can be found in the latent psyches of white Americans
that were inundated for centuries with myths and fallacies of their
superiority over the black race," and that a form of "benign
neglect" has replaced overt and intentional discrimination.
Case in point, it is impossible for non-Blacks to
say what is or is not racially offensive to Black people. This
is the reason why people like Couzens don’t see anything
wrong with a white man performing in blackface. In addition, even
though Couzens may have the best of intentions, he, like other
non-Blacks, is unable to distinguish or recognize their own racist
behavior. Plainly put, his people weren’t brought over here
as slaves and then dehumanized to the point of mass confusion and
self-hatred, ours were.
From the outright blatant racial attacks on Blacks
in Los Angeles by some local gangs, to the MLK weekend college
parties where white students dressed up as Aunt Jemima and gang
members, to the controversial blackface minstrel show booked in
popular white gay night clubs, Couzens’ comments should serve
as a reminder to all Blacks that we have not come that far.
And like with anything ugly, society would rather
push racial issues under the carpet and hope and pray that they
will go away, but they won’t. Hurricane Katrina reminded
us all of that.
We cannot get to the point where we are unable or
unwilling to call out racism when it happens. Political correctness
only gets you so far and at times does more of a disservice to
Blacks than anything else.
There are times when you just have to call it like
it is and hope that you are not the only one willing to do so.
Brian Couzens may not be a blatant racist, but he
does suffer from unconscious racism, which is probably a direct
result of his white privilege. A privilege that allowed him to
go though life for 32 years living in his own white world, never
having to engage with anyone outside of his circle. And it’s
because of this privilege that it’s impossible for people
like Couzens to understand how racially offensive a blackface minstrel
show is and allows them to go through life never knowing that Blacks
have a history month and that month is February.
Black people, we have a lot of work to do.
BC Columnist
Jasmyne Cannick, 29, is a social commentator, nationally syndicated
journalist and activist who was chosen as one of ESSENCE Magazine's
25 Women Shaping the World. She is a member of the National
Association of Black Journalists and writes a popular daily
blog at jasmynecannick.com and myspace.com/jasmynecannick.
She resides in Los Angeles. Click here to
contact Ms. Cannick. |