Some Racism is 'Racist,' Some Not So Much

It’s all over the news how Miley Cyrus and her friends had their pictures taken doing something a lot of teenagers do: making funny faces for the camera. Some claim they were trying to look Asian and making fun of the boy in the photo who actually is Asian. Miley apologized more than once, but that hasn’t stopped the litigation.

Margaret Cho, a comic who became famous by exaggerating the Asian accent of her mother (and has never been one to shy away from publicity) expressed great outrage. She actually penned a song about Miley in protest.

Strangely enough, it turns out that perhaps Margaret tossed the first volley across the racial divide. According to Wikipedia and other sources, Margaret was once a member of the band called “White Trash Debutantes.” So it’s okay for Margaret to call herself a “White Trash Debutante” but wrong for an actual White Trash Debutant to make an Asian face?

A line in Margaret’s song asks: “Why isn’t racism against Asians taboo? ” Here’s a better question: “Why isn’t racism against Southern Whites taboo?”