Prometheus 6

Race card

This old white lady, living among some very tolerant black neighbors, finally got her race card.

OK, I didn't really get a race card. I made a copy of the one on Page 81 of the July issue of Ebony magazine.

The picture is of a black credit card embossed with FOR BLACKS ONLY. And it goes with a story titled, "I can, but you can't: When membership really does have its privileges."

The article's a good meditation on the politics of language and how using words like n - - - - - and h - can make some people rich and get other people fired.

The picture, posted next to the monitor of the computer where I compose this little Web log, is a little reminder to watch my mouth and not forget that I'll never have "membership" in the community, no matter how deep in the hood I live.

As much as the company that pays me has to dislike me doing this, I have to recommend that you pick up a copy of the new Ebony. The folks at that company put together a big special report in response to all the recent national name-calling controversies (1, 2, 3) called "Culture of disrespect."

A good bit of section's online, which isn't typical for that magazine. There's also a link to an NPR interview with a senior editor about the report on the main page for that section.

I shouldn't be hyping another publisher's work, but, man, this issue's good.