Poor Mojo's Two Minute Hate

If it wasn't for Borat and Michael Richards, how would we discuss racism in America? Oh sure, there are police shootings and beatings caught on video. But those forms of institutional violence are forever with us and do little to shine new light on old pathologies and hatreds. And let's be frank -- they're not as glamorous as celebrities losing their minds and comedians poking at societal wounds....

Also, the main culture prefers focusing on the kind of racism that doesn't call the system into question. Instead, we examine a particular person caught in an awkward or compromised position, as if they are some archiac exception to our wonderful, people-loving democracy. This is especially the case with Richards, whose racist outburst at LA's Laugh Factory is still being talked about and denounced, with Richards assuming the role of the country's main bigot, or at least the present symbol of white contempt for The Other....

Thanks to Richards, there is a renewed drive to get everyone, white and black, to cease saying "nigger," regardless of context. The Laugh Factory has banned the word, which is not surprising, given the bad publicity the club has received. But how does a ban on that or any other racial or sexual epithet change matters? Easy -- it doesn't. It does, however, give many people a false sense of comfort, for if one does not hear or read "nigger," then racism is on the run, yes?

Uh, no....