Monday, November 02, 2009

Black and Beautiful   [Jay Nordlinger]

Impromptus today begins with an item on “African-American” and “black.” You may remember a hilarious-sad incident from the 2002 Winter Olympics. An American woman won a gold medal in the bobsled. She was the first black woman to win a gold medal in the Winter Olympics. But NBC Sports could not convey this fact to its viewers: because apparently the word “black” was verboten. So they were reduced to saying, “She’s the first African-American woman, not just from America, but from any country to win a gold medal.” I thought of this the other night when a review in The New Republic began, “Once the most famous and influential African American in the United States (and probably the world), Booker T. Washington . . .” I believe the writer meant that Washington was probably the most famous and influential black man in the world.

 

Anyway, a reader sent the following note: 

Jay,

 

Fellow Michiganian here. [I say “Michigander,” but no big deal.] Several years ago, in between periods of a hockey game, a black player was being interviewed. The host referred to him as “African-American,” and the player corrected him, saying, “I’m Canadian.” Less than a minute later, the host repeated the error, and again the player corrected him. This happened at least twice more. The look on the face of the poor interviewer was one of abject horror: He knew that he was in a PC minefield.

 

By the way, the player was Anson Carter, formerly of Michigan State.

Beautiful.

11/02 11:54 AMShare