The Beast Within

Michael Richards' tirade at a stand up routine is bizarre and disgusting. Christopher Bracey at BlackProf.com argues that it was a classic attempt to assert white racial supremacy:

What intrigues me about this video, and Richard's attempt at an apology, is his self-proclaimed racial innocence. How could this man possibly understand his comments to be anything other than raw bigotry? His comments were plainly racially insensitive, and he acknowledged their "shock value" himself. Moreover, he conceded that his racial tirade was an attempt to silence (ie. assert dominance over) over the hecklers. And if that's not all, he sought to enlist crowd support for is racial rant!

Sadly, I believe that behavior like Richards', and like Mel Gibson's drunken anti-Semitic rant, which he also attempted to excuse, is much more common that we would like to acknowledge in the 21st century, and that it reveals deep ongoing fissures in our society. Professor Bracey is right to be skeptical about Richards' assertion that he is not a bigot. However, I think that bigotry to some degree is probably endemic in all of us; like vanity, greed, lust, gluttony, envy, anger, and sloth, it is better that it be acknowledged and combated rather than denied and allowed to fester. If there is anything that the 20th century reminded us, it is that there is no bottom to the potential for human depravity, and no reason to believe that any particular person is not capable of unspeakable acts. One thing that I believe Dr. King tried to do is to show us a better way to deal with our worse nature, and even Dr. King was not immune from human fallibility.

Andrew Sullivan | The Daily Dish: "Those Words, Those Words ..."

Andrew Sullivan is right that while we must be steadfast in condemning racism wherever it rears its ugly head, we should do so with humility and self-examination, in the knowledge that our own conduct is not likely to be above reproach.

Note: Some commentators at BlackProf.com have attempted to cast this as a free speech issue. No one prevented Mr. Richards from spewing his hateful diatribe, but likewise his critics are free to say what they wish in response. Free speech is freedom from state coercion, not public ridicule.