“Racism’s still alive, they just be concealing it”

– Kanye West.

Michael Richards, better known as Kramer from Seinfeld, went on a racial tirade in West Hollywood at the Laugh Factory less than two weeks ago. Kramer, the Seinfeld persona whom most people recognize Richards as, was a funny character who just seemed a bit… how should I say it… uh, off. Let’s just say, after two African Americans heckled him, my perception of “off” had changed.

In the video displaying his tirade, Richards screams racial slurs into a microphone to Frank McBride and Kyle Doss. Aren’t comedians supposed to be used to being heckled anyway? Wait, the “hecklers” have said they didn’t do anything.

According to a recent Associated Press report, their attorney, Gloria Allred, said they were ordering drinks when Richards berated them for interrupting his act. The tape is sickening.

Richards has since apologized on the David Letterman show, and appeared on the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s “Keep Hope Alive” nationally-syndicated radio show. He has also apologized to Rev. Al Sharpton. Richards has even said he’s not a racist. But I agree with Eugene Robinson, opinion columnist of the Washington Post, who said, “He could have fooled me. Just as [Mel] Gibson, who in his own ritual abject apology said he’s not an anti-Semite, sure had done a pretty good impersonation of one.”

Richards says he’s never used these words before, sure, but there are others who feel the same way as I do.

“What surprises me is that you don’t learn these words overnight,” said Comedian Paul Rodriguez, a friend of Richards for 25 years, to The Early Show national correspondent Hattie Kauffman. “They’re not part of your vocabulary. It sure came out like he’d done this before.”

Despite the criticism from most people – which is understandable, considering most think his apology is career-motivated – I would like to forgive Richards, but the situation shouldn’t end there.

“A simple apology does not deal with the depth of the trauma,” Jackson said. “The first step is to acknowledge you’re wrong. The second step is to be contrite about it, not arrogant. The third is, it takes time to regain or earn trust, and that’s where the healing process begins.”

Richard needs to be honest with himself. He’s probably said those words before or had those thoughts in his head. He should give a face-to-face apology to Doss and McBride. Community service wouldn’t be a bad idea either. He should go to these “Afro-American” communities, and see the humanity in the race of people he tried to take away with his vengeful, spiteful and hateful words.

If Richards is sincere, why not forgive? But we in the black community will never forget. I just hope the guy Seinfeld fans once knew as “Kramer” lets go of his anger and his racist subconscience.

Joey Baskerville is an opinion columnist for the Northern Star.