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No Racism Shines From Black Hole

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 18, 2008

An innocent reference to an astronomical feature was misconstrued as a racial insult in Dallas last week, which is funny, except that an offended official's continued indignity has created humorless ill will.

The incident began when a white commissioner described an inefficient county department as a black hole. Two black officials took offense. One suggested it instead be called a white hole.

A black hole, as most schoolchildren know, is a concentration of matter so dense its gravity allows nothing to escape, not even light. When seen from afar, it appears to be a black spot in the heavens.

Even after he understood that, one of the rankled officials defended his outrage. He said too many things that are black or dark are assumed to be bad, such as black sheep.

Maybe he hasn't heard about the World War II ace, Pappy Boyington, who called his heroic Marine crew the Black Sheep Squadron. They were proud to be unorthodox.

More likely he's remembering the Washington, D.C., incident from nine years ago, when an official correctly used the word "niggardly" to describe someone who was stingy. Those offended refused to be reassured by the dictionary, and the official had to resign for being insensitive. Ignorance proved stubborn enough to prevail.

Social good can come from those who call out cultural insensitivities. Back in 1929, after hearing Al Jolson sing "Mammy" in blackface, the author Aldous Huxley wrote that he "felt ashamed of myself for listening to such things, for even being a member of the species to which such things are addressed."

Still, it is possible to be sensitive without draining all color from the language, punishing the innocent and looking for racism in the heavens.

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