What Will FCC Do Now?

    What will the FCC do now? That is the question as the movement under #FCCcomplaintRSKIN takes hold across Indian Country. A fortuitous intersection of people allowed me to be on the twitter floor, so to speak, at it's founding. This is the first wave of complaints filed with at least three more planned in the future.

     I remember the first time I became what other people consider as an activist. To me, it's just that I am plain tired of the ignorance and the constant abuse that racist slurs, mascots & caricatures give permission to breed unchecked. I was driving along a highway lined by thick Louisiana pine woods on my way to a College Algebra course at Louisiana Tech. I was jamming out the morning to the radio. My toddler was asleep in her car seat and it was mommy music time.

    The morning show guys came on and started whining about how the NCAA was finally standing up to racist college mascots. Saying the usual rubbish about how- No Indians are really behind this. -It's tradition and they are destroying it. - What's with all the PC these days? They asked for people to call in about it. I whipped off the highway and dialed the number on my cell. A few common fit throwers spoke before they got to me.  I don't remember what I said, but I let them have it- if calmly. 

     I got off the phone and heard my final comments broadcasting from my radio on low volume. They wrapped up the segment and started playing music. On the next music break they moved on to another news headline. I would like to say I was gratified, but I wasn't. Because I knew for every one of me, there were thousands of them. That doesn't make what these people are doing right, just imbedded.

     I've made previous blogs about how their ignorance and out right disgusting racism has been traumatic in my life.  Would getting rid of these slurs and mascots in mainstream society solve that? No, but it would take away the incentive and permission to act in abusive ways. It's not hard to find examples of people "taking it too far".

     But, are they really taking it too far? Aren't they just acting the way they are encouraged to act? What's to stop them from being aggressively racist to the point of violent behavior when a slur gets used over a 100 times on a game day? Can the government continue to claim they can do nothing about it when, at the same time, extend protections to other larger ethnic and religious groups? 

     You can answer those questions yourself. 

     Dan Snyder, Infamous Westboro Church, and even Hitler would be free to be evil minded racists in the United States. What I am saying is no longer is it acceptable to invade unchecked private homes thru unregulated broadcast of hate language and imagery. No other groups suffer such degradation and dehumanizing abuses and neither should we! You want to buy swatika shirts and R@dskin shirts, go ahead. However, you can't wear them to a public school or on television. 

   Everybody can stay as racist as they want, but I have rights too.