Michael Richards, better known as Kramer from "Seinfeld," has brought to our attention the price you pay for allowing free speech in this country: Hateful, awful, stupid things will be said.
However, while the criticism of Richards is deserved, its focus is backwards. Instead of attacking Richards for his outburst, we should use the incident to reflect upon the latent racism that we share with him.
The truth hidden beneath the smoke and mirrors of political correctness is that we are all prejudiced. Decades of scientific studies on racism are fairly definitive. In our country, perception of racial minorities is heavily skewed toward negative stereotypes.
In lab tests, people of every race have more difficulty connecting positive qualities to minorities than to whites - a phenomenon that surely plays out in job interviews and elsewhere. The massive odds are that very few, if anyone, reading this column is any different. Just try out the test at implicit.harvard.edu if you don't believe me.
Tests like these exemplify the fact that our racism is less a conscious decision than an unavoidable consequence of the environment in which we all learn about the world.
Even if you have never met a black person or a Latino, you are bound by what our culture has set forth. Television and movies indirectly teach us that blacks can succeed in entertainment and sports and little else.
In his apology on David Letterman's talk show, Richards claimed he was not a racist. Putting aside the ridiculous notion that dropping the N-bomb seven times in two minutes was a random act of aggression, what is truly tragic is that the press surrounding Richards never gave him the choice of coming clean.
If Richards admitted to racism, his career would be effectively over - if it isn't already. For this, the real blame falls on a country, and a media, that has made it impossible to admit and examine one's own prejudices in an open and thoughtful way.
To assume that because of affirmative action and the Civil Rights Act we live in a country where racism does not affect our daily lives is beyond naive. Whether it's apprehension about sitting next to someone who looks Middle Eastern on a plane or assuming that Mexican-Americans take more than they give to our country, we all have preconceptions that would fall if challenged.
Rather than ignore this fact and pretend that Michael Richards is an exception, it is better to recognize that he is just a prominent example of the rule.
I can't help but think that, in some unexpected way, the nation might learn something from the South in this regard. I grew up in southern Mississippi, a place well known for its intense and festering racism.
Yet, the civil rights movement created an environment where no one could attempt to deny their latent bigotry. In public schools, if a stereotype escaped my mouth, one of my classmates would be quick to check me with a "Hang on there, Grand Wizard. Think about what you just said."
By confronting one another in a meaningful way without vitriol or undue denial, we were able to expose our own prejudices and begin to move forward by consciously compensating for them.
The lesson here could be well applied to the media circus around Richards. If we are ever to progress toward interracial respect, the freedom of speech we enjoy must be accompanied by a critical and probing effort at genuine self-reflection - not empty finger-pointing accusations.
The one thing we cannot afford to do is pretend that we have no problem with racism in our country. Instead, we must accept our flaws and make a genuine attempt to address them.
Equality can't be reached through politically correct rhetoric. Uncovering our prejudices must be part of the trip we take together, not just a stop along the way. In this sense, Richards didn't set us back. He just showed us how far we have yet to go.
Taylor Jackson is dusting off his Southern heritage after Thanksgiving dinner in Mississippi. Y'all can write him at: taylor.jackson@asu.edu.
