| Dear Post reader,
I let you down last week and I am sorry.
We should never have published Stephen Lewis’ column, “Ode to Obama.”
That’s not on Stephen; it’s on me.
I should have exercised better judgment. I should have realized it went past the line. My sensibility radar should have been up.
I will regret that lapse for a long time.
For my almost three score of years on this planet, I have lived with racism and as long as I can remember I have found it repugnant.
I grew up in a time when racism was practiced officially. We had different schools, different water fountains, different rules for whites and blacks.
Before I even knew such things existed, I was taught they were wrong. My blessed mother taught us so at our dinner table. She wasn’t some progressive liberal, a before-her-time social activist. She was (is) a Christian. She explained to us that while society then had rules separating the races, God expected us to “love our neighbor as ourselves.”
As I grew up racism became more apparent, especially so in high school when Tennessee schools were finally integrated.
I remember vividly sitting in study hall with two of my new black classmates and watching one run his hand over the front of a textbook and remarking something to the effect of how nice it was.
Schoolbooks were not exactly an object of affection for most of us, prompting me to ask what he was talking about.
He then explained that in our previous “separate but equal” schools, the black kids’ schools used old, worn-out textbooks, many of which had no covers.
A small thing maybe, but a huge eye-opener.
While some progress had been achieved, especially in the classroom, in the real world much remained the same. I can remember seeing my new classmates in line at the movies and drawing disapproving stares when I went over to greet and joke around with them. And, I was perplexed that they had to go into the balcony of the theater to sit, and even more so when I was told I couldn’t.
Sometime later, I drew a line and did sit in the balcony. From then on I tried to draw a line on racism. If in a group where a racial joke was told, I didn’t laugh. If the group was small enough and close enough, I would object.
I have tried to lead my life by “loving my neighbor as myself.”
Last week I let you down and let myself down.
Stephen was trying to draw parallels off the first black elected president. He went too far.
Humor is about pushing the envelope. That’s what Stephen does, it’s his mission. Mine is to know when he’s gone too far and steer him back.
I let my guard down.
The result was a lot of emotional and mental anguish for a lot of folk. And, an inaccurate perception of this community and its racial relationships.
I should have seen the column as being offensive, for using racial stereotyping. I should have turned it down and told Stephen to write something else, which he would have done with no problem.
I will be vigilant in the times to come to find ways to in some way rectify the harm I caused. |
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