Spring Break
The challenges of discussing race
Phoenix Mourning-Star
Issue date: 4/30/09 Section: Opinion
Every so often a friend or acquaintance sends me emails or asks me during lunch "Why don't you write about race?"
A closer friend with whom I've had a long history of race-based conversations put it this way: "Aren't black writers supposed to write about sports, black pride or the white-man keepin' 'em down?" We bantered back and forth for a while with our usual stereotypes about sports, O.J. and completed the cycle with a "who has it worse: African-Americans or Native-Americans?"
When I got home, I leafed through my sporadic submissions to papers and confirmed what I already knew -- I don't address race in my writing.
The list of reasons, or excuses, could be long.
I think the first two short ones, fear and challenge, are easy to jump on.
Writing is a tough thing to do. Add on the fear of being offensive, excluding others and rocking the boat, and it's even more so.
The art of talking about any near-controversial topic is a time-developed skill. Discussing sensitive topics in public forums can bring up the history of educational, human rights and health disparities in this country (even when that isn't the point of the piece), and it requires walking a fine line that can be downright uncomfortable as you try to express your own feelings and ideas, and those of your friends, without completely generalizing an entire segment of the population.
In my view, it's a balance between the need for racial, ethnic and cultural groups to be recognized and respected as part of a larger society, and individuals who still rightfully demand to be seen as their own person.
I think in some ways, for a person who writes, this balance is a challenge to avoid appointing yourself the spokesperson for an entire race when the point is only to speak one's own mind -- something for which the Rev. Al Sharpton has been praised and criticized.
In the end, I think the point of writing about race comes down to the personality and personal experiences of the writer.
A closer friend with whom I've had a long history of race-based conversations put it this way: "Aren't black writers supposed to write about sports, black pride or the white-man keepin' 'em down?" We bantered back and forth for a while with our usual stereotypes about sports, O.J. and completed the cycle with a "who has it worse: African-Americans or Native-Americans?"
When I got home, I leafed through my sporadic submissions to papers and confirmed what I already knew -- I don't address race in my writing.
The list of reasons, or excuses, could be long.
I think the first two short ones, fear and challenge, are easy to jump on.
Writing is a tough thing to do. Add on the fear of being offensive, excluding others and rocking the boat, and it's even more so.
The art of talking about any near-controversial topic is a time-developed skill. Discussing sensitive topics in public forums can bring up the history of educational, human rights and health disparities in this country (even when that isn't the point of the piece), and it requires walking a fine line that can be downright uncomfortable as you try to express your own feelings and ideas, and those of your friends, without completely generalizing an entire segment of the population.
In my view, it's a balance between the need for racial, ethnic and cultural groups to be recognized and respected as part of a larger society, and individuals who still rightfully demand to be seen as their own person.
I think in some ways, for a person who writes, this balance is a challenge to avoid appointing yourself the spokesperson for an entire race when the point is only to speak one's own mind -- something for which the Rev. Al Sharpton has been praised and criticized.
In the end, I think the point of writing about race comes down to the personality and personal experiences of the writer.
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