Sunday, November 28, 2004

so ... if it's not sex, it must be...

The New York Times > Arts > Frank Rich: The Great Indecency Hoax

something else entirely. like race.

my roommate A--, who's very minnesotan about race and ethnicity, had an insight when this whole thing blew up at the beginning. she said, 'no one's saying it, but it's all about the white-black thing. no one would give a shit if it wasn't the implication of a naked white woman jumping into a big black guy's arms.'

huh. i was a little sorry i hadn't thought of that first. but she has a point, and rich's column briefly hints at it when he quotes limbaugh for saying it 'reminds him of the kobe bryant case.' it seems that the specter of interracial sex still spooks this country, sending moralists into convulsions of hysteria, whipping up fantasies of black bucks gone wild, cavorting with race-mixing white women and seducing our kids with a desire to 'go black.'

would the media and morality outcry be as loud if, say, halle berry had jumped into owens' arms? or, a better test, if sheridan had jumped into the arms of peyton manning?

(heh. i know a little football.)

our country needs to wake up and smell the miscegenation. white and black folks have been woven together since first contact was made (and i'd like to go on record and say that it wasn't even our idea). a little dropped towel in a locker room or a briefly exposed breast (hm, another ebony/ivory moment) is nothing compared to our actual social and sexual history.

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