So the National Post, among others, saw fit to deride Michael Jackson yesterday for his comments likening himself to other persecuted “black luminaries” like Nelson Mandela and Muhammed Ali.
The Post, like others in the media, were incredulous that someone with skin so fair could have the audacity to claim to experience racism, and opined that celebrities like Jacko are not only shunned by the black community, but trivialize the struggle against racism .
I think the real surprise is that the circle of middle-aged, mortgage-paying white guys with comfy jobs that make up the editorial boards of papers like the Post feel themselves experts on the subject of what it means to experience racism, or who is and who isn’t a legitimate representative of black culture. I mean, I have absolutely no knowledge on the subject either, but that’s why I think I’d pause before writing sentences like “the symbol of black struggle should not be raised by a bleached fist.”
I only noticed it because it reminded me of David Foster Wallace’s article on American right-wing talk radio from the last issue of the Atlantic Monthly. The main character that Wallace follows around is another opinionated, middle-aged white guy, who, among other things, goes to the wall to defend his right to use the “N” word on air to describe black people and tells black callers how their support for OJ is misguided and that they’re over-sensitive about race.
Again, a world totally unknown to me, but i just can’t imagine being that presumptuous about what other people go through.
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