Today, I read an article that Dr. Morris had posted on herFacebook, about the mayor from Topeka making a racist joke about Natives. Itwas exactly what we have been talking about I class, about how who says thejoke really makes a difference. He basically said that he used to date “anIndian girl” and when they used to go out dancing “it used to rain afterwards”.Overall, while this is offensive to both Natives and women, this is not theworst joke in the world, in fact, if a Native person had said it, it would probablybe a huge hit. But a Native person didn’t say it did they? No, a white man wasonce again publicly making a joke in which he knew was inappropriate, but hereally didn’t give that much consideration, if any. In response to these comments, ThePrairie Band Potawatomi Tribal Council issued a statement to the Topeka CapitalJournal in reaction to the terrible joke. The mayor then was asked topublicly apologize, and responded with “Idon't think I have anything to apologize for,” and “They were just little jokesand probably were inappropriate, but I didn't mean any harm, and I don't thinkit did any harm to anyone.” He even went as far as to saythat there are a lot of jokes madeabout a lot of different groups and that people shouldn’t be so sensitive aboutthese comments. The most annoying part about this whole scenario, to me is thatthis man said these things and then not only didn’t apologize but thenbasically scoffed about the outcry of people to make an apology. The ignorance of people will NEVER cease to amaze and horrify me. Why a mayor of a city, a public figure, a role model, would think that it was okay to say these things, I will never know. Clearly this man just condones sexism, anti-feminist thoughts, and racism. Good for him, politics wins again.
