Phil Bredesen and Racial Slurs

I've never had a problem with Phil Bredesen, and I still don't. However, the Tennessee governor serves as a good example of how people react to being accused of racism.

The other day, Phil, who's visiting China, sucessfully used what some would call a racial slur in a dispatch home. He said, "The scale, the energy, the focus of this place is astonishing. I’ve thought of China as a giant, poor third world country (remember those Chinese coolies who built the railroads?) now charging onto the industrial stage for the first time." http://support.tennessean.com/blogs/?p=5340

The word in question here is "coolies", which is an ethnic slur, according to dictionary.com and other sources. I actually find the whole sentence mildly offensive, although I'm sure he didn't mean it that way, in that he's using poor Chinese laborers (albeit hardworking ones) as prime examples of what China is- in his eyes, a pool of poor laborers.

Why was it necessary to interject that into his sentence? That's like visiting Africa and saying- "I've always thought as Africa as poor (remember those slaves who worked on cotton plantations?)" You would NEVER do that? He's unconciously belittling the struggle of those "coolies" to build the railroads that they never got credit for.

But that's beside the point. I still like Phil. He didn't mean to be racist, and you could definitely argue that there's nothing wrong with what he said, as the word is in historical context. However, it's just one of those little things that slips out because he wasn't thinking at the time and he's not used to dealing with Asians in Tennessee.

What I'm getting to is the reaction when the folks over at the Tennessean picked this up on one of their blogs. Bredesen immediately fired off a brusque email completely denying that his words were offensive.
http://support.tennessean.com/blogs/?p=5348

Not the best move, Phil. What you SHOULD do in that situation is apologize and say that you didn't mean to offend anyone and you won't do it again. Denying that your words are offensive doesn't make the people who were offended by them any happier. Even if he wasn't trying to be racist or just didn't know that that word had negative connotations, he should still apologize. It's just what you do. You'd do it in everyday life- like if you accidentally insult your friend's friend, you apologize even though you didn't mean to offend them. It's polite.

But when racism enters into the discussion, all the shields go up and people just freak out and immediately shift the blame to the people who were offended, saying that they're too sensitive. And then people (usually white people, sorry) go off on rants about how everybody's too PC and minorities are out to get them, etc. Take this comment on the Tennessean blog:

"So the PC dictionary calls it offensive, but a liberal professor on modern Chinese history says it’s not. Maybe we should talk to Wang Dang Bang to find out for sure. Oh, is that offensive?"

Ok, Wang Dang Bang? Are you kidding me? That's pretty offensive. In trying to make a legitimate point, this person gets way too defensive and lashes out at the Asian community, bascially saying that they're stupid for being offended- even though the Asian community wasn't responsible for the article- and (the connotation is) should shut up and go away.

Or how about this comment?:
Phil used the term correctly in it’s historical perspective. My ancestors are called many names. Does that hurt me? NO! Because I’m not a PROFESSIONAL VICTIM as so many of our contemporaries are today! I don’t go around looking, scratching, digging for insult to me through long-dead, generations past relatives.
I’m a MAN, and I’m confident in my stature, and don’t have time to trifle if others want to be petty.
If I may quote some ages old kindergarden philosopher:“Sticks and stones may brake my bones, but words will never hurt me.”

Um, excuse me. First of all, you don't know how to use an apostrophe...or spell kindergarten...or break. The first sentence of this guy's comment was valid. But then it went on to accusing minorities of scratching in the dirt for possible insults. Hate to break it to you, but minorities don't have time to sit around trying to be insulted. We have jobs. We work. We go to college. We can spell "break". This guy's defensive mindset completely obscured the point he wanted to make. He honestly thinks that minorities are out to get him.

This is why we cannot discuss racism in America. People get too worked up and start throwing around insults because they can't possibly believe that they're racist, because racism ended with the "I Have a Dream" speech, right?

So instead of taking in a thoughtful comment, like the one the Tennessean made, people immediately blame minorities for being offended or calling into question someone's behavior. And then minority activists get even more worked up and start saying things that they shouldn't, completely reinforcing the views of their opposers, so everyone forgets about the initial issue and nothing gets solved. It's ridiculous. As long as these attitudes are around, we're not going to change anything in America.