How exactly is Wigger Day celebrated, you might ask? According to Quera Pruitt's complaint, students wore clothes and behaved in a manner that "from their perspective, mimicked black culture." It goes on to explain that "Wigger is a pejorative slang term for a white person who emulates the mannerisms, language and fashions associated with African-American culture," and that the costumes included oversized sports jerseys, low-slung pants, baseball hats cocked to the side, do-rags and gang signs.
And evidently the teachers and administrators were OK with this. The lawsuit claims that the school's failure to respond to Pruitt's mother's concerns about the annual event caused the teenager depression and other forms of emotional distress.
According to the Huffington Post, a statement from District Superintendent Karen Anderson, a defendant in the case, "denies the allegations that [the district] has created a racially hostile environment and looks forward to meeting these allegations in court."
In a culture in which brand-new examples of subtle and not-so-subtle racist stereotypes seem to surface every day, you can barely blame the kids involved for being clueless about how this ridiculous event might affect their black classmates. This could have been an opportunity for them to learn something without having to take the matter to court.
But the reaction of the adults involved (turning a blind eye, followed by defensiveness and denial) perfectly exemplifies why we don't expect things to improve anytime soon when it comes to "w-word"-themed events or the countless other ways that ignorance makes its way into our daily lives.
Comment:
I agree that they shouldn't be an annual 'Wigger Day' event, but not for the same reasons. White children should take more pride in their own culture, and not emulate others. And you can be certain it is emulation, and not mocking.
Whose fault is it that White kids have no pride in their own culture? IT'S OUR FAULT! We allow non-Whites and the Jews media to fill our kids with White guilt, and make them ashamed of being White. They place all the sins of the White race (yes there are sins such as slavery) onto today's generation. They make kids of German descent feel like they owe the Jews some form of reparation for the Holohoax. Even IF the Holocaust was real, today's kids owe the Jews nothing. It was before their time. If I may alter a Biblical passage: "The sins of the fathers shall NOT be visited upon the sons."
Besides, this was all done with humour. Blacks and other non-Whites should develop a thicker skin. For example, here in San Bernardino a few years ago, a Latino group sued a Mexican restaurant called "GuadalaHarry's" because their sign pictured a cartoonish Mexican Bandito and they felt offended by it. As someone who is half Irish, by their thinking, I should be offended if an Irish restaurant had a sign with a Leprechaun on it. But that wouldn't bother me. I'd think it was funny.
Like I said, I don't approve of 'Wigger Day', but I don't believe anyone intended it to be offensive. It may have been inappropriate, but it was all in fun, and no one should feel offended - except perhaps us. It's a sad commentary on today's youth when they need to emulate another race, because they don't have a culture of their own they can feel proud of without being called a racist.
Dan 88!
