|
Give The Ribs A Break…
By Lafe Tolliver, Esq
Guest Column
As many of you may know by now, the headliner at the
31st Annual Northwest Ohio Rib-Off is rock
musician Ted Nugent.
Yeah, that same Ted Nugent who has publically called
President Obama a sub-human mongrel…among other hideous
names.
Yeah, the same rocker who was gently visited some time
ago by the Secret Service when some of his over-the-top
comments about the question of the president living a long
and happy life caused some grave concern to those agents.
And yes, this same vitriolic rocker is being sponsored
at this northwest Ohio event by The Blade and Steve Taylor
of Taylor Kia, among other sponsors.
The questions of the day are: (1) What position does
the black community take on this rocker bringing his crass
act to Toledo for this public event and (2) Do the sponsors
have any responsibility to “vet” the headliners to make sure
that their public utterances are not demeaning or vile and
thus the sponsors do not by their endorsement, seem to
affirm such statements?
The day of holding your hands over your ears while the
music plays and people are marched off to the gas ovens is
over.
Humanity that respects humanity does not overtly or
covertly engage in reprehensible conduct simply for the sale
of a few sauced ribs or for people to have a “good time”
provided by a person who is consciously throwing flaming
verbal darts of a despicable nature at the president…or
anyone else for that matter.
It is a question that do we come together as a community
and, via our social agencies or organizations, speak to the
sponsors and chastise them for this grievous lapse of
judgment by which they think it is OK to bring in a Ted
Nugent demagogue and think that no one will protest?
Of course, if you think that freedom of speech trumps
calling black people subhuman mongrels then this column is
not for you and you are free to go and eat the ribs and act
as if everything is hunky dory.
However, if you are of the belief that rockers like Ted
Nugent and his sponsors who are in it for either the buck or
for positive publicity are out of line, you need to tell
them that Ted Nugent is not welcome and their sponsorship is
distasteful.
As for the valid issues raised by Pastor Donald Perryman
in his column in the June 4 issue of The Truth newspaper, we
need to find out where our local organizations stand on this
issue.
For some, who do not like even challenging a buzzing
mosquito, this issue, for them, is of no consequence and
they will continue to support the sponsors of this rib
cook-off and act as if this is no big deal.
For those persons, I would conjecture that they were the
ones, when the civil right marches were happening in the
South, were found hiding under the bed and in the attic
hoping that no one noticed their absence. But they were the
first to come out and enjoy the fruits of those who bore the
burden of the hot sun and endured the fire hoses and crammed
jail houses.
Over the top? Not really. Remember, that when people see
wrong being done and do nothing about it, they are in
complicity with the wrong.
Yeah, Ted Nugent can yammer all day about free speech but
when Ted tells you that you are a subhuman mongrel, you have
a right and an obligation to speak out and put him in his
place.
Unless you think that his right to free speech is
greater than your right to exercise your right to free
speech and to boycott those sponsors who feel that the vile
utterances of a Ted Nugent is not a cause for alarm.
I betcha two dollars to a donut that if Ted Nugent used
ethnic slur names for John Robinson Block or Allan Block of
The Blade or Steve Taylor of Taylor Kia, you would not find
The Blade or Taylor Kia endorsing him as a headliner at this
rib-off! Betcha.
For black people and others who care about what Ted
Nugent said about President Obama (and which reflects
directly on you), you can call The Blade or leave a message
(email: jzerbey@toledoblade.com) and you can call Taylor Kia
(888-928-3644) and leave a message.
If you feel that such a protest would mean that those
two organizations might not sponsor “black events” in the
near future as their way of retaliating…so what.
That would be a further indication that we as a
community need to pool our own resources and sponsor our own
cultural and social events as opposed to always running
downtown to white corporate America and skinning and
grinning with hat in hand for a few bucks to do our own
endeavors.
Sadly, black Toledoans do not have a proud or rich
history of doing 100 percent sponsorships of “our” events.
Invariably, when you check into the fine print of who put up
the bucks, you will see “others” and we have grown
accustomed to that corporate welfare and to get weaned off
of that corporate spigot will take concerted energy and many
fund-raising efforts but it will be worth it.
Worth it in the sense of pride and accomplishment that
when we need some bucks to pull off an event, we can pass
the hat amongst us and get the deed done. (secret: black
folks in Toledo have the bucks to do it…it is the will that
is lacking).
To get to that milestone, we have to educate ourselves
as to why we need to fund our own award banquets and social
gatherings by ourselves and for ourselves.
I have said before in this column space that have you
ever seen the following being done: (1) The Chinese
community sponsors the Italian American Festivals; (2) The
Irish-American Society sponsors the Korean Arts Festival;
(3) The French American Association sponsors the Mexican
American Liberation Festival; (4) The Greek American Society
sponsors the Thailand National Pride Day?
No, you won’t. But you will always see black America begging
white corporate America to underwrite “our” events. How
sad…how embarrassing.
A people that will not honor and respect themselves and
pay their own way when they are able, are a people that are
not worth respecting.
Apparently, Ted Nugent knows this.
Contact Lafe Tolliver at
Tolliver@Juno.com
|
