Twenty-Five Years of Race on the Oprah Show
Oprah begins the show by saying that it is because of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. that she is standing here today. This episode aired on MLK Day, ergo the relevance. In 1987, Oprah says the show had only been on the air for about 6 months when they went on the road to Forsyth County, GA, where not a single black person had lived for 75 years. Oy! She says she went there to find out why; disturbing images that had been airing around the nation the past few weeks are shown--men proudly clad in Klan gear, others shouting "No King holiday!" on repeat, thousands crowded on the streets in protest with the Confederate flag plastered everywhere, and one man saying very clearly that "there's no reason ni***rs [I refuse to use that word, for reasons of personal conviction, thus I won't even use it in direct quotation of anyone else] should even come here" because they aren't welcome.
In a town hall type meeting, Oprah interviews people, in which everyone I can see is white. Upon being asked what they fear from black people, one man describes living in a nice place but then it became a rat infested slum area because "they don't care." Oprah calls him out on this, asking if by "they" he means the entire black race, and he says there's a difference between a black person and a ni***r, explaining that a black person doesn't want to come to their all-white community and cause trouble but a ni***r does. One woman does stand up and say that it scared her to think that someone--black or white--would have to get hurt before people could sit down and talk rationally to get things the way it should be--black and white living together.
Today, Forsyth County is one of the richest counties in the United States, 7,329 African-Americans live there. Oprah's producers shared with her that both blacks and whites alike say it is a great place to live and raise a family.
When the Conversation Needs to Stop
Oprah says she went to Forsyth County because she believed that the best way to see change is to get people talking to one another. However, about a year later she did a show with skinheads. She says one called her a "monkey" and she could see them signalling to one another in the audience. Described as an "aha" moment, she realized that her show, this platform, should never be used to disperse talk that she felt is from the dark side, or evil. That was profound for her, as she always thought talking was the answer, but in some cases and with some people's opinions it's better left without the opportunity to be shared.
The Little Rock Nine
In 1957, nine African American students were to be integrated into a white high school in Little Rock despite massive white outrage and protest; in 1996, Oprah had (seven or eight; I can't tell, as the number of people on the stage changed but weren't named) of the nine on her show. The famous images are of the National Guard on hand to calm the outrage outside the school, but the real terror for the students came upon being inside and trying to simply be high school students. They faced not only their fellow students' racism, but it even came from some--not all, but many--of their teachers. Oprah also had on three who were white students in the high school who admitted to being part of the hatred perpetrated toward the black students. They apologized, admitted their ignorance and fear, and the guilt that has haunted them for 38 years. One woman who was taught racism at home says she broke the chain at home with her family.
The Ball Plantation
In 1998, Oprah had a woman on her show whose grandmother was a slave. She also had on a man named Edward Ball; his family at one point owned over 4,000 slaves. Edward apologized to the woman, and her daughter, asking their forgiveness for what his family put their family through. Oprah asks Charlotte, the daughter, what it means to her to hear those words, and she replies, "I live with racism every day... and it doesn't wash it away... but it means that someone recognizes what we go through when we go out our doors every day." Oprah nods her head in agreement, tears streaming down her face. Back in the present, Oprah is moved to tears once again by Charlotte's words.
The Discrimination Experiment
Oprah's show once did an experiment in which her staff was instructed to discriminate against people with blue eyes and show great favor toward those with brown eyes. People with brown eyes were spoken to more kindly and given preferential treatment--allowed to sit, and given food and drink--while the blue eyed people were forced to stand in a crowded room for 2 hours. Oprah even had a woman on stage going along the ruse, stating that brown eyed people are simply smarter than blue eyed people. Upon feeling discriminated against, the blue eyed people began to be outraged, particularly because the woman on the stage had blue eyes! Her solution? She's learned to act brown-eyed, to act intelligently, which makes her fine. Even more so the brown eyed people began to buy into the idea that they were superior; one woman even talked about how stupid a blue eyed friend of hers was in school and swings accusations at the rude and noisy blue eyed people.
The audience eventually figured out that it was about racism; a man claims that God created the races and people are different and that's inescapable. The great money quote from the woman on the stage, though, is "God created one race, the human race, and human beings created racism."
Rodney King & OJ Simpson
In the early 90s racial tensions were high, particularly in the LA area after the Rodney King riots, for which Oprah did a show. One white man describes members of his family being shot, some killed, as they tried to get away from the chaos. He says he doesn't understand, that if he and that man, pointing to a black man, cut themselves shaving the blood that fills the cup is the same color. Additionally, she had a live audience videotaped as they heard the OJ Simpson verdict handed down for the first time. Many white people hung their heads white black people jumped, shouted and screamed (as an aside, I must say that Oprah herself looked... well, pissed is the best word so it's what I'm using). Upon one black woman saying she thinks justice was served, many in the audience cried out, "Nooooo!" in disappointed protest. One white woman exclaims in frustration that Nicole Brown herself said that if OJ ever killed her he would get away with it, and that just by looking at him you can tell that he knows that he did. Another white woman says she is sure OJ is guilty, but that California officials must have been glad he was found not guilty or the blacks would have burned the city down (remember that this 3 years after the Rodney King riots).
Today, reflecting upon the two issues, Oprah says that she feels that many were glad to see OJ found not guilty as a way to basically make up for the injustice against Rodney King. Oprah carefully applies a quote from Dr. King: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
Jay-Z and "the N-word"
In 2009 Oprah and Jay-Z went head to head, because she says she's not a fan of rap music thanks to "misogynist lyrics" and "the use of the N-word." He disagrees, because he thinks people give words power and he feels his generation took an ugly and hurtful word and took the power out of it and made it into a term of endearment. He feels that if you take away the word people just make up another word the next day, so the issue is to address the problem by removing the power. Oprah says she disagrees, because as someone who lived through the Civil Rights Movement that word is associated with such hatred that she still thinks about black men who were lynched and that's the last word they heard. Jay-Z agrees that is an understandable and strong point, simply that they agree to disagree.
Today, Oprah says she read Jay-Z's book Decoded a few months ago, and that she felt Jay-Z broke down rap culture in such a way that it gave her an "aha moment." (She really loves those!). She reads from page 162:
Rappers are young black men telling stories that the police, among others, don't want to hear.Her realization was that she was among "the others" and she appreciated Jay-Z so much for opening up her mind that she not only thanks him now but that's why it was one of her favorite things this last December.
Unexpected Update
In 1989, Oprah had a man named James who spoke of how his biracial grandson, an adorable 4 year old boy, began to change his deeply hateful and racist ways. He felt superior to blacks and had a bully mentality against them, threatening and at times even slapping them. He was furious when he found out his daughter was pregnant with a black man's son, admitting he even wanted to get a gun and shoot a few people. What changed him was his grandson's unconditional love; Seth, the grandson, didn't know his grandpa was a racist. He just knew him as Smokey, "his grandaddy." The next thing he knew, James says he loved his grandson, who today is a 26 year old husband and father. Three years ago things came full circle when James and his wife adopted two black sons into their family. He says he hope he can stay around long enough to see his sons grow up and have opportunities that "thugs like me would have denied them 40 years ago."
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Gospel Filter Review (GFR)
I have written about race before, but I still wanted to watch this episode and cover it, though I am still incredibly tired! I'm asking Jesus to help me glorify Him and focus on what He has to say about this issue! I appreciate the quote from the woman in the discrimination experiment episode, that God created the human race but humans created racism. I don't want to restate too many things I have already said--the Bible makes it very clear that God truly does love all people and He is not partial to race. Psalm 139, in which the author writes that he is fearfully and wonderfully made by God, applies to every single human being who has ever lived or ever will live. Not a baby is conceived that wasn't knit together by God.
That said, one reason I wanted to cover this episode is because of an incredible blog post I read yesterday, the holiday honoring Dr. King and his legacy, and I want to share it with you; it says everything I would write here but better and more concisely, so please read it! And, as you go there, just for some context, Rainier Valley is one of the more heavily black neighborhoods in Seattle and has traditionally, and tragically, been considered one of the worse neighborhoods. It fits the sad Chris Rock routine stereotype of how your average city's MLK commemorative street or avenue goes through some of said city's worst neighborhoods. That's part of what makes this article great! Enough of me, though; go read it!
http://blog.marshillchurch.org/2011/01/17/sin-is-not-racist/
