Isiah Washington is no plantation slave
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Loading ...In this ridiculous CNN report, Isiah Washington, the former Dr. Burke on ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy, shows he’s quite the victim:
“Well, it didn’t help me on the set that I was a black man who wasn’t a mush-mouth Negro walking around with his head in his hands all the time. I didn’t speak like I’d just left the plantation and that can be a problem for people sometime, [sic]” he said.
“I had a person in human resources tell me after this thing played out that ’some people’ were afraid of me around the studio. I asked her why, because I’m a 6-foot-1, black man with dark skin and who doesn’t go around saying ‘Yessah, massa sir’ and ‘No sir, massa’ to everyone?
Hmm, I guess simply being an asshole never factored into it. Calling a co-worker a ‘faggot’ more than once could be grounds for dismissal in any job, depending on the circumstances. This is show business, though, and the opinions of fickle fans (and sponsors) matter more than Washington’s sense of justice (and it’s not like he’s an A-list superstar, or anything to begin with). Maybe there was racism on the set, and this is all that was needed for ABC to axe (as in the cutting implement, not the verb, ‘to ask’) Washington, their “dilemma” solved. Chandra Wilson, the other Black cast member doesn’t seem to be saying there’s a racist element on the set. But she keeps her mouth shut and doesn’t get “uppity,” I’m sure Washington would say.
It just astonishes me (well, maybe not) that certain obviously talented and educated people in the Black community resort to slavery allusions in the unfairness of how they are treated today. Not even Jim Crowe–slavery.
This isn’t Roots, this is 2007. Grow the fuck up.
Pop Culture | enrico | 
June 29, 2007 2:10 pm
By Scott Patrick, June 30, 2007 @ 11:57 am
Amen!
I’m sorry, but his ass got canned. Get over it and move on. If T.R. Knight had called Isaiah a “N*$$er,” then there would be no questioning that a dismissal be called for. Had Isaiah been on Broadway and called Rogers and Hammerstein “K*&es,” the lights woulda gone down quicker than Kate Moss on a line of coke. Or if he’d referred to Connie Chung as “Ch*nky C_nt,” he’d be black-listed by Asians and Women alike.
He made an ignorant statement and got the boot…Bravo! No one deserves to be called any of these names. NO-ONE. And to play the race card is demeaning to other successful, sensitive african american actors. I don’t hear Denzel or Halle calling anyone “faggot.” Imagine if those words came out of Oprah’s mouth. You can’t, can you? Because she wouldn’t say something like that…she’s got class. Something Isaiah is severly lacking.
By Rick in LA, June 30, 2007 @ 12:23 pm
Okay, so let me get this straight, (no pun intended) it’s okay for Washington to be a racsist, and call someone a “faggot,” twice, because he’s black, but he doesn’t like it when bigotry comes his way.
I wonder if he knows Bryant Gumble? Those two seem to have a lot in common, not the least of which is that they both feel it’s okay to be a condecending bigot because they’re black.
But that seems to be the way it goes in the black community when it comes to racsism… play the race card instead of being a man and taking responsibility for your actions. When will they heed the words of one of the most brilliant Americans ever, Dr. Martin Luther King, and realize that they can only be judged on thier character when they actually show some.
By just greg, June 30, 2007 @ 12:40 pm
Hey my Mexican brother (or sister), why not try to get the facts straight about racism in America… I noticed you are Mexican, take a look at how this “racist state” treats your brothers and sisters today, not yesterday when they stole everything north of the Rio Grande from your ancestors like they stole mine into slavery and oppression. Furthermore, I sense a bit of internalized racism in you, with this quote “ask (as in the cutting implement, not the verb, ‘to ask’)”, you expose your perspective for the world to see. I truly abhor racist, sexist and homophobes alike and as such Washington gets added to the list as a class A homophobe and a genuine asshole. I did not for a minute take his apologies for face value and I truly believe he brought this on himself, but please examine your particular stance, take a look at some of the history of racism in this country, especially that perpetrated and still being perpetuated against black and brown people. I work in the legal aid field and many of the folks who I talk to are Mexican and Mexican Americans who every day face some of the most daunting challenges made manifest by the white supremacist perspective in this nation from cultural hegemony to educational and economic dominance to outright racist violence. If you have a moment to spare in your busy med student regime please feel free to email me and I will send you some very disturbing links to real 2007 institutionalized racism and a nice bibliography of the history of racism in America. I hope I am not coming off as too harsh on this topic, but I truly believe that you mean well and are on the right track with your analysis of Washington, however, the history of slavery is not one that a people can erase just as the history of forced colonization, the conquering of the Americas by self professed white supremacist and things like the planned extermination of an entire race in the Jewish Holocaust can never be forgotten. I hope to hear from you whether you agree or disagree with my points, we cannot learn from each other unless we talk to each other.
Love, rage and solidarity, just greg
By Einstein, June 30, 2007 @ 2:12 pm
Ok, Mr. Washington: You choked — choked as in physically assaulted — a coworker. That alone would have made me afraid of you. At any other workplace in America, you would have been fired on the spot and possibly arrested. Sorry, that’s normal. People are not allowed to assault their coworkers in the workplace.
It looked to me like ALL of your coworkers were letting the incident retreat into the past and they were being very supportive in that manner — until you repeated the slur-! in public-! on national TV no less-! at the Golden Globes. Sorry, Mr. Martyr, that is on no one but you. Maybe you thought it was cute to take the chance to insult your coworker again under the guise of denying it, but what you did is on video and can be seen over and over and speaks for itself.
I feel sorry for you because you don’t know how to be a team player. Your boss was fielding the question and your entire team of coworkers were in public at what was supposed to be a celebration of everyone’s good work — including yours.
What about YOUR support of your coworkers? You were lucky they let you finish out your contract. If you had exhibited any kind of grace or class since your bad behavior became public, you might not have poisoned your career for the future. Do you think *any* team – in Hollywood or out -would want to take you on in the future?
They know they risk having their other employees assaulted and insulted. You have shown no true remorse for that and that means the risk is still there. They know they risk having unfortunate situations arise with you, and if they address the situation, they risk having themselves threatened with lawsuits and as a final insult to their professional reputation, having you play the race card when all else fails. Oh – and they know that you will hijack and ruin even the company’s best moments and celebrations because it’s all about you, all the time.
Think about it. The entire team was willing to let it go and you blew it at the Golden Globes. They WERE supporting you, you poor, self-absorbed, pitiful, angry, entitled person. The saddest thing is that you think it is everybody’s fault but yours.
There is a lot of racism in this society but this was not an example of that. It is an example of what an angry, violent, selfish and petty man can do to mess up his life and ruin the chance of a lifetime for an actor.
I know that’s a bitter pill. It’s the truth. God help you. Maybe someday instead of fake rehab and fake PSAs, you might try a 12 step meeting for anger and take the first step of admitting your life is unmanageable.
By hooper, June 30, 2007 @ 9:23 pm
“I hope to hear from you whether you agree or disagree with my points, we cannot learn from each other unless we talk to each other.”
I have to say that I disagree entirely with just greg’s point.
I think the history of racism in America is completely irrelevant to the situation. Yes white people conquered the Americas. Yes, they had black slaves, yes there was segregation, but that was all in the past. Yes, the ancestors of many people in this country were oppressed, mistreated, etc. What is my point? The word “ancestors.” So what if someones ancestors oppressed someone else’s ancestors? Are we responsible for our ancestors’ actions? No, of course not. When we are born, we are new people. We have the right to new lives not tarnished by the mistakes of our fathers. So please, stop complaining about the past and try to fix the present so we can have a better future.
You also make sweeping generalizations about whites. I happen to know that nobody in my family has ever owned a slave. Am I included in the same category as ex-plantation owners? In addition, many whites, maybe even a majority, were immigrants after the colonial era. They started in poverty, were subjected to nativist bigotry, riots, lived in slums, received wages that were to little to feed their families, and went through all the same problems that blacks have been through. Are they just as guilty as the descendants of plantation owners? You forget that whites are diverse, so much so that the only thing they have in common is the color of their skin. If you trace their ancestry, they come from the numerous countries of Europe all with wildly different histories, cultures, outlooks and attitudes.
You also make the assumption that all blacks are the same too. Blacks, like whites, are not a single people. In Africa, there are countless tribes which each have their own unique identities and cannot be all grouped together. Even within the United States blacks are not all the same. Just like whites, they are individuals who come from very different backgrounds and are different from each other. Not all blacks suffer the same hardships or have the same advantages as other blacks.
If you want to talk about history, though, I can too. Two of your examples, The Mexican American War and the Colonization of the Americas, will be my focus. I wont deny that there was racism involved in these. The European settlers were definitely racist towards the Indians, and Americans used black racial slurs to refer to the Mexicans during the Mexican American War because they were equated with blacks: dark and inferior. But there is more to it than that. The Europeans didn’t come here because they were racist, and we didn’t invade Mexico because we were racist, it was simply conquest.
Conquest isn’t about race, its about land and money. Race may be used as a “justification” but conquest is conquest. And it also happens to be one of humanities oldest practices. People have been Invading and conquering other people ever since the idea of territory came around. The mentioned conquests are exactly the same as any other conquest, whether it was the Romans conquering Europe, the Guptas Conquering India, the Zulus conquering Southern Africa or the Chins conquering China. The British didn’t feel they were superior because they were white, it was because they were British. That is the way conquest works. Interestingly enough, people have only started to care about it since the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
I have one last thing to say before I say something constructive (sorry this is so long):
“I noticed you are Mexican, take a look at how this “racist state” treats your brothers and sisters today, not yesterday when they stole everything north of the Rio Grande from your ancestors like they stole mine into slavery and oppression.”
The way you use this quote, it sounds like you are saying that because the author of the original post is Mexican, he has to hold one particular opinion. That is racist and unfair. As individuals we are all entitled to our own opinions, and are NOT under any circumstances limited to a role prescribed to us because of our race gender, or any other characteristic we have. Each person is born as no man but their own, and has the right to have their own opinion.
Normally, I don’t complain about issues (at least not publicly) and I am not a activist for any cause, but I feel strongly about this. I agree that this issue is important and needs to be talked about. I think the problem is the entire concept of “race.” Race is a man made concept designed to create hate and give us reason to believe that we are different. I think the solution is to erase the concept. It may be impossible, but if we can think of skin color as just another physical characteristic, like hair color, and focus on the fact that we are all individuals and humans, then racism is impossible, and then we can start disliking people for legitimate reasons, and then people wouldn’t be able to accuse you of racism for it. Further, titles such as “Mexican American” and “African American” I see as racist, because they focus on the fact that we are different races instead of just using “Americans.” Or better yet, “Humans.” I also believe other practices such as political correctness and Affirmative Action are racist for the same reasons. They do nothing but widen the gap between races.
You talked about the white supremacist attitude, and I agree that it is there, even if not as strongly as you say. The problem is adults. The current generation of adults are the tail end of the age of truly institutionalized racism, and still have all those feelings ingrained in them from when they were raised in a racist society. Luckily, most adults are reasonable people and are able to cover up their racist feelings and work with people of other races and maybe even be friends with them. Unfortunately, if there is anything I have learned in the seventeen years of my life, its that adults can’t change. We will NEVER be able to end racism if we continue to focus on adults. As I said before forget the past. Before we know it, the current adults will be gone and out of the leadership picture, and the current children will be in charge. If we act quickly we can teach the children tolerance, the future will be brighter.
Sorry for responding to a reply instead of the main post, but I feel like This had to be said. Like just greg, I would appreciate opinions. Thanks
By enrico, July 1, 2007 @ 12:32 am
“Just Greg” said,
I don’t see how you could have “noticed” I was Mexican. I plainly state that I’m not Mexican, I’m an American studying in Mexico. I am Latino by heritage, 2nd-3rd generation Mexican-American, but I don’t even make mention of that really anywhere of significance, and my ethnicity certainly has no prominence on this blog.
Having said that, I too can have “rage,” at the US taking Mexican land in a sham war, and be one of those people who refuse to recognize Texas, Colorado, Arizona, etc. as being part of the US (while living there and enjoying the benefits of a “sham” citizenship). I know all about the atrocities of the Texas “let’s go kill some messkins” Rangers against my direct ancestors. I could be angry about a lot of things. I’m not, obviously, because I have a life and the self-respect to not live in the generation of my great-great-great-grandfather, realizing instead that it’s 150+ years later. Does racism exit today? Of course, and should be fought at all times. But there’s a difference between “racism” (which implies a willful ignorance and/or malice) and pointing out/commenting on generalization that are obvious to all. Not being a racist does not mean one is blind to recognizing differences among us; in fact, celebrating that diversity, is one of the most profoundly unifying things we can do.
Washington chose against unity with his cast, crew, and producers, and singled himself out of a job.
By Dr. Deb, July 3, 2007 @ 7:26 am
I couldn’t agree more. I just can’t warm up to the man.
By Rashida, September 27, 2007 @ 8:54 pm
If you are not Black, and have not experienced racism as a Black person… especially as a Black MAN. You can not comment on what it may feel like. Nor can you comment on how someone should behave.
Yes its 2007, and white people are still hanging nooses (JENA) and white authority figures (law enforcement) are still murdering innocent unarmed BLACK men (Sean Bell, 2007, NYC)
No this is not ROOT… But there has NOT been substantial progress in many peoples attitudes…So Please…SHUT UP.
By enrico, September 28, 2007 @ 12:36 pm
Rashida: I didn’t comment on what it felt like to suffer racism as a Black man, and last I checked, it was my blog, so I can comment on whatever I wish. I’m going to ignore a good portion of what you said assuming you are young and naive. Any intelligent person of any race can recognize “stupid” when they see it. Washington was beyond stupid. You don’t get an “asshole pass” because you’re Black. The past point of reference Washington made was slavery, as in 1800s. If you feel there has not been substantial progress in many people’s attitudes since then, well, you have a lot more problems than worrying about Grey’s Anatomy.
Washington tried to play the race card (badly), so he opened that door and opened it wide enough to include slavery and “Massa.” Anybody can say whatever the hell they want now, and he only has himself to blame. Don’t expect to him in anything anytime soon.