A few days ago Gambling 911 called attention to Daniel “Kid Poker” Negreanu’s blog in which he made some comments that are apparently racist. This is a real eye roller as there is nothing racist in this blog. Last I checked, asking a question about race in America does not make one racist. The definition of racism according to the Random House Dictionary is as follows:

“racism (n.) a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one’s own race is superior and has the right to rule others; a policy, system of government, etc., based upon or fostering such a doctrine; discrimination; hatred or intolerance of another race or other races.”

The comment in question refers to his questioning of the double standard of labeling certain things for black folks and what would happen if those same things were specifically labeled for white folks. “I was watching BET when a random thought dawned on me- how in the world did they ever get away with naming a network the Black Entertainment Network?” he went on to say, “The thought came to me, because I wondered- what would happen if a guy from Alabama tried to create a channel and call it the White Entertainment Television network?”

All the man did was ask a question about a double standard that exists. Having grown up a product of both races, I am continually upset and offended by the oversensitivity in our culture towards racism and the abuse of the term. It is a sensitive topic, which is why the media jumps all over it for sure, but labeling people racist all willy-nilly does more harm than good. For starters, whoever is labeled the racist is usually damaged severely. Their family and professional lives are often left in ruins over racist claims that usually don’t hold water. Secondly, it draws attention away from and numbs us to spotting true acts of racism.

Asking what would happen if a channel was called White Entertainment Television begs an obvious answer. One that black and white alike know to be true: it would cause an uproar. Asking does not make somebody racist. Asking questions is what enables us to learn and grow. The key to knowledge and growth is through understanding and it is difficult to understand other people without asking questions. If the media and oversensitive racism watchdogs continue this witch-hunt for racists, they are doing more to slow relations between races than to improve them.

Tags: Daniel Negreanu, online gambling, Racism, Racist

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 13th, 2009 at 6:10 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.