Ted Nugent‘s America vs. Eminem‘s

Nov. 20, 2002

Judging by the 5,000 or so persons who showed up for Ted Nugent‘s booksigning at Border‘s in Traverse City last week, there are a lot of people who support the Whackmaster‘s views and would love to have him for governor in 2006.
Who wouldn‘t love a guy who offers such simple solutions to America‘s biggest problems?
In his Northern Express interview, Nugent said he feels compelled to run for governor in 2006 so he can get tough on all of the moochers down in Detroit:
“I am sick and tired of the pimps, the whores and the welfare brats getting representation,“ Nugent said. “I think we ought to cut them off. I would like to think that there are enough hard-working, productive, sincere people in Michigan that would like to tell Detroit to shut up and get a job. If you want a bunch of money, wake up and go to work.”
When a wealthy white man starts talking about “pimps, whores and welfare brats,“ we all understand that this is code for black people. To make sure we get the message, Nugent was kind enough to include a reference to Detroit.
The funny thing, however, is that for many years, the Upper Peninsula was Michigan’s leading repository of “welfare brats.“ Most of the state‘s welfare dollars went to support idle folks in the U.P. -- many of them the same sort of sportsmen that Nugent loves to rub elbows with.
And whores? Some of the state‘s best-known whorehouses are located on the poor side of Sault Ste. Marie.
Fortunately, Governor Nugent won‘t have to apply his whip to the whores and welfare brats in the U.P., because it is one of the few regions in the country that is actually losing population. The U.P. is losing jobs and residents to foreign competition. Its mines are being shut down because manufacturers can buy cheaper steel from Asia.
Now that Michigan has a Workfare program, people in the U.P. whose lives have been wrecked are forced to move elsewhere because there aren‘t any jobs. For the most part, people in the U.P. are white, so they still have the option to move.
But people in Detroit aren‘t so lucky, because there aren‘t a lot of jobs south of 8 Mile Road, and there is nowhere to go if you are black and poor in America.
I recall the case of my friend James Crawford, a young black man raised in the ghetto. Except for a single trip to see his family down South, James had never been outside of the city limits of Detroit. He had seldom been even three miles from his home.
James lived in a scary, drug-plagued neighborhood on the east side off Grand Blvd. He kept a radio playing in his apartment day and night in the hope that no one would break in and steal the few junky things he owned.
Unlike your typical millionaire rock star who’s never experienced the rough side of life, he didn’t have a whole lot of attitude. He was just trying to get by.
James wanted a job to get out of poverty, but there were few jobs in Detroit. None, actually. And James was afraid to venture into the white suburbs to find work. He was afraid that he‘d be harassed by hostile white people out in Warren or Livonia where the jobs were. Afraid of people like Nugent, perhaps.
He was just as afraid as the thousands of tough-talking white Ted Nugent fans from the boondocks would be to walk down a street in Detroit and look a black person in the eye.
There are a lot of people like James Crawford in America -- white and black -- who aren‘t looking for a handout, but are trapped in places like the U.P. and Detroit where there aren‘t any jobs. Even Nugent‘s beloved Fred Bear moved his archery factory down South before he died, leaving some “hard-working, productive, sincere people“ in Grayling without jobs. It would be interesting to know if they had to resort to welfare.
Rather than hearing Nugent‘s scorn and name-calling against people who aren‘t as fortunate as him, it would be refreshing to hear his views on how he would help people in Detroit and the U.P. find jobs. How would he heal the wounds of people who‘ve been called “whores and welfare brats“ all their lives?
After all, the simple-minded folks who give the high-five to Nugent‘s simple solutions may not have jobs themselves in the near future, the way things are going.
Eminem offers a kinder vision of America in his new film, 8 Mile.
As a kid named Rabbit, Eminem shows us an America where people at the bottom of the ladder -- white and black -- look past their skin color to see that they have a common struggle against poverty. Eminem shows his young, white audience of fans that their black counterparts south of 8 Mile Road also want to do good -- they also want jobs and they‘re willing to work their hearts out. The difference is, they don‘t have a lot of opportunities.
In a turnaround from his bad old ways, Eminem is even nice to gay people in 8 Mile, and treats his girlfriend with respect. He shows compassion to his brother man -- he doesn‘t care about skin color -- because he knows we are all in this thing together in some way or another. Imagine that.
Why can‘t it be Eminem running for governor, instead of a guy who calls himself the Whackmaster?