My Family is a Backward Bunch of Redneck Hicks

Last night one of my cousins sent out a joke to our family email list that was supposedly about a news article from the aftermath of hurricane Katrina:

Katrina Devastation Continues One of the local television stations in South Louisiana actually aired an interview with a black woman from New Orleans. The interviewer was a woman from a Boston affiliate. She asked the black woman how such total and complete devastation of the churches in the area had affected their lives. Without hesitation, the woman replied," I don't know about all those other people, but we haven't gone to churches in years. We get our chicken from Popeye's."

To me, this joke is racist. Furthermore, if you can believe SNOPES.COM it didn't actually happen.

I pointed these two things out to my cousin (and everyone she CC'd in the original email):

Did they really now? http://www.snopes.com/katrina/humor/churches.asp Nice to know that broad streak of racism is still alive and well in our family. Rick--

Now I KNEW I shouldn't have responded with anything. In fact, I'd previously decided that I wouldn't bother with these types anymore. However, I said "fuck it" and sent the email anyway.

What came back (almost immediately) was pretty much what I expected.

No Ricky, I’m not a racist. It was just a bit of humor. I’m sorry that we all can’t be “politically perfect” but maybe if you stopped looking so critically at your family you might find that we are not as stupid and ignorant as you might think. Lighten up. I didn’t ask for verification or dispute of the email. I got it from a friend and got a chuckle. SO I thought I would pass a little humor along to my family. I forget that some of us can’t do anything without you picking it apart for how it is “wrong”. Get over it. I sent it to my “black” friends even and they thought it was funny too. But regardless, I will not tolerate your insults and assaults about your family being racist bigots. I didn’t say too much the last time when you said it about your mother, she can defend herself, but don’t attack me. We tolerate your abnormal decisions about your life and don’t criticize your decisions. We accept you, why can’t you accept us?? Kristin

Oh, where to start? Where to start? OK. Let's start at the top.

I’m not a racist.

Just because you SAY you're not a racist doesn't mean SHIT! As the saying goes, actions speak louder than words. The action of forwarding this email was essentially the same as saying, "hey! let's all laugh at the stupid N----!"

It was just a bit of humor.

"Hey! I was just joking! I didn't mean to hurt your feelings." Sound familiar? I can't count how many times I've had to say that because I said something I thought was witty and someone took it seriously. It's the same here. She may not have mean the joke to be racist. Hell, she didn't even write it. But it's all right there. Would it have been as funny if it hadn't mentioned the woman being black? Would you have just assumed she was black?

I’m sorry that we all can’t be “politically perfect” but maybe if you stopped looking so critically at your family you might find that we are not as stupid and ignorant as you might think.

I don't try to make any claims of being "politically perfect" in fact, I'm sure you can easily find a dozen or more instances in this blog where I've been "politically incorrect." Sometimes it's intentional, sometimes not. Also, nobody's as stupid and ignorant as I think they are. It's simply not possible.

I got it from a friend and got a chuckle. SO I thought I would pass a little humor along to my family.

I saw this earlier myself, before she sent it to me. The difference is what I did about it. Did I send it off to everyone I know? Nope. I simply ignored it. However, she feels the need to forward it to everyone she knows. Not what I consider to be the smartest of options (and this girl wants to be a lawyer - would you hire a lawyer that sent around this kind of garbage?)

I sent it to my “black” friends even and they thought it was funny too.

I'm sure most of her black friends thought it was funny and harmless. But would she tell it to a black person she didn't know? Would she tell it in a crowded room with a mixed audience of strangers? I doubt it.

But regardless, I will not tolerate your insults and assaults about your family being racist bigots.

The truth hurts, huh?

We tolerate your abnormal decisions about your life and don’t criticize your decisions. We accept you, why can’t you accept us??

I'm pretty sure she's referring to my atheism here. While it may be true that they haven't criticized my atheism lately, I think they've simply grown weary of it and have figured out that I'm not going to change just because they say so. However, for a long time, that's about all I heard about. In any case, I don't see how accepting my being an atheist should translate into the idea that I'm supposed to accept them being racists as that's clearly the implication here.

I've also received email from my mother as well as one of Kristin's friends. I won't bother with the email from my mother too much, it basically just said "get off your high horse." But the mail from Kristin's friend was pure poetry.

I thought it was funny...lick my dirty n----- ass. [censored by me - RTC]

I also received a phone call from my dad who basically tried to tell me that it's ok if they send around racist jokes because you see it on TV all the time. Then my mom got on the phone and ranted and raved because I upset Kristin with my reply and now she was upset and she was about to get on the road to Marksville and that if I didn't let up and get off my high horse they were going to start in on my atheism again. I figured I'd heard about enough of that so I hung up.

Then I sent this email:

Since all you people want to do is pass around your stupid racists jokes and you feel the need to somehow make ME out to be the bad guy for pointing out what should be obvious to you in the first place, I'm taking down the careyfamily email list. Rick--

Then I went out and removed everyone from the list.