The Cookout

[MR-D-ROB]

"The Overton window is the range of policies politically acceptable to the mainstream population at a given time. It is also known as the window of discourse.he term is named after American policy analyst Joseph Overton, who stated that an idea's political viability depends mainly on whether it falls within this range, rather than on politicians' individual preferences. According to Overton, the window frames the range of policies that a politician can recommend without appearing too extreme to gain or keep public office given the climate of public opinion at that time." cited from Wikipedia

Why am I speaking about this? I want to explain how our thinking and goals should be focused.

The Overton window in any society determines what behavior and ideology is acceptable and what is considered going a bit too far. Have you ever been at a gathering and there is that one person who just takes a conversation too far? It starts with them seeming a bit on the edge but no one says anything. Before you know it they say something that is just a line too far and everyone gets upset.

In our society things like being openly racist are considered being too much. It falls outside the Overton window. However it depends on the person's level of racism. You would be ostracized if you just outright called a person a N----r in the place of work or even out in public. The person would likely lose their job and lose business. However if the person is overtly racist then they can get away with it. Maybe they are saying things that appear racist but not going full on with it. Right now in our society that is pretty much not frowned upon too much. A person could get away with this.

This is largely due to what is considered acceptable in media. People like Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and in the past Bill O'Reilly say outwardly racist things on national television. This causes racism to become more acceptable. Saying their talking points is considered part of normal discourse and conversation. (remember it is also know as window of discourse).

This is why we must call out and put down harshly even the smallest instances of such behavior. Lots of people say that Trump made racism worse. He did but that is in part because we as a society allowed the Overton window to be pushed to that extent. We allowed being outwardly racist to be acceptable behavior.

The Overton window moved to that point that the way Trump and racist behaved wasn't considered so radical it was within the normal societal behavior. We can't allow that.

In my personal life I remember when I first got braids. Everyone at my place of work complimented me on how nice they were. I could tell some people of other races were curious. They gave compliments but they were a bit taken aback by the hairstyle. Now if anyone knows me they know I am quite outlandish with my hairstyles. Over time they began to learn more about African American hairstyles. They began to ask me what I was going to do next and even suggest styles. It went from being a hairstyle that was maybe radical or just acceptable( look at the first chart) to being popular.

I even had people asking for referrals to my stylist for friends and for their kids or relatives.

We can make changes to what is considered acceptable in our society. As long as we allow racism to be considered acceptable it is only just outside of the Overton window. We must make any instance of racism so radical and ostracized that no one dares participate in it for fear of punishment or consequences. If a business acts in a racist manner we must as a whole boycott them and leave them in financial ruins. If an individual is racist we must boycott the company they work at until they are fired and leave their life in ruins with them and their family starving on the streets.