So a few weeks ago, I heard a story from a friend that really got me hot under the collar. My friend is a lawyer. She is also a Catholic. Shortly after the election/assigning/what-have-you of the new pope, she was in her cubicle, having a discussion about why they picked this German cardinal rather than, say, a priest from the Americas or Africa. Her exact words were, “I don’t think the church is ready for an African pope.” This was a statement about the church’s conservatism, natch. It’s a statement about geography. Race isn’t even on the page. She had said earlier the same thing about having an American pope.
Well, someone overheard — part of what she said? All of what she said? — and freaked the hell out, went to the H.R. department, and told them that my friend was a racist who said there should never be a black president. My friend was dragged into the H.R. department, threatened with firing and forced to publicly apologize to the woman for saying something she never would ever dream of saying (and would never think either, since honestly, this gal would be the campaign manager of Condie for Prez ‘08 — which is another terrifying issue, but since it has nothing to do with the subject of race, let’s leave it alone for today, shall we?).
Excuse me, but WTF? I’m all for sensitivity training, but when it means that a whole continent is cut out of people’s vocabularies for fear of it being taken the wrong way by someone who is eavesdropping then we’ve got a problem.
I was reminded of this story today, because it almost just happened to me. I was talking to a coworker about some of the faults I see in the Harry Potter series. Now, I love Harry Potter (unlike certain editors I know), but there are some things that bug me. One is the deus-ex-machina plotlines. Just once, I’d like to see Harry take charge of his own destiny. Another is the fact that EVERYONE in Slytherin is bad. Seriously, they should just chuck every kid who gets Sorted into Slytherin into Azkaban straight off. You know they’re going to go bad. I would really like Rowling to write a good Slytherin. A good, LIVE Slytherin. And this is where the conversation was going, because I was talking about that dead portrait headmaster from the last book, and how he’d been in Slytherin. And then I said, “Actually, all the Blacks were in Slytherin.” And before I even could finish the sentence with “Until Sirius,” her mouth had dropped open. Now, granted, as soon as I *did* finish the sentence, she knew what I was talking about, but what would have been a more innocuous way to say that? “All the people from the Black family were in Slytherin?” If I was talking about the Potters, or the Weasleys, or the Malfoys, I would have just added an S to the name and been done with it.
So I’ve spent the rest of the afternoon wondering how many other words, phrases and grammatical constructions I need to cut from my vocabulary lest anyone think I’m saying something that a) I’m not and b) can be construed as racist. I’m a writer, and am fascinated with the power of words and word combinations. I would hate for anyone to mistake me, in any way. I would also hate if I could not refer to a family by their family name, too…
Anyone watch the Dave Chappelle show? He’s got a fabulous bit about a family with a very unfortunate name. Never fails to crack me up. But at the same time, I wonder, at what point does our sensitivity to words go too far? Come on, people, Harry Potter?
May 1st, 2005 at 8:29 am
That kind of thing you mentioned with the Pope makes me insane. I had something similar happen a couple of years ago, and I JUST told my friends this:
I was in my EMT night class, and we had just come inside from a break. I mentioned to my friend that the creepy janitor was outside again, lurking in the shadows. It was weird. He would just hang out in the shadows with his broom and watch the women walk through campus and the parking lot. My rather active imagination got going, and I said he was probably a serial killer.
The hispanic guy behind me flipped out. “Oh, sure. Just because he’s hispanic, he’s a serial killer.”
Uh…no. The guy was creepy, and it made no difference whether he was white, hispanic, black, Jewish, Catholic, Greek, or American. He was just creepy.
But this guy had such a chip on his shoulder that EVERYTHING was about being hispanic. Honestly, I hadn’t even noticed what nationality/race the janitor was. Heck, it didn’t register that the guy who got offended was hispanic because IT DOESN’T MATTER. He’s a person. Period.
HE had the problem with race, not me. Yet from that day on, everyone in class had to be careful what they said because they were afraid it would get twisted into something racial. It was ridiculous.
Love the Harry Potter story! LOL
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May 1st, 2005 at 11:10 am
That happened to me once…I was talking to a friend at work about being on vacation with my husband and his family (this was not long after we’d gotten married) and said something about running around with a bunch of Blacks; I may have even compared them to mountain goats (they are so active compared to moi who prefers to find a perfect spot and read when on vacation, but I digress…). The point is, that’s the last name–one I’ve been a proud bearer of for many years now.
People often hear what they want to hear. We do have the responsibility to make sense whenever possible, but this whole PC thing is so out of control it’s beyond ludicrous.
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May 1st, 2005 at 5:44 pm
LOL…I hear you, Diana! Your “problem,” if you have one, is that you hit on about five good subjects — and I didn’t even GET any of the Harry Potter talk. (Sorry…haven’t read them.) We could have a whole discussion just on (in our world and the way it is today) how we have to be careful about editing any and all of our public comments. Things heard and overheard by other people. At what point do we get to where everything we say sounds like an official public statement or press release? If you say anything beyond that, you’re setting yourself up to take a WHACK!
Me…personally, I’m wicked disturbed that the new pope was in the Hitler Jungend and was a German POW of the triumphant allied forces during WWII…but I digress…
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May 1st, 2005 at 8:25 pm
Larissa, I would have said, “Funny, I thought most serial killers were Caucasian males. Thanks for the tip; I’m going to go sit over here now.” What a schmuck.
Oh, Gina, that’s so funny! I hadn’t even thought of that. So, do your kids ever ask if you’re related to Sirius Black?
Good Point, Marley!
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May 1st, 2005 at 9:24 pm
LOL, Diana! You know what’s funny? I have a criminal justice background, so that’s almost EXACTLY what I said! *g*
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May 2nd, 2005 at 1:21 am
>>So, do your kids ever ask if you’re related to Sirius Black? < <
Kids are both too big to ask. Besides, they know I make stuff up.
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