Is Joe Rogan racist? It depends on who you ask. There is no universally accepted definition of “race”, “racist”, or “racism.” All of it was created as a social construct by white supremacists. My intention is not to answer the question for you but to encourage you to define your own terms. Think clearly without cloudy emotionalism or mob mentality. With any hot-button topic, I think it’s important to stay calm and reflect on what’s being presented.
In recent weeks, Joe Rogan has come under fire for his comments about Black people and his use of the most notorious racial epithet that a non-Black person can use. Hearing his apology about the N-word sounded genuine until I heard his response about calling Black people “apes”. This is what Joe Rogan said about going to the movies in a Black neighborhood: “We walked into Planet of the Apes. We walked into Africa, dude. There was [sic] no white people.” The apology took a disingenuous turn when Joe Rogan said, “I did not – nor would I ever – say that Black people are apes… I was just saying there was [sic] a lot of Black people there.” He literally just called us “apes” again in his apology. He’s insulting our intelligence because Joe Rogan doesn’t believe that Black people are as intelligent as white people.
India.Arie on Joe Rogan
India.Arie first said, “I don’t think Joe Rogan is racist” in a CNN interview with Don Lemon. She has since backtracked her comment in an interview with Trevor Noah stating, “I don’t know that being a racist automatically makes you a bad person.” I then realized that this situation had hijacked my emotional system as I immediately felt perturbed. Let’s explore India.Arie’s remarks though.
The thing about being racist is that you see other races as subhuman. When you dehumanize someone, at the very least you deny any culpability in benefitting from their plight. At worst, it makes it easy for you to pull a trigger and execute them in broad daylight. How humanely could you treat someone who you do not see as your equal? A case in point is the murder of Ahmaud Arbery. He was brutally killed by three white men whose unchecked perceptions of race caused them to see Mr. Arbery as inferior to themselves.
Andrew Yang on Joe Rogan
Andrew Yang is another disappointment. Yang implied that Joe Rogan could not be racist because he was around Black people all the time. Well, so were slave masters. Proximity and mistreatment are not mutually exclusive. Usually, it’s the racist-in-question who throws up how many Black friends they have as a defense. To have a proxy do it for you is a new one for me. “Do I know black friends of Joe’s who would swear by him? Yes, I do.” Andrew Yang has since deleted his senseless tweets.
Many people were upset about Joe Rogan using the N-word. To be honest, I wasn’t upset until I did research. I need context. It’s a combination of things that have started to develop a theme around Joe Rogan. When someone is accused of either racism or being racist, I look for a couple of things. With racism, I look for actions. Did Joe Rogan ever block anyone from achieving success because of their race? I haven’t heard that but I wouldn’t be surprised if someone said so later. The thought always precedes the action and Joe Rogan definitely has the thoughts. With being a racist, I ask myself what the person thinks about Black people. Joe Rogan’s comments about Black people prove that he has racist thoughts.
What is Racism?
Everyone has a right to define what’s “racist” for themselves. I don’t think that merely seeing a people group as different automatically points to racism. That may simply be an observation of culture, which can oftentimes be a compliment. It’s seeing oneself as superior in comparison to others that becomes problematic. This was evident when Joe Rogan implied that a biracial guest had the best of both worlds because Black people have “a different brain.”
He stated, “Powerful combination genetic wise. Right? You get the body of the Black man and then you get the mind of the white man altogether in some strange combination.” This is eugenics at its finest. How would he even know how the genetics are divided? He obviously saw the guest as intelligent and assumed that it was his white side of the family responsible for the intelligence. To me, this is worse than the N-word or making a corny joke that didn’t land well. He’s perpetuating the narrative that Black people are only good for our physicality by suggesting that white genes are needed in order for a person’s brain to be intellectually fit.
Whoopi Goldberg vs Joe Rogan
The unbalanced responses to what Joe Rogan said versus what Whoopi Goldberg said is discouraging. Whoopi got a two-week timeout while Joe gets ‘Stepin Fetchits’ kowtowing for white supremacy all over social media. The list of Black people supporting Joe Rogan is growing. There’s Rashad Evans, Israel Adesanya, Donnell Rawlings, Jay Prince, and Michael Jai White. This further proves that we live in a culture where white supremacists get to tell you how to view race and racism.
Whoopi Goldberg was sharing her experience. Look what happened to her. Suspension. Black people have been sharing their experiences of how Joe Rogan made them feel. Look what happened to him. Nothing. There are white supremacists on both extremes of the political spectrum and they all want to control Black people’s minds. They want to dictate who we are angry with and what the punishment should be. Nobody is hearing Black voices. So, as you respond to these racial headlines, please check in with yourself to ensure that you aren’t being used by the elitists as a means to a political end. Yes, the elitists are shooting at Joe Rogan, but it’s his fault for giving them the ammunition
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@speakerconsuela | Consuela is a Certified Life-Purpose Coach, Certified Peer Specialist, Respect Institute Speaker, Mental Health First Aider, Spiritual Midwife, and Songwriter. In other words, she is a lover of words. Consuela enjoys utilizing written, verbal, and musical communication to facilitate healing and wholeness.
