Maybe One More Coat of Paint?

Honestly, I thought nothing of it when I heard the allegations being shot at Governor, Rick Perry.  After all he is a middle aged, white male, protestant from one of the last states to abolish slavery.  I just assumed he had “racial tendencies” without digging through his past.  But let’s “give the devil his due”  for a minute here. This is still the South and I don’t know of any white person who was not subjected to the “N” word while growing up.  My grandmother heard the word used like salt or pepper with no apologies.  It’s how many Southern white children were taught to discern the good folks from the bad. Consequently, many understand that one racist generation does not necessarily make the next generation guilty.

Then while rushing in one morning to catch The View, I heard Whoopi blurt out the word “N*****HEAD,” stating something about it being painted on a rock at a camp the Perry family had purchased.  What took me by surprise was hearing the word “Head” at the end.   A chill went through me like a ghost.  I remember watching the movie Rosewood not too long ago and envisioning the scenes where the K.K.K. horse backed through the towns looking for innocent, helpless people to lynch.  It was the same feeling; the same chill.  Whoopi went on to say that the sign was painted over some time ago.  Many “right-leaning “reporters have suggested though that this was a political smear job.  Perry was being unfairly accused of racism because of a trivial oversight, that the word was painted there prior to the purchase.  

They might be right; I could believe that it was a political smear job.  I could believe that Democrats were turning over every rock to find anything they could on Perry.  I can easily envision Democrats fist pumping and patting each other on the backs when they discovered the existence of such a disgrace.  And that’s exactly what I see this as, a disgrace.  I think that if the N word had been a picture of a Swastika instead of this particular racial slur, Perry would have immediately blown that rock to “Smithereens”, not just painted over it a few years ago.  I am also certain that if Perry had grown up as a black male in Texas, with the Rebel flags and the N word flying over his head, he most definitely would have found a way to remove any hint of such a slur on his property.

Whether or not you consider Rick Perry to be a racist will depend upon the window you sat at in this world.  Did you grow up white or black?  If you grew up white, then you probably feel that the press is making too much out of a simple word.  However, if you grew up black then you know it’s more than “just” a word.