Looking out: Any suggestions?
By Brandon Astor Jones
Some readers may have heard about John Crawford, the top US spokesman for the British luxury car maker Jaguar. Recently, he addressed a group of journalists at an automobile industry luncheon. There was a spirited discussion about expensive cars that caused Crawford to refer to the Mercedes-Benz car maker as "the biggest nigger in the woodpile". One African-American journalist was present at that luncheon.
Realising that his statement was an affront, shortly thereafter Crawford fired off a personal letter of apology to each reporter. Among other things, he admitted to being guilty of "gross insensitivity". As reported in the Louisville Defender, "the phrase is commonly used in [Crawford's] native Australia". I personally feel the phrase is common throughout the world, but Crawford himself went on to say that the remark "just slipped out." Indeed.
In my opinion two points of clarity are needed here:
(1) I think Crawford is guilty of a bit more than "gross insensitivity". For instance, if you tell someone that their favourite dog or cat is ugly, or if you tell your dinner host that the meal s/he has just prepared is the worst you have ever eaten, those are statements that could qualify you as being grossly insensitive. However, when you use patently racist cliches you are either (a) a racist or (b) a conscious or unconscious victim of racism.
(2) Such words and cliches do not just slip out, any more than the Lord's Prayer or a Hail Mary slips out if one is Protestant or Catholic. I am of the opinion that people say what is deeply entrenched in their hearts.
Those of you who have been reading this column for the past year and a half will know that, while I know a great deal about your country, I can never know enough, nor have I ever been privileged to visit it. You may rest assured that as a middle-aged African-American, I know that the racist cliche cited here is not unique to Australia. I have heard it before throughout the Americas, Canada and elsewhere.
Nevertheless, this incident has made me curious. In fact, I would like to know what some of my Australian readers feel are the most "commonly used" racially derogatory terms or cliches that racists in Australia employ when referring to people who are different from them.
I want each of you to consider this a personal request: write and share with me one of your very own personal experiences wherein you were subjected, or witnessed someone else being subjected, to demonstrations of racism. Please be sure to include your suggestion(s) as to how we might all be better able to cope with such racists and their attitudes.
In the near or distant future I would like to choose one of the best suggestions for coping and share it with all of the Green Left Weekly's readers. If that suggestion helps even one of us learn to refine our coping skills, Crawford will have done us more good than harm, inadvertently.
[The writer is a prisoner on death row in the United States. He is happy to receive letters commenting on his columns. He can be written to at: Brandon Astor Jones, EF-122216, G2-51, GD&CC, PO Box 3877, Jackson, GA 30233, USA.]