How Insensitive

Billy Crystal told a joke at the latest Annual Academy Awards regarding the Oscar nominated movie, The Help.  He said (and I am paraphrasing) that after he saw the movie, he wanted to go out and hug a black actress but being in Hollywood he had to travel for 45 minutes before he could actually find one. There was, of course, laughter but the laughter was not uniform.  Mixed in was nervous and unconfortable laughter, the kind that makes you wonder if you should actually be laughing after the initial humor wears off and you realize the joke was tainted.

There were black folk, myself included, who felt the joke was in poor taste and badly delivered.  This of course, launched the white folk into their defense mode where they say black folk are being too sensitive.  I always find such a position from white folk curious.  I mean think about it for a moment:  a white person is going to tell a black person they are being too racially sensitive?  Really?  I can see one black person telling another black person they are being too racially senstive.  I can see one Asian person telling another Asian person they are being too racially sensitive. Why is this?  A person who identifies with another must have a common ground or identity with which to identify.  When a woman is experiencing that time of month, her man very often tells her she is being too sensitive.  Yet he has no idea what a period feels like emotionally or physically.  Upon what grounds does he base his authority to tell her she is being too sensitive? 

Now do not misunderstand me.  I will be the first one to admit there are times when black folk are being too sensitive, myself included.  I remember my first car, a jeep grand cherokee, Laredo.  When people would say to me, "that's a nice car," I often said to myself, "what they are really saying is, "that's a nice car for a black person."  When we moved into our new office at work it was rather sparsely decorated.  An employee from another law firm came down to see our new digs.  I happened to mention to her jokingly, that our office looked like a bail bond office.  She said, "I've never been in a bail bond office".  I thought to myself, "bitch, neither have I."  But to clarify matters in our little town, a crop of bail bond offices have popped up on main street and in the business district.  Since I walk and drive around town I see them close up.  They are always sparsely populated with a desk and maybe two chairs. 

At any rate, I often catch myself wondering if there are times when I am being too racially sensitive.  What folks need to understand about racial sensitivity (folks who don't understand it, that is), is that the sensitivity exists for a reason.  It is based upon a history of mistreatment, oppression and exclusion, that sadly, still exists today.  Were racism and prejudice actually a thing of the past, white folk would be on point.  But facts such as Billy Crystal alluded to in his joke are present and potent.  Why people think it is funny that there are few black actresses in Hollywood is where the insolence creeps in.   There are few black actress in Hollywood, few roles for blacks in Hollywood, period.  How many Black filmakers are there?  How many Black senators are there?  How many senior level black executives are there?  How many black partners at law firms are there?  Hell, forget about black folk for a moment and ask the same of any minority, women included!  This question stretches across every aspect of American society.  And yet,  WE are being too sensitive. 

No doubt some of us minority folk are too sensitive.  But whence cometh this sensitivity?  Are we imagining it?  Is racism and prejudice actually a thing of the past?  Are we truly in a post-racial world?  The answer is a flat out No, on all points!  Were this so, the structure and foundation of American society would reflect it.   There are still echelons in American society where you will not see a face of color.     If you are not a minority and claim no empathy or association with one, then what do you know of their sensitivity?  Perhaps it is time for white folk to stop challenging minorities for being too racially sensitive and to ask themselves are they being too insensitive.