Write this one down and read it frequently. Don't forget it:
When a white person screws up, it ignites a debate on the screw up. When a black person screws up, it ignites a debate on race.
Actually, I'd amend that second sentence to end "... a debate on black people." We're almost always in a debate about race.
(Tip: Kevin Drum at Political Animal.)
True. One might seriously question why the Jack Kelley (at USA Today) hasn't raised the serious questions about conservative christians, that Jayson Blair's escapade raised about Negros.
Posted by: raj | April 26, 2004 at 08:13 AM
I was being ironic with the "negro" thing. But yeah, the issue is why Blair is a comment on the "problem" of affirmative action and Kelley is simply one bad actor.
Posted by: Mithras | April 26, 2004 at 01:14 PM
Not very mysterious. It is because Jayson Blair was quickly promoted partially because of his race, and his boss admits that.
Posted by: Sebastian Holsclaw | April 27, 2004 at 02:57 AM
AFAIK, Raines said only he didn't discipline Blair sooner because he, Raines, was a white Southerner and Blair was black. And, what Blair did was essentially fake truthful stories. Yet it was held up as an example of everything wrong with affirmative action. Kelley was promoted and protected despite his obvious and much more serious fakery. What's the explanation for that? Race? Religion? Both?
The point remains: black wrongdoing is generalized, white wrongdoing is personalized. What's that spell? R-A-C-I-S-M.
Posted by: Mithras | April 27, 2004 at 09:39 AM