RICK’S BLOG: MORE THOUGHTS ON MICHAEL RICHARDS’ RACIST TIRADE

BY RICK GRANT rickgrant01@comcast.net Posted November 27, 2006

In my last Blog, I stated unequivocally that Michael Richards was finished, and he would never come back from his racist tirade. However, now, given Richards’ extensive reaching out campaign, I’m hopeful that some greater good will come from this nasty incident. Richards seemed genuinely "shattered" by his hateful remarks. Richards’ appearance on the Jesse Jackson radio show came off as a sincere effort to apologize and make things right with the African-American community.

More significantly, Richards racist rant and its aftermath has opened up a dialogue about deeply embedded racism in whites and blacks. It underscored the need to have a moratorium on banning the N word by both blacks and whites. Reverend Jackson said that word is poison and should be stricken from our lexicon. Moreover, Reverend Jackson suggested that blacks and whites need to sit down and talk about this sensitive issue in an open forum.

Indeed, I wholeheartedly agree with Reverend Jackson. But racism goes much deeper than just the use of the N word by blacks and whites. Wisely, Richards’ is getting psychiatric help with his anger issues. His dialogue with black leaders is a step in the right direction. The question is: Can Richards’ career recover from this ugly melt down? Now, I feel that Richards’ is on the path to redemption. If he leads a new initiative to wipe out racism from our culture by acting a symbol of its negative impact, he could restore his standing as a comedian and comic actor.

After the fallout from Richards’ rant, I’ve given this matter much thought. I’ve come to the conclusion that these racist programs are lurking in many of our minds like a computer Trojan Horse virus. Our minds became infected years ago. It’s waiting in some deep recess of our consciousness to unleash its poison. These viral programs come from years of cultural programming–negative inputs from our parents and the culture at large. These racist viruses are so repressed –hidden-- that only when we lose our temper and are traumatized do they come to the surface in an involuntary tirade of hateful verbal vomit.

I think that Richards had no idea that his repressed racist vitriol would come to the surface. He was lashing out and he tripped the Trojan Horse’s switch–and out came the vicious words, like a army of killers, striking back at the hecklers. I think he was genuinely shocked at its ferocity.

Yes, we think back to celebrities who have royally screwed up, and we see that it is possible to comeback from a major career debacle. Rob Lowe rebuilt his career after his romp with underage girls in motel room was caught on tape. Mel Gibson seems to have survived his antisemitic rant. Martin Lawrence came back after his bizarre mental meltdown on a street in L.A. And, Anne Heche regained her career after her very public breakup with Ellen Degeneres, followed by a mental breakdown on a street in Beverly Hills, claiming she couldn’t find her spaceship and was lost.

In the future, after the smoke clears, Richards’ may turn this negative into a positive, and actually benefit from his campaign to redeem himself. Time will tell.

RICK’S BLOG: MICHAEL RICHARDS COMMITS CAREER SUICIDE–DEEPER IMPLICATIONS LOOM

BY RICK GRANT November 22, 2006 rickgrant01@comcast.net

When Michael Richards unleashed his vile racist tirade at the Laugh Factory in L.A., he effectively committed career suicide. He crossed a dark line, so far, there is no return. Richards will never come back from this cutting display of blatant bigotry. It’s just so ugly, it exposes him as a closet racist. His deeply harbored racism came out like vomit. Reverend Al Sharpton said that if he didn’t have that poison inside him, it would not have come out.

At the time, Richards didn’t think it was that serious. He even came back the second night. Ah, but he didn’t know that someone had video recorded the ugly rant on a cell phone. Like the cops who beat the bejesus out of Rodney King, if someone had not video taped the incident, the cops would not have been exposed as using excessive force. In the end, they were acquitted, and Los Angeles exploded into riots so bad, it was like a citywide civil war. That video tape told the story.

In Richards’ case, the next day the shocking video appeared on TMZ.com blowing up in Richards’ face. Soon it was all over the media. CNN ran it numerous times as did every other 24-hour news network. Richards is finished, unless he can pull off a miracle of forgiveness. It doesn’t matter what he says or does, his apologies and begging for mercy will seem empty and insincere. Even his appearance on David Letterman seemed cold and distant, like he was only doing it to save his own ass.

All comedians have to deal with hecklers from time to time. And, they all hate them. But they have ways of dealing with them that defuses their play for attention. Richards’ lost his temper and got into a verbal sparring match with two African American hecklers. This only fueled the fire. Suddenly, out of Richards’ mouth came the demons of hardcore racism, the likes of which haven’t been heard since the early 1960s, when the Clan murdered three Civil Rights Workers in Mississippi. The two guys who took the brunt of Richards’ wrath hired Gloria Allred (high profile discrimination attorney) for a possible Civil Rights lawsuit.

More significantly, Richards’ nasty rant is a sign that racism is deeply imbedded in our culture–in all races. It’s like a computer virus, lurking in our mind ready to strike if one loses it. This does not excuse Richards. However, his tirade uncovered a bigger problem. These subliminal messages of hate are much more pervasive than we imagined.

Indeed, we have come a long way toward a color blind society. There are many indications that Martin Luther King’s dream has finally come to fruition. Nonetheless, we must convene racially mixed focus groups and have serious discussions on how to get to the bottom of these mind viruses that threaten to undo years of progress. We must stop kidding ourselves that we have crossed the racial divide into the light of tolerance. Richards’ despicable vitriol is out there in many people, just suppressed, waiting, like gasoline fumes, for a spark to ignite it’s fury.