Stupid White Men
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White frights
He's a joker not a philosopher, a film-maker not a statesman, but
Michael Moore has diagnosed the source of the world's ills. It's
Stupid White Men - from the Thief in Chief who stole the presidential
election, to the company chairman who pollutes the planet, to the car
salesman who sells you the dud car. Here, he sorts out the villains
and the fall guys
Michael Moore
Guardian
Saturday March 30, 2002
I don't know what it is, but every time I see a white guy walking
towards me, I tense up. My heart starts racing, and I immediately
begin to look for an escape route and a means to defend myself. I
kick myself for even being in this part of town after dark. Didn't I
notice the suspicious gangs of white people lurking on every street
corner, drinking Starbucks and wearing their gang colours of Gap
turquoise or J Crew mauve? What an idiot! Now the white person is
coming closer, closer - and then - whew! He walks by without harming
me, and I breathe a sigh of relief.
White people scare the crap out of me. This may be hard for you to
understand - considering that I am white - but then again, my colour
gives me a certain insight. For instance, I find myself pretty scary
a lot of the time, so I know what I'm talking about. You can take my
word for it: if you find yourself suddenly surrounded by white
people, you better watch out. Anything can happen. As white people,
we've been lulled into thinking it's safe to be around other white
people. We've been taught since birth that it's the people of that
other colour we need to fear. They're the ones who'll slit your
throat!
Yet as I look back on my life, a strange but unmistakable pattern
seems to emerge. Every person who has ever harmed me in my lifetime -
the boss who fired me, the teacher who flunked me, the principal who
punished me, the kid who hit me in the eye with a rock, the executive
who didn't renew TV Nation, the guy who was stalking me for three
years, the accountant who double-paid my taxes, the drunk who smashed
into me, the burglar who stole my stereo, the contractor who
overcharged me, the girlfriend who left me, the next girlfriend who
left even sooner, the person in the office who stole cheques from my
chequebook and wrote them out to himself for a total of $16,000 -
every one of these individuals has been a white person. Coincidence?
I think not.
I have never been attacked by a black person, never been evicted by a
black person, never had my security deposit ripped off by a black
landlord, never had a black landlord, never had a meeting at a
Hollywood studio with a black executive in charge, never had a black
person deny my child the college of her choice, never been puked on
by a black teenager at a Mötley Crüe concert, never been pulled over
by a black cop, never been sold a lemon by a black car salesman,
never seen a black car salesman, never had a black person deny me a
bank loan, and I've never heard a black person say, "We're going to
eliminate 10,000 jobs here - have a nice day!"
I don't think that I'm the only white guy who can make these claims.
Every mean word, every cruel act, every bit of pain and suffering in
my life has had a Caucasian face attached to it.
So, um, why is it exactly that I should be afraid of black people?
I look around at the world I live in - and, I hate to tell tales out
of school, but it's not the African-Americans who have made this
planet such a pitiful, scary place. Recently, a headline on the front
of the Science section of the New York Times asked Who Built The H-
Bomb? The article went on to discuss a dispute between the men who
claim credit for making the first bomb. Frankly, I could have cared
less - because I already know the only pertinent answer: "It was a
white guy!" No black guy ever built or used a bomb designed to wipe
out hordes of innocent people, whether in Oklahoma City, Columbine or
Hiroshima. No, friends, it's always the white guy. Let's go to the
tote board:
· Who gave us the black plague? A white guy.
· Who invented PBC, PVC, PBB, and a host of chemicals that are
killing us? White guys.
· Who has started every war America has been in? White men.
· Who invented the punchcard ballot? A white man.
· Whose idea was it to pollute the world with the internal combustion
engine? Whitey, that's who.
· The Holocaust? That guy really gave white people a bad name.
· The genocide of Native Americans? White man.
· Slavery? Whitey!
· US companies laid off more than 700,000 people in 2001. Who ordered
the lay-offs? White CEOs.
You name the problem, the disease, the human suffering, or the abject
misery visited upon millions, and I'll bet you 10 bucks I can put a
white face on it faster than you can name the members of 'NSync.
And yet, when I turn on the news each night, what do I see again and
again? Black men alleged to be killing, raping, mugging, stabbing,
gangbanging, looting, rioting, selling drugs, pimping, ho-ing, having
too many babies, fatherless, motherless, Godless, penniless. "The
suspect is described as a black male... the suspect is described as a
black male... THE SUSPECT IS DESCRIBED AS A BLACK MALE..." No matter
what city I'm in, the news is always the same, the suspect always the
same unidentified black male. I'm in Atlanta tonight, and I swear the
police sketch of the black male suspect on TV looks just like the
black male suspect I saw on the news last night in Denver and the
night before in LA. In every sketch he's frowning, he's menacing -
and he's wearing the same knit cap! Is it possible that it's the same
black guy committing every crime in America?
I believe we've become so used to this image of the black man as
predator that we are forever ruined by this brainwashing. In my first
film, Roger & Me, a white woman on social security clubs a rabbit to
death so that she can sell him as "meat" instead of as a pet. I wish
I had a nickel for every time in the past 10 years that someone has
come up to me and told me how "horrified" they were when they saw
that "poor little cute bunny" bonked on the head. The scene, they
say, made them physically sick. The Motion Picture Association of
America gave Roger & Me an R [18] rating in response to that rabbit
killing. Teachers write to me and say they have to edit that part out
of the film, if they want to show it to their students.
But less than two minutes after the bunny lady does her deed, I
included footage of a scene in which police in Flint, Michigan, shot
a black man who was wearing a Superman cape and holding a plastic toy
gun. Not once - not ever - has anyone said to me, "I can't believe
you showed a black man being shot in your movie! How horrible! How
disgusting! I couldn't sleep for weeks." After all, he was just a
black man, not a cute, cuddly bunny. The ratings board saw absolutely
nothing wrong with that scene. Why? Because it's normal, natural.
We've become so accustomed to seeing black men killed - in the movies
and on the evening news - that we now accept it as standard operating
procedure. No big deal! That's what blacks do - kill and die. Ho-hum.
Pass the butter.
It's odd that, despite the fact that most crimes are committed by
whites, black faces are usually attached to what we think of
as "crime". Ask any white person who they fear might break into their
home or harm them on the street and, if they're honest, they'll admit
that the person they have in mind doesn't look much like them. The
imaginary criminal in their heads looks like Mookie or Hakim or
Kareem, not little freckle-faced Jimmy.
No matter how many times their fellow whites make it clear that the
white man is the one to fear, it simply fails to register. Every time
you turn on the TV to news of another school shooting, it's always a
white kid who's conducting the massacre. Every time they catch a
serial killer, it's a crazy white guy. Every time a terrorist blows
up a federal building, or a madman gets 400 people to drink Kool-Aid,
or a Beach Boys songwriter casts a spell causing half a dozen
nymphets to murder "all the piggies" in the Hollywood Hills, you know
it's a member of the white race up to his old tricks.
So why don't we run like hell when we see whitey coming toward us?
Why don't we ever greet the Caucasian job applicant with, "Gee, uh,
I'm sorry, there aren't any positions available right now"? Why
aren't we worried sick about our daughters marrying white guys? And
why isn't Congress trying to ban the scary and offensive lyrics of
Johnny Cash ("I shot a man in Reno/just to watch him die"), the Dixie
Chicks ("Earl had to die"), or Bruce Springsteen ("I killed
everything in my path/I can't say that I'm sorry for the things that
we done").
Why the focus on rap lyrics? Why doesn't the media print lyrics such
as the following, and tell the truth? "I sold bottles of sorrow, then
chose poems and novels" (Wu-Tang Clan); "People use yo' brain to
gain" (Ice Cube); "A poor single mother on welfare... tell me how ya
did it" (Tupac Shakur); "I'm trying to change my life, see I don't
wanna die a sinner" (Master P).
African-Americans have been on the lowest rung of the economic ladder
since the day they were dragged here in chains. Every other immigrant
group has been able to advance from the bottom to the higher levels
of our society. Even Native Americans, who are among the poorest of
the poor, have fewer children living in poverty than African-
Americans.
You probably thought things had got better for blacks in this
country. After all, considering the advances we've made eliminating
racism in our society, one would think our black citizens might have
seen their standard of living rise. A survey published in the
Washington Post in July 2001 showed that 40%-60% of white people
thought the average black person had it as good or better than the
average white person.
Think again. According to a study conducted by the economists Richard
Vedder, Lowell Gallaway and David C Clingaman, the average income for
a black American is 61% less per year than the average white income.
That is the same percentage difference as it was in 1880. Not a
damned thing has changed in more than 120 years.
Want more proof? Consider the following:
· Black heart attack patients are far less likely than whites to
undergo cardiac catheterisation, regardless of the race of their
doctors.
· Whites are five times more likely than blacks to receive emergency
clot-busting treatment after suffering a stroke.
· Black women are four times more likely than white women to die
while giving birth.
· Black levels of unemployment have been roughly twice those of
whites since 1954.
So how have we white people been able to get away with this?
Caucasian ingenuity! You see, we used to be real dumb. Like idiots,
we wore our racism on our sleeve. We did really obvious things, like
putting up signs on rest-room doors that said WHITES ONLY. We made
black people sit at the back of the bus. We prevented them from
attending our schools or living in our neighbourhoods. They got the
crappiest jobs (those advertised for NEGROES ONLY), and we made it
clear that, if you weren't white, you were going to be paid a lower
wage.
Well, this overt, over-the-top segregation got us into a heap of
trouble. A bunch of uppity lawyers went to court. They pointed out
that the 14th Amendment doesn't allow for anyone to be treated
differently because of their race. Eventually, after a long
procession of court losses, demonstrations and riots, we got the
message: if you're going to be a successful racist, better find a way
to do it with a smile on your face.
We even got magnanimous enough to say, "Sure, you can live here in
our neighbourhood; your kids can go to our kids' school. Why the hell
not? We were just leaving, anyway." We smiled, gave black America a
pat on the back - and then ran like the devil to the suburbs.
At work, we whites still get the plum jobs, double the pay, and a
seat in the front of the bus to happiness and success. We've rigged
the system from birth, guaranteeing that black people will go to the
worst schools, thus preventing them from admission to the best
colleges, and paving their way to a fulfilling life making our caffe
lattes, servicing our BMWs, and picking up our trash. Oh, sure, a few
slip by - but they pay an extra tariff for the privilege: the black
doctor driving his BMW gets pulled over continually by the cops; the
black Broadway actress can't get a cab after the standing ovation;
the black broker is the first to be laid off because of "seniority".
We whites really deserve some kind of genius award for this. We talk
the talk of inclusion, we celebrate the birthday of Dr King, we frown
upon racist jokes. We never fail to drop a mention of "my friend -
he's black..." We make sure we put our lone black employee up at the
front reception desk so we can say, "See - we don't discriminate. We
hire black people."
Yes, we are a very crafty, cagey race - and damn if we haven't got
away with it!
I wonder how long we will have to live with the legacy of slavery.
That's right. I brought it up. SLAVERY. You can almost hear the
groans of white America whenever you bring up the fact that we still
suffer from the impact of the slave system. Well, I'm sorry, but the
roots of most of our social ills can be traced straight back to this
sick chapter of our history. African-Americans never got a chance to
have the same fair start that the rest of us got. Their families were
wilfully destroyed, their language and culture and religion stripped
from them. Their poverty was institutionalised so that our cotton
could get picked, our wars could be fought, our convenience stores
could remain open all night. The America we've come to know would
never have come to pass if not for the millions of slaves who built
it and created its booming economy - and for the millions of their
descendants who do the same dirty work for whites today.
It's not as if we're talking ancient Rome here. My grandfather was
born just three years after the Civil War. That's right, my
grandfather. My great-uncle was born before the Civil War. And I'm
only in my 40s. Sure, people in my family seem to marry late, but the
truth remains: I'm just two generations from slave times. That, my
friends, is not a "long time ago". In the vast breadth of human
history, it was only yesterday. Until we realise that, and accept
that we do have a responsibility to correct an immoral act that still
has repercussions today, we will never remove the single greatest
stain on the soul of our country
© Michael Moore, 2002.
These are edited extracts from Stupid White Men, by Michael Moore,
published by HarperCollins World at £18.99. To order a copy for the
special price of £16.99 (plus p&p), call the Guardian book service on
0870 066 7979.
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