Beyond the Paisley 0
Leonard Pitts, Jr., attacks the stupid premise of Brad Paisley’s (and L. L. CoolJ’s) “Accidental Racist,” the idea that symbols of bigotry are, somehow, not symbols of bigotry, but just sweet little mementos, harmless fashion statements, like high-heel shoes or a little black dress.
But where African-American life is concerned, one frequently hears Paisley’s lament: how a white man is locked into his own perspective. That’s baloney. Both history and the present day are replete with white people — Clifford Durr, Thaddeus Stevens, Eleanor Roosevelt, Leon Litwack, Tim Wise — who seemed to have no great difficulty accessing black life.
One suspects one difference is that they refused to be hobbled by white guilt, the reflexive need to deny the undeniable, defend the indefensible, explain the inexplicable. They declined to be paralyzed by the baggage of history. One suspects they felt not guilt, but simple human obligation.
Do please read the rest.
