Roseanne Barr reportedly tweeted: “muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj.”
VJ reportedly is a reference to Valerie Jarrett, a former government official under then President Obama.
The tweet suggests that Ms. Jarrett was/is a Muslim or at least a Muslim sympathizer as also what some say/said about former President Obama.
The reference to planet of the apes speaks to the fact that racist over the years have claimed that Blacks are apes.
I will not take issue with the Muslim reference as it is not necessarily clearly racist since not all Muslims are Black. However, it is undeniably a political association suggestion/declaration seemingly based on her belief.
However, the reference to planet of the apes is clearly meant to have racial overtones. It is therefore reasonable to conclude it to be a racist statement whether or not it was meant as a joke. It was clearly unwise and uncalled for and has no value especially given the current visibly heightened racial tension that exists in America.
Any statement made especially by prominent/media citizens should promote love, respect, and consideration across all races. No statement should be made that promotes/provoke hate, disrespect, or ill-consideration of any race nor which promotes superiority of any race over another race. History should inform but should not deform. History should engender love not hate.
I have said it before and I will say it again: I refuse to be the evil others are or have been concerning racism. I refuse to be a racist because someone else was or is a racist.
Valerie Jarrett reportedly has said this incident should be used as a “teaching moment”. So how do we and the media best leverage this opportunity into a “teaching moment”? Has ABC missed such a moment? Will ABC take the lead or will ABC simply punt the football to the rest of the world and seek to wash its hands by simply getting rid of the show? We shall see.
Indeed, punting the football on the racial problems seems to be what the NFL authorities are doing regarding Colin Kaepernick so far. We shall see concerning the NFL as well.
I also think it is sometimes unwise to throw the baby out with the bath water as the old saying goes. So perhaps, ABC should have chastised Roseanne and required her show to speak to the issue of racism in our nation in a balanced and positive way aimed at healing the racial divide. This would have forced her to show that she is truly sorry by putting her mind, heart, and physical energy to work on helping resolve racial tension.
Oh Yeah! There are White Racist and Black Racist. There are Democratic Party Racist and Republican Party Racist. So this is not a Political Party Problem; anyone who acts as though it is regardless of his/her race, then that person has an integrity of the heart problem.
