Joan Rivers - On Race?!

by Vince Daliessio

 

We usually see the energetic septugenarian Joan Rivers good-naturedly harassing celebrities on the "red carpet" at one awards show or another. But Stephan Kinsella relates an interesting confrontation between Ms. Rivers and Trinidadian-born author Darcus Howe on a BBC Radio Program;

On a BBC radio talk show, Jackie Collins, the Hollywood novelist, was talking about a mixed-race character in her new book. Then Darcus Howe, a Trinidad-born social commentator, started talking about his new documentary about his relationship with his 20 year-old son, Amiri, and whether it was racism or his faults as a father that were to blame for the difficulties his child had been through.

Rivers, 72, broke in, saying: "I'm so, so bored of race. I think people should inter-marry. Everybody should be part this, part that and part everything. Race doesn't mean a damn thing. Everybody should just relax, take the best of their cultures and move forward."

Purves suggested that was a "very American approach" but Howe disagreed, saying: "That's not an American approach. America is one of the most savagely racial places in the world."

And then he later suggested: "Since black offends Joan�" This drove Rivers into a complete tizzy. "Wait!" she cried. "Just stop right now. Black does not offend me. How dare you? How dare you say that? 'Black offends me!' You know nothing about me. How dare you. ... don't you dare call me that. Son of a bitch." ...

The uproar subsided when Howe, after insisting he had no idea if Rivers "was a racist or not", relented by saying: "No, she's not a racist."

We have written before of our great love for the Trinidadian people, and it still holds true. But among some university-educated blacks (particularly some of those educated in the US and Europe) there is a ghastly sort of racialism that is really baffling to us, taking into account the fact that the people of Trinidad&Tobago are 40% African and 40% East Indian. Even more baffling is how someone like Mr. Howe "knows" America is so "savagely racial".

But we are glad Ms. Rivers was there to correct him!

Posted 10/20/2005 9:18:03 AM by Vince Daliessio

Many minorities jealously guard the despotic power that federal "anti-discrimination" rules give them, because they are afraid of losing that power. I can't say I blame them entirely - after all, the US Constitution enshrined blacks' status as non-human property until the 13th Amendment. But continuing this disgusting practice of racializing everything doesn't help end racism - it perpetuates it.

Posted 10/24/2005 11:36:37 AM by Vince Daliessio

True. There are so many areas into which we are forbidden to tread for fear of disqualifying ourselves from the argument altogether. If you start with the assumption that whites are NOT inherently racist - oh-boy! You'll automatically forfeit the discussion. Backpedaling is the only course of action a white person can take in a discussion on racism.

Posted 10/20/2005 12:28:21 PM by Joe Pulcinella

The fact that Rivers had to verbally spar with Howe so vigorously to get such an admission is evidence of how entrenched racism is in the minds of many people in the minority. This makes it nearly impossible to move further forward, no matter how liberal and open-minded individual whites or the white community become.

Posted 10/20/2005 11:12:22 AM by Vince Daliessio

The fact that Rivers had to verbally spar with Howe so vigorously to get such an admission is evidence of how entrenched racism is in the minds of many people in the minority. This makes it nearly impossible to move further forward, no matter how liberal and open-minded individual whites or the white community become.

Posted 10/20/2005 11:12:22 AM by Vince Daliessio

Rivers does not seem to be at fault here. Racism, to the extent that it is a real problem, stems from government's official seal of approval (or as Justice Clarence Thomas calls it, "a badge of inferiority") of certain races as disenfranchised. Once you are blessed with minority status and can collect all the benefits guaranteed by it, your progress will cease.

Meanwhile, I have this to ask of Howe: Why can blacks know what whites are thinking and not the other way around? It seems to me that to cry racism, one would have to know the other side of the story in a racial matter. Since those who accuse others of racism will not concede that same omniscience to the other side, how seriously can we take them?

Posted 10/20/2005 9:54:16 AM by Joe Pulcinella