Megyn Kelly caught herself in the race wars when she reminisced that, as a child, blackface costumes were normal for Halloween. Her African American colleagues at CNN and elsewhere reacted. They charged her with ignorance and racism.
The ohso blond TV host responded with a confession worthy of Kashoggi’s son called to show respect to the Saudis.
My last comment may be unfair. People like Don Lemon are doing a great job of changing how America views “race.” As a Jew, I would have reacted much the way Don Lemon did if Meghan had trotted out the usual not so subtle antisemitic comments about Judaism. You know the stuff calling a bad person a Pharisee or the masks that look ohso like a long nosed Jew from Der Sturmer. Oh yeh and we all know about Hanukkah being the Jewish Christmas.
Rachel Dolazel wanted to live as black woman. People, mainly white people, were outraged. Yet Kshama Sawant gets praise for identifying as a person of color. Pam Banks, a hero of mine, is as proud of her Chinese parent as she is of her African ancestry. Why shouldn’t race be a matter of pride?
Of course the same reaction should arise to kids dressed as Injuns or perhaps as cowboys. Demeaning people because of their race is racist.
BUT .. what if the white kid is dressed as Martin Luther King or John Brown? What if a little black girl wants to dress as Martha Washington? What if a Somali immigrant kid in Seattle dresses as Chief Seattle? What if some tall black kid wants to dress up as Abe Lincoln or some tall white kid wants to dress up as Lebron James?
Can Race be a Positive Thing?