Racist Violations and Racializing Apologia in a Post-Racism Era

Abstract

In theorizing the dialectic of public acts of white racial offenses and the in/sufficiency of apologia associated with white racial discourse, we examine racist violations and racializing apologia from 24 white public figures in the United States between 1996 and 2012. Analysis of racist violations reveals that each offense undermines race as a social and political marker, whereas racializing apologia makes explicit the constant force of racialization and latent nature of whiteness in apologia strategies. We view racializing apologia as potentially liberatory, capable of allowing for a defense of oneself and challenging reproduction of racial formations.

Keywords:

• Race
• Apologia
• Whiteness
• Microaggressions
• Colorblindness

The authors acknowledge the Editor and the anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback that further strengthened this manuscript. An earlier version of this manuscript was presented at the Western States Communication Association conference in 2013.

The authors acknowledge the Editor and the anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback that further strengthened this manuscript. An earlier version of this manuscript was presented at the Western States Communication Association conference in 2013.

Notes

[1] In our usage, colorblindness is conceived of as an ideology that denies that white privilege or contemporary institutionalized racial discrimination exist thus facilitating the belief that the U.S. is post-racial (Risman & Banerjee, 2013). As such, we do not view the terms—colorblindness and post-racial—as interchangeable. However, we do see that colorblind ideology supports the claim of post-racialism as conceived as an era in which race does not matter in any methodical or socially significant manner (Bonilla-Silva, 2010).

[2] Scholars use phrases such as “events” or “judgments” (Towner, 2010a), “rhetorical situation” (Arrington, 2002), and “transgressions,” “offense,” or “episodes” (Ellwanger, 2012) when referring to what calls forth an apologia or, apology.

[3] A search utilizing variations of Boolean terms “racist + apologizes” in Google and Lexus Nexus yield a significant body of news and popular press documenting racist violations committed on a national platform.

[4] While several instances of racist violations committed by a person of color against a person of color are identified, the racist violations and apologia were ultimately excluded from the data set owing to the differentiation of power dynamics and significance of racist transgressions among white rhetors and rhetors of color.

[5] The 24 public figures comprise politicians (10), athletes or team owners (3), actors, musicians, comedians or celebrities (7), and talk show hosts and sports broadcasters (4).

[6] Downey (1993) explains “fragments” as “short statements usually in response to questions” (57). The apologia we examine take the form of both formal and shorter responses.

[7] Throughout this essay, we will use “n-word” in lieu of spelling the word out in its entirety, and when quoting someone, we will modify their spelling to “n****r.” We are committed to not participating in the harmful effects resulting from any use of hate speech. As Hill (2008) notes, “the word is labeled as pejorative in dictionaries in every part of the English-speaking world, and is considered so offensive that it is often no longer spelled out in print” (51).

[8] Among media outlets, such as the Washington Post, some went on to debate the meaning of the term, arguing that, depending on how spelled, the word could refer to a “monkey” or to a “Black African.”

[9] For example, in 2009 The New York Post was drawn into controversy when a cartoon featuring what many understood as President Obama as a dead chimp. Then, in 2012 Barbara Espinosa, the host of “Hair on Fire,” an Arizona radio show, called Obama a “monkey.” In fact, typing in “Obama as monkey” brings up scores of images of both he and Michelle Obama featured in simian ways.

[10] We acknowledge that the expression of stereotypes is not always by and through negative characteristics; however, in the violations analyzed, negative features are what appear.

[11] For example, in their research on white supremacist discourse used by the hate group, American Renaissance, Moon and Hurst (2007) found that the same white fictions about Black people (e.g., lazy, criminal, and singularly responsible for their social and economic conditions) that circulated on the site were attitudes reproduced in media programs as well as expressed by white respondents in General Social Science surveys, which has tracked racial attitudes since 1974.

[12] Omi and Winant (1994) explain, “a racial project is simultaneously an interpretation, representation, or explanation of racial dynamics, and an effort to reorganize and redistribute resources along particular racial lines” (p. 56).

[13] Two of the 24 racializing apologia were unavailable. Specifically, Mayer apologizes a couple times for racist violations committed during a Playboy interview; however, his apologia is limited to the microsassault violation of racial slur and ignores aspects of the interview in which Mayer commits microinvalidations. Second, though Marge Schott offered a public apology the week before for anti-Semitic and pro-Hitler sentiment statements, she does not appear to have apologized for the microinsult of mimicry. Several popular press articles indicate that an apology was offered but transcripts cannot be located.

[14] Mayer delivered an onstage apology in February 2010, which circulated virally. Upon viewing the performance, his comusicians racially appear to be and Mayer alludes to them as Black/African American (“Great Quality”).

[15] Although not presented as being concerned with antiracist work, Koesten and Rowland (2004) theorize atonement rhetoric, which takes as its goal “forgiveness for a sinful act and restoration of the relationship once the sin has been expiated” (p. 69). Their essay analyzes a few apologies, one of which is for past national acts of racism.