This past summer I read Invisible Man and To Kill a Mocking Bird ... it is shocking to realize at every instance that the atrocious treatment of blacks was not that long ago. It is the same way I feel about the caste-contexts in India. The whole idea of "untouchables" being so less than human that an accidental brushing against the skin of one would send a brahmin to bathe ... while we are thankfully far removed from those bad days, we still have a long way to go.
Conoleeza Rice speaks of that atrocious past. I watched her on The Daily Show the other day, and appreciated Jon Stewart for not (mis)using the opportunity to question Rice about her involvement in the decision-making on the wars that are dragging on and on. Rice's factual and relaxed recollections of her childhood and her parents in the most segregated city were inspiring. It is incredible that Rice--a global personality now--didn't have a white classmate until she was twelve, and after they moved to Denver ... All political differences aside, her life story is simply marvelous.
In the review of
her book
by Professor Stephen Carter, over at the
Daily Beast, I came across this comment about the usage "African-American":
Rice, by the way, rejects this term, which she thinks too easily lets white Americans off the hook for slavery and Jim Crow, by making the black community seem like any other group of immigrants.
I am with Rice on this one, too.
Will be neat to have Dr. Rice over for dinner with just about four or five people and listen to stories about her childhood, parents, grandparents, the obstacles that she faced as a young black woman ... ask her about her take on Invisible Man--what her reactions were when she first read it ... I wonder if she likes Indian food :)
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