Fr. Dwight Longenecker: Stand Up for Something …

… or you’ll fall for anything.

So said Alexander Hamilton, and the present crisis in our summer of unrest proves the point. The crowds seem to be rushing headlong to jump on any bandwagon that is rolling down the street.

The latest insanity is the rush to re-brand every popular products that might in any way be construed as “racist.”

Some of the changes are understandable. The Aunt Jemima brand has always featured a black woman, and it confirmed the stereotype of a black woman as a servant. Likewise Uncle Ben’s rice showed a genial black gentleman, but the unspoken subtext was that Uncle Ben was really an Uncle Tom — the most servile and obsequious kind of black man.

One can admit that these well established images confirm racial stereotypes. There’s no harm in dropping them. The images are outdated and can be offensive, but where does it stop? Some gossips say the brand “Eskimo Pie” is soon to disappear and the Washington Redskins brand is doomed. Do Indian motorcycles need to change their name?  …

Read more here:  https://stream.org/stand-up-for-something/