Is A Racial Slur OK If the Slur-er "Meant No Disrespect?"

Alaska Congressman Don Young yesterday referred to migrant farm workers as "wet backs." Today, in lieu of an actual apology, he has explained that the term was commonly used when he was growing up in California and he didn't mean any disrespect.

If he had referred to black people by invoking the N-word, his excuse that he used that word all the time when he was growing up would be fuel to the fire, not a mitigating factor. (I grew up in Alabama, and I go back to visit, and I can tell you that people still use that really offensive slur referring to African Americans. It's just they have the sense to not say it on the radio or while being a US Congressman. People say it in front of me and they think I'm OK with it because I'm white and from Alabama. I tell them NOT to use that word in my presence. Neither that term, nor any racial slur, has ever been "harmless.")

Don Young doesn't get it. The fact that he referred to an entire group of Hispanic people as "wet-backs" without realizing he was insulting them is not a mitigating factor. It is the sign of a much bigger problem. He doesn't even realize he's a racist. And it reminds me of the fellow at CPAC who snarkily suggested that Fredrick Douglas' letter to his former owners should have thanked them for providing him with food and shelter. 

It is equally offensive when men refer to women as objects to be worshiped. When people explain that women cannot have priestly positions in church, or get that big promotion at work, but have the "highest calling"  or "hardest job in the world" because they can can be mothers, it makes me grind my teeth. That's saying that a woman's value is her uterus and milk-producing ability. How demeaning. Women are not brood mares or cows.

And likewise, the current issue dominating the news: marriage equality. Many people have no ill will towards gay people, they just want to deprive them of the right to get married. It's another form of objectification and subjugation of someone who is not the white, male ideal. It's a way of keeping someone seen as being "less than" from acting like an equal.

As a practical matter, I'll take this ignorance over violence, but all of these indignities, to me, represent the most sinister form of racism: the idea that "they treat their Negroes/"wet-backs"/women/gays very well" so they don't mean any harm. It makes me nauseous. I had a hard time even typing it out. It is the sickest form of white, male supremacy clothed in benevolence. It is perhaps more insulting than outright hate. At least hatred would be a form of respect.

Congressman Young has not said he regrets using the words, or apologized, or done any kind of mea culpa. He seems to believe that the fact that he has referred to Hispanic people as wet-backs since he was a young man makes it OK. It doesn't.

Get Above Your Raisin', Congressman and acknowledge that you have a lot of wrong ideas to overcome from your youth. Admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery.

POSTSCRIPT: Since I posted this blog, Congressman Young has issued a statement that is more of an apology. It can be found here.