“It’s About Time the White Man Ran Something”
When I went to see The Simpsons Movie last summer 2007, one of the lines that one character said struck me. Mr. Burns, a rich old white man who is Homer Simpson’s boss exclaims, “It’s about time that the White Man ran something.” I only watched it once so I’m paraphrasing.
What got to me is the irony and contradiction of this statement. That the richest and oldest white man in Springfield is making a comment like this is a joke or worse. When I watched the movie no one in the audience applauded, laughed or reacted. Sometimes when there is a funny line or something similar, the audience reacts. But not here and not at the time I watched the movie. In fact it was like an awkward or nervous moment.
But there is nothing laughable about this comment. The white man runs everything. All US presidents for 200+ years, California governors, Fortune 500 companies, etc. have been white men. Most of the people in power in the US and in the leading countries of the world are white men. The people who run the TV and media industry are mostly white men. So when someone makes a comment like this to me it’s not laughable, more lamentable.
There are still glass ceilings in most areas of power and money, where minorities and women cannot reach. Which is why Affirmative Action was started some 40+ years ago at the height of the Civil Rights Movement to try to correct this problem. And sadly with Proposition 209 in California and other parts of the US by Ward Connerly and their conservative and racist allies, we have gone backwards. They argued like Allan Bakke, a white man, that they were discriminated by minorities and that white men had no power. Basically, like in the Simpsons Movie, “the white has nothing.” And the US Supreme Court, mostly white men. agreed with them.
And yet Allan Bakke, Ward Connerlly, the people of California nor the US Supreme Court sees nothing wrong with No Chicanos On TV! Like I said before, these are the same people who could not find a traffic jam on the Los Angeles freeways. But if a white man is not running everything or is not the center of attention, they are they first ones to cry out and whine loudly.
For more info:
* The Bakke Decision
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regents_of_the_University_of_California_v._Bakke
What got to me is the irony and contradiction of this statement. That the richest and oldest white man in Springfield is making a comment like this is a joke or worse. When I watched the movie no one in the audience applauded, laughed or reacted. Sometimes when there is a funny line or something similar, the audience reacts. But not here and not at the time I watched the movie. In fact it was like an awkward or nervous moment.
But there is nothing laughable about this comment. The white man runs everything. All US presidents for 200+ years, California governors, Fortune 500 companies, etc. have been white men. Most of the people in power in the US and in the leading countries of the world are white men. The people who run the TV and media industry are mostly white men. So when someone makes a comment like this to me it’s not laughable, more lamentable.
There are still glass ceilings in most areas of power and money, where minorities and women cannot reach. Which is why Affirmative Action was started some 40+ years ago at the height of the Civil Rights Movement to try to correct this problem. And sadly with Proposition 209 in California and other parts of the US by Ward Connerly and their conservative and racist allies, we have gone backwards. They argued like Allan Bakke, a white man, that they were discriminated by minorities and that white men had no power. Basically, like in the Simpsons Movie, “the white has nothing.” And the US Supreme Court, mostly white men. agreed with them.
And yet Allan Bakke, Ward Connerlly, the people of California nor the US Supreme Court sees nothing wrong with No Chicanos On TV! Like I said before, these are the same people who could not find a traffic jam on the Los Angeles freeways. But if a white man is not running everything or is not the center of attention, they are they first ones to cry out and whine loudly.
For more info:
* The Bakke Decision
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regents_of_the_University_of_California_v._Bakke
* Ward Connerly
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ward_Connerly
* The US Civil Rights Movement
http://www.besthistorysites.net/USHistory_CivilRights.shtml
Frank R. Castillo © 2008
