Jimmy Carter is NOT here to make white, racist friends

Larry King said it best – “Former President Jimmy Carter stirred up a hornet’s nest with his remarks about race yesterday.”

Indeed he did, because (surprise!) that’s exactly what happens when you actually talk about race in this country. White people, black people, liberals, and conservatives freak out.

Michael Steele, a republican who’s black, spoke out and said that he knows what racism is, and this is not racism. He cites Jim Crow, slavery, and segregation and argues: “Blind charges of racism, where none exists, not only are an affront to those who have suffered the effects of racism, but it weakens our efforts to address true acts of racism and make them more difficult to overcome.”

He then talks about Obama’s so-called radical policies like the “president’s wildly unpopular government-run health care plan that the American people simply oppose.”

…Ummmm, isn’t this exactly one of the reasons why Obama was elected? Was he not elected for ‘hope’ and ‘change’ within a system that does in fact need a revamp, in addition to implementing necessary changes in policies like Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, which he still has not done? To be honest, the most radical thing about Obama right now is that he is the first president of color, which says more about our society than about him. If anything, he’s leaving some of his original fan base in the cold due to his overall standstill on certain issues.

White democrats are also speaking out. Everyone from Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, Sen. Jim Web, and Sen. Kay Hagan are all like, “Jimmy Carter’s old and senile.”

Okay, I lie!

None of these democrats really have said that, but they don’t agree with Jimmy Carter’s racism hypothesis. But, I’d like to point out that most people (Read: old people, Jimmy Carter aside), view racism today in a Jim Crow mindset because old people lived through it. People think racism is the ridiculous, Academy Award winning film Crash.

People still view racism and discrimination against other marginalized groups in a good versus evil, Catwoman versus Sharon Stone way:

Well, guess what? There’s a new generation in town of all colors that doesn’t really even have a grasp of what it was like to live under Jim Crow and segregation. Racism is a diminishing, but ever-evolving beast. Sure, examples of extremism are apparent against Obama, but there are, in fact, subtler racist, homophobic, sexist, etc. stabs at play within our society.

Washington DC is often referred to as the ugly Hollywood. And Hollywood, like life, is a giant version of high school. And life, right now, is as ridiculous as reality television.

Which brings me to Rich Juzwiak, one of my all-time favorite bloggers. Last year, he posted a brilliant video called “I’m Not Here to Make Friends!” In it, he took clips from a plethora of reality television shows, where the now cliché phrase was used over and over and over again.

This past week, a radio segment about the video, what it means in today’s society, as well as for the contestants who use it, was featured on This American Life (it starts around 23:10).

He points out that the “game is on” by this “declaration of incivility.”

I understand why Obama, republicans, and democrats alike are distancing themselves from Carter. What I don't understand, however, are people who feel that he is being out of line. They are treating him like he's saying something as utterly ridiculous as "I'm Not Here to Make Friends!"

I, like everyone else, was intently watching TV the night Obama was elected. After he won, young people took it to the streets. Race was a main focus. Commentators noted younger black and white kids coming together in an "awww, that's cute" sort of way because it was such a historic moment for our country.

Could it be that Jimmy Carter, rather than declaring he's not here to make friends, be opening a dialogue to make us all better friends?

White people need to chill out. The definition of what's considered racism has expanded. When Avenue Q declared that "everyone's just a little bit racist," we chuckled... and, you know what, we kind of agreed.

Maybe if we were able to talk about our cultures, histories, and current lives in a more open context, we could work towards solutions to real problems.

If not, Tyra's "smize" (2:30 mark) is what's going to help us end unemployment, AIDS, and the remains of racism in one fell swoop.