A reader who shall remain nameless emailed me a link to Salon.com Books | Another shade of black, featuring an interview with John McWhorter. In response to a question about the Trent Lott (Natalie) imbroglio and the Republican reaction to same, he says in part:
They don't want to be seen as racist because that detracts votes from them, especially those of female, middle-class votes apparently. [All the Women Are White; All the Blacks Are Men, But Some of Us Are Brave - Ed.] It's not that Republicans are so in love with black people that they were bleeding about what Lott said. But they think of black people as a potential source for untapped votes, and Lott was standing in the way of that. As far as I'm concerned, and this is a big theme of mine, I'm not interested in white people loving me. It's an unrealistic expectation. Black people don't love anybody but themselves.
Think my main problem with the man is disagreeing with some of his basic premises (like the above, that "[b]lack people don't love anybody but themselves,", which is an obvious untruth), so there's not much point trying to argue any of his conclusions, which are based on those. . . have I written this before? I'd swear I've written these exact words before.
Either way, bored now.
I did appreciate the link, though, and have removed the Cunning and Subtle spamblock from the email address over yonder, if anyone else wants to send something along.
Several people I enjoyed hearing from have mentioned encountering problems sending me mail, but the spam has been arriving just fine.
Don't knock spam - it's made from real meat, afterall.
You might consider reading the reader letters on the McWhorter Salon interview. The long response struck me as particularly worthwhile.
Thanks, Ginger, I would have missed those.
And I honestly don't remember the last time I read something positive about Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton, which made the last, longer letter especially interesting. Perhaps I'm just looking in the wrong places. . .
it was such a "disconnect" to read positive words about our most commonly spoken of "black" leaders that I had to read it again.
Whoa.
Words matter.