This Just Cracks Me Up
January 21st, 2008 | by Craig |Suppose we gave a diversity celebration and no persons of color came.
As the Missoulian news staff gathered to plan coverage of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, it bumped into an uncomfortable fact. Finding someone in Western Montana to represent the results of King’s fight for civil rights felt like an exercise in tokenism.
What’s the over/under on someone suggesting a busing program?
Yes, I know I’m being flip with that comment, but I think Montana is one place that the vast majority of people really don’t give much of a crap one way or another about how much pigment is in your skin. There are those, such as David Neiwert, who would lead you to believe that every white person in Montana is a closet racist, and to be sure, there are a few, but bigotry is one of those things that’s just part of the human spectrum, no matter where you choose to call home.
Finding work in Montana has never been easy. That may explain not only why we’re the least black state in the nation, but almost the smallest.
Hmmm…you just may be on to something there.
6 Responses to “This Just Cracks Me Up”
By Wulfgar on Jan 22, 2008 | Reply
I am terribly curious as to exactly why you think that David Neiwert “would lead you to believe that every white person in Montana is a closet racist”?
By Craig on Jan 22, 2008 | Reply
I dunno. Does almost every thing he’s written on his blog count?
By Wulfgar on Jan 22, 2008 | Reply
I’m pretty sensitive to being called a racist, and I just don’t see it. I read Orcinus daily. Not once have I felt that I was being called a racist. It’s likely not worth getting into a dust-up over, but I think your point could use more support than just pointing to the guy’s website.
(For the record, I’m not accusing you of cribbing opinions from Mike Harris, but that is the only other person from whom I’ve heard that argument … and he couldn’t support it other than to intimate, at several times in several places, that the only one who *really* understands racism in Montana is himself. Obviously, I don’t agree. Having read Niewert’s books and his website for many years, it is my opinion that he points out a very salient idea; Montanans, and many others in the NorthWest, have a really difficult time dealing with issues of race specifically because it isn’t part of our daily routines and average lives. We aren’t racists, nor are we not racists. It simply isn’t our focus or part of our consciousness. Unfortunately, that leaves us poorly prepared to deal with those who have such experience, and manipulate it for their benefit. I could probably write a lot more here, but as I laid out, it ain’t worth getting into a dust-up over.)
By Craig on Jan 22, 2008 | Reply
Well, if his website isn’t indicative of what he thinks, what is?
I started reading his blog back when the ’sphere was young, (I think I even had him listed for a while under Montana bloggers, given his stingt at the Mizzoo), and it quickly became apparent that in his view, anyone who a.) lives in the Northwest and b.) is just to the right of Stalin is a de facto racist or Klukker. This has most recently been borne out in this incident.
Like I said above, most people in Montana could give a shit less about what color your skin is. There are some, but that’s a function of asshole quotient, not anything endemic to where we live or how we are raised.
So why do we need to find ways to make it an issue? Are we that gullible?
It’s exactly the attitude that we somehow need to be taught about something we don’t give a shit about that rankles me.
But, there’s an audience for it, and like I mentioned in the earlier post, as long as it’s something that generates a profit for some folks, it ain’t going away anytime soon.
By Mark T on Jan 23, 2008 | Reply
“I think Montana is one place that the vast majority of people really don’t give much of a crap one way or another about how much pigment is in your skin” - I run in to this now and then - Jay does it too. Usually it’s pandering. Montanans are just like everyone else. Take no comfort in that statement.
By Eric Coobs on Jan 23, 2008 | Reply
I lived throughout the Midwest when I was a kid, and I’ve been in Montana for most of my life, and I think Montana is probably the least-racist place I’ve been.
When we lived in Joplin, Mo during the early 70’s race was a big thing. I thought my name was ‘Whitey’ for a while.
It sure is funny though how MLK day get’s all the press in Montana, while the Indians are delegated to being a permanent underclass and nobody says a word about it.