Many people are worried about what kinds of thoughts Mr. Bennett's comment might put into white people's heads. I am, too. For black Americans to take an innocent and well-meant sentence out of context and hold it up as a David Duke screensaver makes it look like black Americans are incapable of understanding context. It makes it look like we are incapable of close reasoning.Policing for racial sensitivity does not do a thing for black people who need help. There are thousands of black people languishing in shelters and ships after a horrific natural catastrophe – and we're giving someone grief because something he said in passing didn't have a nice ring to it?
Maybe we should redirect our sensitivity. Mr. Bennett, actually, was rejecting a possible defense of his own pro-life position. He was demonstrating thoughtful nuance. I assume that the rest of us, black and white, can too.
My favorite part of the CNN interview was the obvious perplexity on the Sharpton wannabe's face when McWhorter stated the above. It was very apparent the wannabe had no earthly clue what close reasoning was. Guess it's not something he learned at Rainbow/Push headquarters.
No comments:
Post a Comment