As I’ve been puttering around the house on this day off honoring the birth of Martin Luther King, Jr., I’ve been listening to a segment of NPR’s Talk of the Nation called “The ‘Post-Racial’ Conversation, One Year In.” (Recall if you will that many observers believed President Obama’s inauguration a year ago would usher us into “post-racial” America.)
Now, if you think about the recent flap over Harry Reid’s “Negro dialect” comment, Rush Limbaugh’s ridiculous insinuation that Obama is politicizing the Haiti disaster, and the barely disguised (or not-at-all disguised) racism of some of Obama’s detractors — not to mention the quickness of some of his supporters to label any opposition to the president racist — it seems pretty clear to me that we’re still a fair distance away from being over the sticky issue of race in this country. But that’s something I’ve been hearing my entire life. Far more interesting to me is the question of what exactly “post-racial” is supposed to mean. What is this goal that our society seems to be eternally reaching toward, one stumbling baby-step at a time?
Well, as you might surmise from this entry’s title, much of my worldview was formed by exposure to the original Star Trek when I was a child. And I like to think our society is eventually going to reach the level of maturity illustrated so many times in that series. Consider in particular the classic episode “The Savage Curtain.” This is the one in which the Enterprise encounters a being who appears to be none other than Abraham Lincoln himself, and when this historic personage unthinkingly refers to Uhura by an antiquated racial term, she and Kirk set him straight on what people in the 23rd Century think of such things. The relevant moment appears in this clip at about the 1:35 mark, and runs to 2:22 or thereabouts:
I know, I know, it’s cheesy and arguably not very well written or acted. (That’s what you may argue, anyhow; personally, I’ve got no problem with it.) And the scene is more than a little preachy, too. But think about it… imagine a world in which Reid’s comment wouldn’t have raised any eyebrows at all, because people are self-confident enough not to be mortally insulted by an inappropriate word choice or a quote taken out of context. Not a “color-blind” world in which nobody notices differences — I’m not sure human nature would even allow such a thing — but one in which people aren’t troubled by the differences, where they in fact enjoy the differences. That’s a world I’d like to live in, and a future I hope I live to see.
On that note, I think I’m going to go try and finish the movie I’ve been working my through all weekend, a few minutes at a time: Super Fly, the blaxploitation classic. Solid…
Good point, Jas.
My dad’s generation really has a hard time with the term “Negro” being considered any such type of racist comment. Even the term “Negress” was used heavily in the 40’s / 50’s.
I’m not a fan of Harry Reid and personally I think he’s done much worse than his blown-out-of-proportion comment of late, but take into consideration his era. Not said as offense, but a mere stamp of the time period in which he was raised.
I’m just plain tired of all the hubbub this has all caused.
Well, I see the hubbub over Reid’s comment (made two years ago in a private conversation, mind you) as mainly coming from Republicans looking for something they can use against a Democrat. The folks on the left — including the ones who are supposed to be offended, i.e., African-Americans — don’t seem to be too concerned about it. And it does seem to have largely blown over, at least in the circles I frequent.
Nevertheless, I agree that too much was made over his innocent use of a term that was considered proper and polite during the Senator’s formative years but has since fallen out of favor. He shouldn’t have used it, but he obviously meant no harm.
All of this, of course, just proves my point, that we’ll be much better off when we can get beyond being so damn touchy, when we learn to be self-confident in both our unique heritages and the things we have in common. We may never reach a point where certain words no longer hurt, as in Star Trek‘s ideal, but I think we can achieve a much more functional — and polite — society.