Not to harp on racism this morning, but when an example this raw comes from a supposed journalist, I feel readers should know about it.
Here, as pulled from Kellan Howell\’s article for the Washington Times, is a series of tweets exchanged between Raffi Williams, the Republican Party\’s Deputy Press Secretary, and Jamila Lemieux, senior editor at Ebony.com, after Ms. Lemieux tweeted, sarcastically and disapprovingly, of a magazine launched jointly by the Times and Dr. Ben Carson.
No need to explain why I am using this as the latest installment of my “Real Racism\’ series, it should be more than plain to you:
Ms. Lemieux: “Yes, Ben Carson is launching a Black conservative magazine with ArmstrongWilliams. I have drinking games in mind already….I 100% do not want to know more, I wish I knew less!”
Mr. Williams: “Wish you knew less? Hoped you wouldencourage diversity of thought.”
Ms. Lemieux: “Ohgreat, here comes a White dude telling me how to do this Black thing.Pass.”
Mr. Williams: “Who are you referring to aswhite…Armstrong and Carsonare black.”
Ms. Lemieux: “YOU. Now, leave, I have no interest in this conversation.”
Ms. Lemieux again: “I don’t care what race you are. Idon\’t know why you GOP folks troll on here.”
Ms. Lemieux, after finding out that Mr. Williams is also Black: “I was looking at your avi without blowing it up.I apologize for that. However, I care about NOTHING you have to say.”
Lovely.
For the record, Ebony subsequently issued a formal apology to Raffi Williams…..without any mention of consequences for the overtly racist Lemieux, which therefore rendered the apology pro forma, thus meaningless.
Real racism. It comes in all forms, from all sources. No group is immune to it, or from it. Not even a magazine which, in its crocodile-tears apology, claims it “strongly believes in the marketplace of ideas, and that Lemieux\’s tweets “do not represent our journalistic standard, tradition or practice of celebrating diverse Black thought”
If they meant those words, they\’d have done something about it. Period, end of story.
