Thursday, September 21, 2006

He ain't Kinky, he's a bigot

Kinky Friedman is a favorite of conservatives finally embarrased by the Bush legacy. I've always wondered about the quality of current Governor Rick Perry, who was number two to Governor George Bush. Number two to Bush..... I was especially disgusted when Rick Perry sent a blank budget to the Congress to "prove a point" about reformign school financing andf other budget issues. Absent of any ideas or leadership ability, he sent a blank piece of paper to settle a crisis. He is also the Governor who used Homeland Security forces to track down Democratic congressmen, something I personally believe is so abusive it requires impeachment or jail time. But I digress.

Kinky has a Negro problem. He finds the word Negro charming, by the way. And he also likes to demonize the already demonized Katrina population and brush off the concerns of minorities wholesale.

In his 1993 book, Kinky wrote "As a general rule of thumb, however, if you thought of New York as a Negro talking to himself and of California as a VCR with nothing to put in, you wouldn't be too far off the mark." (1993), A case of Lone Star. New York (Wings Books), 379. Frankly, I don't know what the hell he's talking about. I have seen plenty of homeless people talking to themselves in New York and even I have when in certain areas - better to be considered crazy than a target.

As a comedian, Kinky likes to be irreverent and I'm sure has made money on his audience love of irreverence. One of his band names was "Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jew Boys." Unfortunately, he is not running for comedian, but for governor. Which means he represents the concerns of the population.

On CNBC recently, Kinky told us what he thought we should do with sexual predators. "Throw them in prison and throw away the key and make them listen to a Negro talking to himself." Is this clarifying his image of Negroes?

Maybe this will help. During the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, the media spread unsubstantiated reports of widespread murder, rape and other crime (including cannibalism). Outside of a few isolated incidents, these were proven false. Needless to say, the press didn't correct themselves as vigorously as they promoted the image of a Black population run amok. And so, the false rumors followed them.

Kinky Friedman has taken to referring to the Katrina victims in Houston as "crackheads and thugs." At first he was fully unapologetic, but now he has explained that not all of them are. He's still firm on not pandering to ethnic groups though. He affirms "I'm not a racist" so there is no mistaken he has a distinct view of the Negroes involved in his comment. He has been basing his assessment on the "fact" that there has been a 20% increase in homicides in Houston since 250,000 Katrina victims arrived. The media has reported that 18% of these murders" involves a Katrina evacuee as suspect, victim or both." That's like saying 3,000 of the murders in New York in 2001 "involved aWorld Trade Center employee as suspect, victim or both." It's asinine and purposefully demonizing.

Surely 20% is a number worth inspecting though? After all 250,000 evacuees landed in Houston. According to the Washington Post , this involved 26 murders. Fifteen Katrina victims were suspects. Fifteen out of 250,000. In response, Kinky wants to spend $100 million and add 1,200 police to the street. Kinky Friedman is demonizing a population that is victim to our nation's largest modern natural disaster and is creating policy based on what 0.006% of a population does.

He's a funny man. Unfortunately, I'm Black.. er. Negro.. and his vision actually impacts me. Imagine 1,200 police put on the streets with the mandate of "cleaning up post-Katrina crime." What is the face of that largely fictitious crime? And if you're not Black, consider that Black friend of yours and how well Kinky is planning on representing them. If nothing else, he is planning to spend millions of dollars and creating overhead for years to come in reaction to 0.006% of a portion of a population. If you don't care about how Kinky treats victims of natural disasters or the poor, consider his impact on your wallet and basic sense of judgment.

And for the record, when you use a disparaging description for a whole population based on the actions of 0.006% of their actions, that's either bigotry or blatant idiocy.

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