Here and There

I’d like to discuss a pet peeve. For the past couple of years (coinciding with a rising interest in journalism), I’ve had a big problem with descriptions like this, from the August 8 & 15 issue of The New Yorker: “Among the passengers the other afternoon on the Ninety-sixth Street crosstown bus was a young black man in bluejeans and a white T-shirt.”

In case it’s not obvious, my problem isn’t grammatical in nature, but rather an issue of poor word choice.

Based solely on the fact that if this man had been white, his race wouldn’t have been included in a description of him, the mere reference to his being black strikes me as absurd. You see it with just about every race except white, which makes it reek of the racist, Anglo-centric past.

True, it’s small. And yes, I’m probably both wrong to be so bothered by it and one of the few people to even notice it. Still, it’s part of my professional calling to notice the small things that make a difference.

So it some regards, it’s more than small. It’s a tiny instance that speaks to underlying, possibly subconscious racism.

It should be noted that I’m not the type of person who goes around pinning the “Racist” label with reckless abandon. To me, it’s a tricky accusation, as I believe we’re all imbued with at least a tinge of racism, in the sense that we can’t help but see race. What we do with that, both mentally and actually, is another matter altogether.

Anyway, just wanted to get this pet peeve, brought to mind by one of my favorite magazines, off my chest.

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