“Just as I thought Howard, you’re a racist,” was “Karen’s” message. My initial suspicion was that she fitted the description of the “Karen” caricature that’s become synonymous with white woman these days who call the cops on innocent Black folks who are caught walking in the “wrong” neighborhood, barbequing burgers in “our park,” or otherwise just being Black in the U.S.
As is the usual tactic with people like “Karen,” she slammed the door on an opportunity for me to respond with: “I have nothing else to say to you Howard, so goodbye.”
Okay, let’s pause before jumping to conclusions.
Now is “Karen” indeed white? And what if she isn’t? Did she know that I’m Black? Well, she would have to be 100% blind given that my headshot is included with all my columns. Supposing that my picture was not included thereby leaving no clue of my race, would she have called me a racist? Hey, your answers to these head scratching questions are as good as mine.
Caught off guard by that message from “Karen,” I reread the thread of messages looking for the one that could have set her off. But the only one I could find was one where I simply asked her to provide facts to support her position on what was really an innocuous issue. There was not a single mention of the word “race” in her position or in my request. But like the sound of someone hanging up on you on the phone – click! – I could “hear” her “hanging up” on me with a resounding “delete.”
Okay readers, sit on all this momentarily.
You see, what this suggests to me is that often nowadays, many walk around with a finger on their “race trigger” when it comes to matters of race in race obsessed America. Like showdowns between two gunslingers from the old west, contemporary gunslingers like “Karen” are quick to fire off the racist “bullet” before it gets shot at them. They close the door on the opportunity for clarification and productive dialogue. For them, like a deer caught in the headlights, when pressed for explanation they’ll respond with an accusation of racism and –bang! – game over.
A truism if there ever was one is that racial life in America takes you down the road to unexpected places, a road littered with ups and downs, hits and misses and more than a few surprises. Like meddlesome dandelions in the front yard, the specter of race keeps coming up as a reminder of how far we’ve come yet how far we need to go. One step forward, two, three, four, five steps back.
Now what’s interesting is how we often “rubberneck” around fender benders along the racial highway, as we sit safely in the front seat whispering, “thank the Lord that’s not me.” We roll up our windows and watch the matter dissipate like a mist through our rearview mirrors and into the distance of our imagination.
Stepping back a few years, many were lulled into believing that the election of Barack Obama as the first Black president of the United States ushered in a “post racial” America. Well, that was until the “I can’t breathe” George Floyd crashed the party and ushered in the “Black Lives Matter” movement.
Now some may ask why I occasionally write about race. Fair question. Well, long answer short, I’m not monolithic nor am I willing to be pigeonholed into writing exclusively about certain issues.
I write about race because race needs to be written about. Race stares us in the face. We see it lurking behind, “I’m not racist, some of my best friends are (you fill in the blank),” and a landscape littered with code words and dog whistles. We see it in gerrymandering, voter suppression, racial profiling and a long list of other disparities, many of them unrecognizable.
I write about race because race provides a pipeline to all the aforementioned, let alone stereotypes, irrational fears, employment decisions and acts of hate.
On matters of race, Pulitzer Prize winning columnist Leonard Pitts wrote, “Race is always around us, isn’t it? Even when it shouldn’t be, even when you don’t want it to be, even when you flee it like an ally mugger, it’s always there.”
When we tiptoe around race, we “outsource” the conversation to places that get to define, distort, or leave the issue in the hands of slick politicians and book banners who want to ban books without the foggiest idea of what’s in those books. And the funny – well, maybe the not so funny – thing is that when I don’t write about race often enough, I sometimes get pinged for ducking race. Go figure.
Now am I “race-obsessed” as I have been called before? No. I say that because I’m not preoccupied with race to a troubling extent. “Race conscious,” yes. I say that because I am aware – sometimes painfully so – of the implications of race and its historical and contemporary contexts and manifestations.
Some working definitions that underscore my point.
Racial obsessions are persistent thoughts that cause distressing emotions such as anxiety, fear, guilt or disgust. Racial obsessions put people on the defensive and cause them to overreact, even in innocuous “Karen-like” situations.
Racial consciousness means less “walking on eggshells” around others, courage, better decision-making, improved relationships, emotional well-being and personal actions that can have a positive impact on the world.
So my departing message to the “Karens” (and “Keiths”) of this world is when you slam the phone down on folks on matters or race, actually you inspire them to keep writing about race. So take a deep breath, drop your guardrails, set aside your racial anxieties and allow perspectives into your comfort zones that you may not have considered before. In the words of poet Robert Frost, take “the road not taken” …….to race consciousness!
Okay, before I go, I’ll try one last time to connect with “Karen.”
“Hey Karen, can we……..” CLICK!
Oh well, at least I tried!
- The Deion Effect: Part Two – by Terry Howard - April 30, 2024
- The Deion Effect: Part One – by Terry Howard - April 25, 2024
- Again, cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face – by Terry Howard - April 7, 2024