Here's an excellent short essay from not too long ago, on why the kind of 'double standard' argument that Eric offers here doesn't really score the points that white conservatives usually want it to.

A Double Standard Worth Keeping

phil,

First, I placed a link in place of the full article you posted.

That article speaks of the double standard regarding use of the "n-word." I am not arguing that it is ever acceptable to use that word in anger, as Michael Richards did.

The double standard I'm referring to is the adoption of "hip-hop" style dress. I don't see any ill will behind the fraternity's "Halloween in the Hood" party. As far as I can see, the party's organizers just wanted to dress up like their favorite hip-hop artists. (Our own Josh Claybourn dressed as Flavor Flav this year for Halloween.) Go to any public school in the country, and you'll find white kids who adopt "hip-hop" fashion. What's racist about that?

Was this party offensive?

The Johns Hopkins brouhaha wasn't about white guys in jewelry and saggy pants at a Halloween frat party -- what got the university in a huff was the invitation to the party posted on their section of the Web site Facebook.com. The university's Greek life coordinator saw it and had it pulled down, because it contained "statements that invoked stereotypes of African-Americans, residents of Baltimore, and victims of HIV." The invite was then "slightly altered" and reposted a couple of hours later -- using the same language.

The Student Conduct sanctioned the chapter for failing to supervise the member who posted the offensive invitation. The university's Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Programs said there was "insufficient evidence" that the party itself constituted racial harassment. The frat only got popped for the party because it was held in violation of university party registration requirements.

So how did they allegedly stereotype HIV victims and Baltimore residents?

What is the stereotype of Baltimore residents?

From the Facebook invitation:

OMG RACIST officially invites you to this delightful gaiety in honor of the last day of October, held in the exquisite metropolis paradise that we affectionately refer to as the "mother-f*cking ghetto," aka "the hood" or as I like to call it, "the hiv pit."

There's more crap like this in the invitation, obviously intended to be offend. It seems to me that the school had no other choice than to do what it did, unless Hopkins doesn't give a damn about community relations, and I seriously doubt that's the case.

Tangent to this is Jonah Goldberg's recent column making, I think, the point that "diversity" is really just code for racism.

It is unfortunate that the nation needs the Micheal Richardson incident to be reminded that racism is still very prevelant in America. Racism may not be as blatant as it was forty years ago, but it creeps into our lives and this incident reminds us how terrfying racism can be. I agree that our society loves to categories people by race. People put large empahsis on what race someone one belongs to and hastily make judgements upon that. Regarding the Hopkins incident, I believe that many of these frat kids and other people in America like to mock and poke fun at the hip-hop culture, but at the same time enjoy the style and music. At some level there may be pressure to mock black culture as it may appear unseemly to adore it if one is not black. However the party was offensive, and the school responded well.

I hadn't seen that text of the invitation -- that is rather clearly beyond acceptable, I agree. But even if it hadn't been so bald-faced in its racism, it still would have been problematic. Of course Eric is rigth that white kids' use of 'gangsta' outfits is not exactly the same as using the n-word -- the former is certainly not _as_ offensive as the latter, and it's interesting how they are cases of re-appropriation going in different directions. With the n-word, it's blacks who are re-appropriating a term that had been used to degrade & dehumanize them; with ghetto outfits & bling, it's whites who are _ironically_ re-appropriating a mode of dress, trying to 'de-cool' it by making it ridiculous.

(Actually, one has to be careful here: there are also cases of white people trying to adopt this mode of dress sincerely, to partake of, not deflate, its status. But such people are almost always completely ridiculous.)

(One also has to be careful to distinguish whites lampooning this mode of dress in general, from lampooning a particular celebrity, where the latter is more acceptable in the way that celebrities are almost always fair game for lampoonage. But whites themselves need to particularly careful in such cases, that the making fun of the particular person doesn't cross over into or merely provide cover for making fun of the whole style.)

Even given these differences, the basic structure of Wise's argument still applies: actions that are racially harmless when performed by someone "in the family" are not automatically harmless when performed by an outside. And _especially_ not when the outsider is from the historically exploitative and still very much dominant group. That's why there is, in fact, a legitimate double standard. The same considerations that apply to establish that legitimacy for the n-word also apply for dressing like a particular segment of black society, when done in a way that is constructed to say, 'aren't these people ridiculous?'

The university's Greek life coordinator saw it and had it pulled down, because it contained "statements that invoked stereotypes of African-Americans, residents of Baltimore, and victims of HIV.

it's whites who are _ironically_ re-appropriating a mode of dress, trying to 'de-cool' it by making it ridiculous.

I agree that adopting hip-hop clothing styles ironically would be racially insensitive at best. However, I think that is the rare exception to the rule. From what I've observed, most whites who dress that way and listen to hip-hop music have a sincere affinity for the hip-hop "culture." After all, something like 70% of hip-hop record sales are to whites, and about half of concert crowds are white.

I agree with that, Eric, which is why I wrote, "Actually, one has to be careful here: there are also cases of white people trying to adopt this mode of dress sincerely, to partake of, not deflate, its status. But such people are almost always completely ridiculous." (A relevant, n-word-involving commentary on this by one of our best commentators on American race relations -- Dave Chapelle -- here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvrQQQSPs7I
particularly at 3:48.)

But even without the description of the invitation, it sure seemed like this party was in the 'insincere & mocking' category, not the 'sincere & admiring' one. And with the invitation's text, it's now definitely so.

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