I wonder if I have, at any time, put together an be-all, end-all essay that answers all the sorts of questions it must be awfully hard for a certain class of people to answer with their own imaginations with any sort of accuracy. I'm talking about the class of questions amounting to, Gee isn't it hard to be a black Republican?
The answer to the first question - the one I'm asking about my own output is yes and no. The answer to the second question, the existential question that begs the first question is no and yes.
NO 1. It is
impossible to satisfy the curiosity of human beings who are intrigued.
They have to be told over and over again, reassured by an acceptable
narrative that the facts in front of their face are just a small subset
of reality and the reality with which they are unfamiliar and intrigued
by doubt, is in fact real reality. I have a difficulty with that because
human beings are unlike computers into which the proper program, once
written, can be fed such that it runs with having to be retold from
scratch over and over again. So I gather that for the sort of people who
remain continually intrigued by the very existence of black
conservatives and Republicans, there aren't enough books in the Library
of Congress to put that pique to rest.
YES 1. I'm fairly certain that if you're asking this question, which I find relatively simple, if exhausting to answer, then you haven't read this blog. So the complete answer to the question is to read the blog. It unfortunately only has categories which are convenient for my purposes. That would be Conservatism, not Black Existential Risks In Conservatism. So here's the link. See for yourself do I sound as if I were in pain.
N0 2. It's like being a Red Sox fan.
YES 2. It's like being a Red Sox fan.
What's difficult is figuring out if the person asking the question knows anything about baseball at all or is a Yankee fan.
--
But to add to the pile of obiter dicta, here's a quick story I recall
to take as a 'teachable moment'.
In 1982 when I went to State. I attended what was then known (and probably still known in some circles) as a 'predominantly white college'. At the time, I was just before the tipping point of the equilibrium. Which is to say as a Freshman more black Americans graduated from HBCUs, and when I was a junior more black Americans graduated from 'predominantly white colleges'. So if somebody asked me in 1982, with a certain presumption if I was comfortable attending a predominantly white college, I would have said, "It's like being a Red Sox fan."
There was a similar question raised by a clever man who called himself Elijah Muhammad. It was the central question of his book Message to the Black Man. He posed the question rhetorically, Isn't it foolish to be a black Christian? He then went on to outline how the various sins and crimes and injustices Africans in America suffered at the hands of white Christians proved them morally bankrupt etc. The rest is history.
--
So yes it's true, I am that sort of Red Sox fan. These questions are not deep enough for me. So I return the question with a question.
If your team doesn't win, are they really playing baseball? And if nobody reads your blog, could you possibly be telling the truth?
I know. I know. But I'm the guy who studied Computer Science at a predominantly white college back in 1982. And I married a black American woman. And I have three kids. And I live in the most overpriced neighborhood in the word. It was what I wanted to do. Works for me.
Recent Comments