I cringed on Friday when I clicked Submit. Anytime I write about race and stray from the traditional party line—this white child of privilege is deeply sorry for something TBNL—I get crucified. My lack of crucifixion this weekend gives me hope.
I will therefore tempt fate by writing about race again.
On HBO this week is a new episode of "Costas Now" that concludes with a remarkable chat with Jason Whitlock and Mike Wilbon, two black sportswriters. For all the "dialogue" on race that Obama has supposedly begun, this was the most breathtakingly honest thing I've heard all year. Or perhaps I merely identified with their sentiment that the moment they write about race, their voice-mails are going to fill up with invective from both sides.
It was Wilbon, though, who threw down a unique challenge: "If it's just Jason and me [writing about race] all the time," he said, "That just sounds like preaching. It's lecturing. It's not engaging. White men, specifically, do not get absolved from responsibility for writing about race and this culture. It's an obligation to engage the reader." When Costas pointed out that any white writer who departs from the traditional narrative will not be well served, Wilbon's answer was essentially Tough.
Good point. At most I can be called racist or, more likely, an obtuse white guy. From what he said, Wilbon's voice-mail gets lots more varied insults than that.