The Bar Is On The Floor

A piece of media that still, over a decade later, has a vice grip on my mind is a South Park bit from 2012. In this episode, as a response to general societal brain rot, James Cameron is on a hellbent mission to go to the ocean floor to raise the metaphorical bar.

Now, 13 years later, I often wonder about how low the bar really is. Thoughts like “Could James Cameron even get there today?” or “Submersibles have had a bad run of form recently.” permeate my thoughts when I read the news, especially lately.

Most recently, I wondered about the bar’s depths just before Christmas, when a Champaign City Councilman made a ton of statements at a City Council meeting that rely on classic antisemitic tropes, like that Jewish people control the media, popular music, etc. Included here in these comments is that this councilman will no longer eat Pringles…because they’re kosher.

Here’s the clip.

While troubling to many, these comments are not necessarily disqualifying for some. Within a week, Williams issued an apology for employing the tropes, and business carried on more-or-less as usual.

“As an elected official it is my responsibility to uphold values that ensure fairness, civility and understanding for all citizens” Williams said.

Strap in, because this is where this story goes off the rails.

This weekend the plot thickened when the same sitting Champaign City Councilman, Davion Williams, changed his profile picture on Facebook to a swastika.

Yes, you read that right. I know. I didn’t believe it the first time I read it either.

Not a post, not a video, not a news article. His profile picture. You know, the picture that represents who you are. Digitally. It comes up when people search for you.

In the post accompanying the picture, Williams attempted to provide context:

“The swastika is an ancient symbol that has been used for thousands of years across multiple cultures, often representing good fortune, well-being, and spirituality. It appears in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and various Indigenous traditions, symbolizing peace, prosperity, and the cyclical nature of life.”

While Williams may be right about the historical use of the symbol, he is seemingly willfully ignoring the modern context, and how that symbol was used to perpetuate hate and brutality. Given Williams’ comments from December, it becomes clear that this is a trend, and these actions are underpinned by something more harmful.

Yesterday, Williams once again apologized, this time for posting a swastika as his profile picture. At last night’s city council meeting, he verbally apologized also, though made no mention of a resignation.

Beyond the undertones of hate, what’s so frustrating about Williams’ profile picture change and subsequent apology is that it illuminates a larger pervasive issue: symbols like this being appeased as some sort of disingenuous, fallacy-laden version of “doing your own research,” and thus, are immune from criticism.

This isn’t a new tactic. Time and time again, we’ve seen people launder hateful symbols with bad-faith intellectual arguments to avoid accountability.

We unfortunately see this in popular culture and day-to-day life all the time. We see it when fringe groups appropriate images like the Iron Cross, originally a Prussian symbol, and then claim to both embrace certain aspects of the symbols’ past while publicly ignoring others with a wink and a nod.

Even more locally, we can see a version of this disingenuously employed with Chief Illiniwek, the now-retired-but-still-quasi-existing mascot at the University of Illinois. Though it is not a symbol of hate, it has not been endorsed by the people it depicts. The opposite, actually. In 2000, the descendants, the Peoria tribe of Oklahoma, voted not to endorse it, and re-affirmed their decision in 2005. The Chief was removed in 2007 following that vote and a NCAA decision to honor it. Pretty clear, right?

Fast forward to modern day and the issue of the native mascot has been argued, debated, and ultimately obfuscated far beyond the relatively simple scope. The definitions of “mascot” and “symbol” come up in conversation like some kind of pedantic boogeyman meant to launch a bad-faith debate, again an example of the disingenuous discourse that has become so en vogue lately. The sports fans who argue for this likely do not care about history, as they so claim in the mascot vs. symbol debate, or else they would respect the vote of the descendants. Pretty clearly disingenuous.

Of course, it’s important to note that symbols can evolve in meaning over time, but that makes their current context even more crucial. Historical understanding is important, but it can’t be used to excuse the use of symbols that have become tools of shame or oppression.

Unfortunately, Williams’ posts and comments fall perfectly in line with these other issues. Clearly the swastika is a bad symbol. Yes, it has roots beyond Nazi Germany, but to ignore its popular context is incredibly misinformed at best and hateful at worst. We all know how this symbol was used, and what it was used to justify. There is no need for a City Councilman to publicly rehash this to an alternative end, but if he absolutely must, his profile picture is probably not the place to do it.

Williams’ first amendment right to use these symbols and say these comments exists, no one is arguing that, but his right to sit as a member of our representative local government should not. The combination of these posts and comments makes one thing very clear: while his title may say it, Davion Williams does not represent Champaign, a diverse and welcoming community. He apologized, as he should, but that singular action does not mean he should be given the power of representative governance.

Yet, his constituents have no recourse to remove him from office. Mayor Feinen ended last night’s meeting by saying Champaign does not have a recall option. That means unless he steps down, residents are left without a way to hold him accountable for his actions.

Davion Williams should resign. The bar is on the sea floor somewhere. We’re gonna need to get in touch with James Cameron.

“James Cameron doesn’t do what James Cameron does for James Cameron. James Cameron does what James Camerson does because James Cameron is…James Cameron.” -James Cameron (in South Park)