Ethnic Authenticity
What right-leaning “person of color” among us can’t relate to Ruben Navarrette’s latest column, Ugly Racial Litmus Test?
I’ve noticed a phenomenon articulated by John McWhorter in Authentically Black: Essays for the Silent Black Majority. He wrote about a “double consciousness” whereby blacks speak of empowerment and individual responsibility in private, but they play the victim in front of whites and constantly remind them of America’s “racist” ways. Whites, says McWhorter, must be kept “on the hook.”
The black person who refuses to hold this attitude faces “intra-racial” charges of self-hater, hater of black people, and the like. Ironically, the racial authenticity of the black person who opposes lowering standards for blacks and insists blacks can and should compete against everyone also is questioned.
The Hispanic Navarrette faces similar charges. “Some people of color have this ridiculous and destructive habit of judging each other’s racial and ethnic authenticity,” he writes. “It’s both comical and sad, since the people who do it often have deep insecurities about their racial and ethnic credentials.”
Navarrette, who says he opposes lowering standards for racial minorities, has been called a sellout, a Republican thug, a coconut (similar to “Oreo”), and a fake Hispanic “all, no doubt, to the delight of white liberals who prefer that Latinos like me refrain from thinking for ourselves.”
Navarrette mentions a CNN segment in which Syracuse University professor Boyce Watkins referred to FOX News analyst Juan Williams as a “happy Negro.” I had the misfortune of being the person Watkins was sparring against during that segment. He purportedly was upset because Bill O’Reilly made a comment on his radio show about how well-behaved patrons were in a black-owned restaurant, where he dined with Al Sharpton. A media storm ensued, and O’Reilly was called ignorant and a racist.
Detractors tend to leave out the conversation’s context. O’Reilly and Juan Williams were discussing the contrast between how television plays up negative stereotypes about blacks and what O’Reilly experienced in the restaurant. He made the point that whites who don’t interact much with blacks may believe all or most blacks play to type.
Out of the entire conversation, this sentence stirred up the media storm: “There wasn’t one person in Sylvia’s who was screaming, ‘M-Fer, I want more iced tea.’”
I agreed to appear on CNN to criticize the media-created storm, not necessarily to defend O’Reilly. After Watkins made his “happy Negro” remark, I promptly admonished him and accused him of doing the same thing he’d accused O’Reilly of doing.
But in the scheme of things, it doesn’t matter. People will believe what they want to believe and say what they want to say. The best way to deal with the name-calling is to develop a very thick skin. If you strongly believe your principles and values are right, and you feel compelled to share them, you’ll need courage to face the consequences.
