Fresh offa being called a "racist" because I used the term "Jew" to refer to a Jew in another thread, I dive in here because, once again, I'm not sure what I just read! No one quite has the talent for obfuscation I find in your work, and yet the subject of this one hollers for some sort of response.

I think you're groaning because you know you're going to get hit up for an appearance or two as an Official Negro during the upcoming BHM. Well I'm hoping you wind up speaking to an autistic group, because they'll probably grasp your message, whatever it might be, faster than most others.

Be that as it may; you seem to be vaguely annoyed(again I only think you "seem" to be, because your stream-of-consciousness writing style makes mine look positively cogent) by the whole BHM thing. Well yes, it probably ought to be, ahem, integrated into the curriculum in schools year round, but it's not going to happen any time soon, and maybe you could speak on the history of this annual event, which is, in itself interesting history. You see, I grew up in Washington, DC and have remained close to it ever since. And I grew up poor, which means I was nearer to the invisible line that divided White Washington from Black Washington. In a city which never fails to amaze, the Separate-but-Equal practice actually created a separate but quite possibly superior school system for black kids, and during the academic year the curriculum was academically driven, by the staple items that would enable the students to become successful and proud citizens of a city that didn't quite know what to do with them.

Back then - actually starting in the 1940's according to what I was told by my black friends, Black History Week was instituted in order to bring the generally hard-studying, high-achieving Negro students up to speed on how they wound up in "colored" schools, and a lot of other things of greater significance. If they could do a week of immersion in Black history I would think a month of specialized study might be sufficient if it were rode as hard as it was during that Week of Blackness that gave birth, eventually, to Black History Month.

All students are subject to the experience now, but it is so weak, so contrived and so watered down that no one really gets much out of it, and it has become a subject of ridicule among all races and classes. It doesn't need to be that way. It ought not be that way. And if people who know what they are talking about are selected to address groups, and bring the truth and clarity with them, the month of February might actually begin to bear some fruit, like that week used to do.

Well, that and the genuine academic pursuits of the balance of the school year.

Did that have anything to do with what you were trying to say?

Now at least the "racist" crap has been divided into two portions. Jesus!

I would take issue with one thing you, WhiteMike, said, since we are both trapped in the same "sad" "racist" foxhole: it's hard to see Michael Richards' tirade as a "stray comment." There was something terribly wrong going on there. Not necessarily some evil racist scheme to attack the audience, but maybe a guy ready to snap over something, and that something had to include some sort of race-based content. I'm not gonna try and armchair analyze the guy,and I'm not sure he's got a "career" beyond having played Kramer, but that spew was hardly a "stray comment." That was a full-scale meltdown, don't you think?

Cosell's comment was "stray", yes, but his betrayed something unattractive underneath. I think his getting fired was a judgement call on the part of a big money maker. Hell, Jimmy the Greek expounded on eugenics (though he didn't know it) and was less offensive (but still fired). Cosell's comment was "stray" but, well, it warranted some consideration and ultimately cost him his job and a lot of respect. Richards' "comment" was pretty much insane, and that's scary stuff.

Other than that, you and me, we're just two Kluxers hiding behind computer screens, I guess. We need to get on with our "inner work" as we seem to have evolved to someone's serious dissatisfaction.

We all love being patronized. Remember how it felt in your teens?

Probably the worst thing I can imagine happening is that I wind up with a girlfriend near my own age (this has been rare for me, but it could happen - they're not all dead yet) and we're walking down the street being goofy and romantic and some Gen-Xer or middle-aged soccer mom hisses to a companion "Aren't they cute?" I'd prefer to be gunned down by some dude in a big-ass Escalade with spinner rims and tinted windows than have that "cute" experience, which is exactly what this article felt like.

Think I'll go downtown and flip off some drug dealers - and hope they don't try to push Viagra on me like my last doctor kept doing.

Mutter, mutter, grumble, gripe....