When everything is racist — even trees — nothing is racist
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Miss Robin Williams, Chairman, Charlotte-Sarasota Progressive Democratic Caucus:
To anyone with even a cursory knowledge of racial stereotypes, the new mascot should have set off alarms. It turns out the original student version of the mascot was very different in appearance and was unlikely to have raised any concerns. Yet Interim President Richard Corcoran and the New College Board of Trustees, which includes culture warrior Christopher Rufo among its members, supported and chose an altered mascot that depicts a tree that has been anthropomorphized to closely resemble an angry, threatening brown individual.
It is an image that is also reminiscent of the historically offensive imagery perpetuated by the "Tarzan" books, which featured a main character who lived in an African jungle and boasted of being a "killer of beasts and many black men." Though generations have passed, there is no getting around the reality that the "Tarzan" literary series remains one full of vile racial stereotyping, with Black men portrayed as "primitive natives” and "savages."
"The Mighty Banyan" mascot also appears to bear similarities to race-oriented memorabilia that was especially popular during the Jim Crow era in the United States and, unfortunately, served to ingrain racial stereotypes in the American psyche.
Killer Trees
Out in Oregon, the selection of a pine tree as a high school mascot was objected to because trees reminded some of lynching. (If there’s a tree less convenient for hanging bodies from than a pine, I’m unaware of it.) A few brave individuals spoke out in defense of the poor conifer, but what would they know?
“I’ve been a civil rights attorney for 30 years,” [Leo] Terrell said on “America Reports.” “I taught U.S. history for seven years. I’ve never had a client complain that a tree is racist. I’ve never had a case that deals with a tree being racist. It devalues true racism in this country.”
“The idea of a tree having some participation in racist activity — there’s no data, there’s no analogy, there’s no historical, analytical approach to such a conclusion.”
Attorney Terrell is black and, sadly, that race is just too undeveloped to recognize the subtle hints of racism that only white liberal ears can hear, so their betters must save them from themselves. Sigh. But we must shoulder, the White Man’s burden, and go about our noble work.
