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An Interesting Parallel

Jim Burroway

October 5th, 2006

Terrance, at Republic of T has posted an wonderfully thoughtful response to my reaction to Ben Stein’s comments. He had been reading a review copy of “Their Own Receive Them Not: African American Lesbians And Gays in Black Churches” by Horace Griffin. Terrence observes:

One of the strongest arguments that Griffin makes in his book is that black Christian (specific to his subject) antipathy towards homosexuality is directly related in part to the sexual stereotypes that were used to dehumanize African Americans, deny them their civil rights, and in some cases deny them (men in particular) the right to life.

There was one, probably familiar to many, for black men.

The brute caricature portrays Black men as innately savage, animalistic, destructive, and criminal — deserving punishment, maybe death. This brute is a fiend, a sociopath, an anti-social menace. Black brutes are depicted as hideous, terrifying predators who target helpless victims, especially White women. Charles H. Smith, a writer at the end of the 1890s, claimed, “A bad negro is the most horrible creature upon the earth, the most brutal and merciless.”

The irony Griffin points out, and that is apparent in some of the responses to the Foley scandal, is that people don’t seem to realize or care to realize that they may be doing to one group what was done to them, and perhaps with similar consequences.

Read more here. Another great post from Terrance. It’s a good opportunity to reflect on those we may, in turn, be tempted to demonize in the future because of our experiences today.

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