"Kramer's" Racist Proud to Be White Email: A Sensible Response

Like many others, I recently received a chain email falsely attributed to Michael Richars, the man who played Kramer in Seinfeld. Richards, in a stand up act a couple years ago, used the N word in regard to a patron, and later apologized for the tirade. But the racist meltdown he suffered resulted in his retirement from stand up comedy. That's probably why the chain "Proud to be White" email was attributed to him in the first place. And the real author is probably pleased that the email tirade has made its rounds and gotten such extreme response. Not only has the email's authorship been debunked on snopes but it contains many derogatory and offensive stereotypes that I found bigoted and inflammatory. I felt compelled to respond to it at length with my own opinions and attitudes regarding the contents of the email.

We all have different experiences in our lives dealing with those people who are different than us and who have different cultures than our own. Keep in mind that I'm engaged to a Filipino Adventist whose culture could not be more different than mine if he was a Martian from the planet Mercury. Michael Kramer, or whoever wrote that email would call my fiance a "chink" because he's Asian. I find that highly offensive because it's meant derogatively in much the same way as the N word is used to describe black people. Yes, it is racist because anyone who calls someone a term with negative connotations before actually getting to know the person individually is a lazy stereotyping bigot, who criticizes what he can't understand.

To me, race is all about culture. Different races have different cultures and lifestyles and no one culture is exactly like another. I'm fairly open minded about most things, but I'm a very picky eater. A large part of culture and difference between races in this world is in the food we eat. So imagine my reluctance to experiment with Asian cuisine after I started seeing Eric. Luckily his family is Adventist so my experimentation was limited to mostly vegetarian foods and at least I knew I wasn't eating some weird animal by accident. They do like their fish and seafood, however, and I draw the line there. Rice is their staple. What potatoes are to us rice is to the poverty stricken Asian countries. They eat rice with everything. They put rice on top of their rice. When I went to Florida with them on vacation, one of Eric's sister's checked bags was too heavy because it was full of rice and a rice cooker. I thought they were crazy! (And they in turn probably thought I was crazy because of my preference for soda pop and tv dinners) You have to understand the Asian heritage. Rice is a good source of carbs, an energy food, and it's cheap. It's just a side dish for everything. Like our potatoes or bread. Eric eats almost no bread at all. We just got a toaster (because I wanted one). Before we had nothing to put in one. Now, I'll never be a big rice fan just because to me it's such a boring food. But you know what I absolutely love? Eggplant! And you know what else? Vegetable egg rolls! And had I never met Eric I would never have even tried either. So here I am, a very picky eater, and I've broadened my horizons because I've experienced a bit of a different culture than my own. They didn't push it on me. Eric's mom didn't hold my nose and force feed me eggplant. I was just being courteous and turns out I love the stuff. It's not my parents fault that I didn't already know about these wonderful Asian foods. It wasn't like my mom was hiding these foods from me while she brainwashed me with burgers and hot dogs. She doesn't know about them herself. Just like she doesn't know about Italian pizza or gelato because she's never been to Italy. My point is simply that experiencing new cultures can be a good thing, not a bad thing but you have to be open to it. In order to be open to it, you must not feel threatened by it.

I don't believe that minorities have a secret agenda to convert whites to their culture and take over America. But a lot of Americans seem to be worried about it so much that they have this idea that minorities should assimilate (more than they already do) to "American" culture. But "American" culture is nothing more than a blending of all sorts of cultures put together, all the way back from our European immigrants to the Native Americans who were here long before us. Our apple pie comes from England, our hot dogs from Germany, and our sense of democracy Thomas Jefferson stole straight from the political philosophy of ancient Greece (along with the architecture of most of our historic buildings). Despite these European influences, Americans insist that every non native speak English. We derogatively term small foreign cars "rice burners" and we call haggling "jewing" someone down. There are stereotypes everywhere and they are all hurtful and counterproductive to the whole idea of our "American" creed that all men are created equal. If all men really are created equal...

Why are blacks three times as more likely to be searched at a routine traffic stop than whites? Why are Hispanics over twice as likely? Why are blacks four times as likely to have forced used on them by the police than whites? Why are Hispanics twice as likely? Why do women only make 77 cents for every dollar a man makes for working the same job? Why do college educated black males earn only 78 cents for every dollar a college educated white male makes on the same job?

Could Congress have something to do with it? There are currently only 17 female Senators representing over 50% of America. That's a heavy burden to handle for those 17 brave women. That's one sixth of the Senate representing one half of America. If you think that's bad, there's only one lonely little black senator, representing all of America's blacks. Talk about pressure! The House of Representatives is not much better. Women comprise just over 17% of the seats and blacks barely half that. So are all men truly created equal? Or is politics still just for old rich white guys?

My point is without these racial and gender discrepancies there would be no need to groups like the NAACP to help advance the civil rights of blacks, as well as feminist organizations to help along disenfranchised women. If syndicated television looked like real life America (in relation to proportional representation) there would be no call for BET. If blacks weren't so disproportionately poor, they wouldn't need things like the United Negro College Fund. It's not about discriminating against the whites (as the person in the email seems to selfishly think), it's about leveling the playing field so that all men really are created equal (and women too!)

"They" don't have Martin Luther King Day. WE have Martin Luther King Day. King was a great man with an even greater vision. His I Have Dream Speech is regarded as one of the most notable speeches in America's history and the ideas of equality and fairness don't just apply to blacks but to all people of all colors. MLK Day is a federal holiday for everyone, as it should be, because there is nothing more AMERICAN than equality for all.

The email asked why we don't have a White History Month. Why do we need one, when we already have eleven? January, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December. We gave the shortest one to the blacks. Are we really whining about "giving away" one measly month? That's like crying over a hangnail to a man who has no hands.

Whites, indeed, can't be in Miss Black America because they aren't black. Men can't be either, because they're not women. But blacks can be in Miss America and why shouldn't they be? Does the author mean to imply that they're not American enough to be Miss America?

Whites don't march for civil rights because they've never had to. Whites have never had Jim Crow laws enforced on them. Whites have never had to drink out of different fountains because they're white. Whites have never been banished to the back of the bus. In 1954 the Supreme Court desegregated the public schools after hearing the case Brown vs. the Board of Education. That was 55 years ago, and blacks are still marching for their civil rights. Isn't that a little sad that they even have to? Granted, we've made large strides in history, but when I can still hear the N word regularly in a northern bar 143 years after blacks were given the right to vote... can you blame any black person for being even slightly disappointed in our slow progress?

Everyone should fight for their civil rights whenever they're violated. Men, women, children, blacks, whites, Asians, Hispanics, Indians, etc. I had my own civil rights battle a few years back with my writing and it had nothing to do with race (but I think a little to do with gender) and thank God for the ACLU, which went to bat for me. All people should be equal in the eyes of the law. I'm not saying there aren't ever instances of white discrimination. I don't agree with the email when it says only whites are racist. I think all races are racist by nature for the reasons I mentioned before... mainly that they don't understand and/or respect other cultures different than their own. Some of my dear friends are racist as can be, and they're surprised that I take offense to their stereotypes. They even seem shocked when I ask what they truly think of Eric since he's not white. Well, he's a swell guy, they say, they like him a lot. Then don't criticize minorities and don't call Adventists peanuts because you're offending him too. People seem shocked when I give them a different perspective.

I had a college history professor who made the point that a large reason a lot of other countries have had genocides is because they lack a sense of community with the country they live in. In the Ottoman Empire after the first World War, the Muslim Turks massacred a million and a half Armenian Christians. In Burundi in the 60s, the Hutus took control of government and killed 12,000 Tutsis. In the 70s the Tutsis tried killing off the Hutus and then in the 90s the Hutus killed the Tutsis in mass quantity to return the favor. In Cambodia Pol Pot lead the genocide against all sorts of ethnic minority groups, killing nearly 2 million of them in a four year period in the late 70s. And of course, we both know about Hitler and the hard on he had for killing all the Jews. All of these killings happened because of people's differences. If only we could focus on our similarities instead of our differences, violence would never come into the equation.

Here we are all Americans. Some of us may identify ourselves as African-American, Hispanic-American, Asian-American. The dash is what's important. The dash connects us all as Americans, yet most people are all hung up on the first word instead of the last. Having done our family tree, the Bolins could call ourselves Swedish-Irish-Polish-German-Americans but is that really necessary? I tend to think of us as Heinz 57s, mixed breeds, cross breeds, hybrids, etc. We are the personifications of multi-culturalism, in the melting pot that is America. A pedigree puree, a long island iced tea of heritages and cultures all specially blended to make a very unique beverage. And guess what? There's nothing at all wrong with that.

Is one race or culture superior to any other? Does Eric's love of rice and soy sauce make him inferior to our neighbor Billy Bob's love of Nascar and John Deere tractors? Or are they simply different? Italians, as we both know, love their wine, their lemons and oranges. Can you blame them? We have apple pie and hot dogs, baseball and country music. Asians have rice and egg rolls and Buddhism and tiny cars that get 50 mpg. Italians have tiramisu, pasta, and Pavarotti. Blacks have ribs, rap music, and an uncanny ability to dance. But isn't it a good thing when these cultures overlap? When Americans enjoy lasagna, Asians build their McDonalds and join the Yankees, or when whites learn to rap like Eminem and Kid Rock? And country stars like Big and Rich break into a rap chorus in the middle of their hit country song, Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy? This blending of cultures creates a new culture altogether, an inclusive culture that has room for everyone, not just one race or one heritage. We all share time and space here on Earth. We all are human beings first and foremost, more alike than different. We're on the same side, aren't we? As Rodney King said after the white cops beat him senseless... can't we all just get along?

There's nothing wrong with being proud of our heritages. But our pedigrees shouldn't limit our open mindedness to the value of other cultures. It's all about a sense of community with the people we cohabitate the country with. You can be Asian-American who loves rice AND Big Macs. You can be Italian-American and love both spaghetti AND Miller Lite. You can be African-American and love both barbeque ribs AND apple pie. You can be a Heinz 57 American like I am and love egg rolls, pizza, hot dogs while listening to opera. Why? Because our common thread is American, and to be American is to be inclusive (rather than exclusive) of other cultures and heritages.