Re: Racial diversity here and possible (probable

Malcolm Lawrence (malcolm@wolfenet.com)
Wed, 12 Aug 1998 15:21:42 -0700

Kayllie@aol.com wrote:

> In a message dated 98-08-12 15:24:17 EDT, pfkw@email.msn.com writes:
>
> > Would you agree that an African American would relate more to say, Toni
> >  Morrison than Salinger?  And vise versa for a White American?
> >
>
> In a word, no. This concept that the color of your skin says everything about
> who you are, how you were raised, who your friends are, what you relate to
> and, generally, what your experience has been on this planet is so alien to me
> I can't even find words to describe it. I understand that this attitude
> prevails in America, and I attribute much of the racial problems of this
> country to it.

Well said. Americans do need to practically literally identify with a character
before they allow themselves to get emotionally caught up in a story. Americans
don't know how to play make believe. That's why Hollywood plunders foreign films
and puts a faceless, personalityless star in the lead role.  This culture is so
strangled by the concept of demographics, not to mention it's patronization of the
tastes and just plain wrong assumptions about the general public that it denies
the real fabric of existence and encourages segregation, because "demographics" is
just a euphemism for "segregation."

> Frankly, being a New Yorker (born and bred) makes me relate so much more to
> Salinger than I have ever related to Morrison. Although I respect her work
> very much, I've never gotten that feeling that comes over you when you read
> something that is so true to you, that you can't stop yourself from nodding
> your head and wondering how in the world did the writer manage to overhear one
> of your conversations.

And even though I was raised a white boy in a northern state, I had a tremendously
emotional response when I read Alice Walker's The Color Purple. The heart is aware
of things that the mind can only postulate about.

Malcs