In one of my favorite Substack essays thus far, I write about curiosity and hair. I was on a tropical island thousands of miles away from home. The views were spectacular. The beaches were heavenly. Everyone on the island looked like me, except for our fellow tourists:
"A few moments ago and quite by chance, I witnessed a racial moment through my American eyes. A local waiter with grace and tenderness caressed the bright red hair of a white toddler. The toddler was around three years old and unaware of her striking hair color and texture from the perspective of the waiter. The moment only lasted for two or three seconds. No self-consciousness, pure curiosity on the waiter’s part.
Reverse this racial moment…imagine a resort in the United States where a white waiter mindlessly ran her fingers through the tightly curled hair of a black toddler…without Mom’s permission. The foreseeable consequence might be a Twitter mob, a Tik Tok meltdown." — https://twyman.substack.com/p/the-souls-of-black-folks
In a recent clip titled The Conundrum of Colorblindness, Professor Glenn Loury reflects upon a story my co-author Jennifer Richmond had about black hair. Jen wanted to compliment a black woman on her hair. Jen lost her nerve due to…race. Professor Loury properly sizes up the situation as the unavoidability of race. “Jennifer’s innocuous intent on its own is not sufficient to exempt her from the constraints imposed by the enormously complex web of racialized meanings which American social history has, over centuries, bequeath to us.” So sayeth Glenn.
Jen is white which I guess makes all the difference in these here states. Sigh.
I get where Glenn is coming from. For the same flow of history reasons, I kept my distance from South Boston while a law student at Harvard. I hold my tongue when critiquing Kwanzaa due to the web of culture in my beloved close family. I try to show Theory of the Mind at times/smile.
But if I am honest, I am rooting for Jen and a better country where we are as wise about race as the black waiter was on the tropical island. It is human to be curious. One should feel joy upon a hair compliment. It is not to confuse the desire to change our society reality on matters of race for reality itself that causes Jen and I to see the world as we see it.
Beautiful non-conforming minds always see beyond the horizon of reality itself into the promised land of color indifference. We usher in the coming of a better time one individual at a time. https://twyman.substack.com/p/a-beautiful-mind
Professor Glenn Loury on Hair Compliments and Reality of Race
In this part of my conversation with Jennifer Richmond and Winkfield Twyman Jr, Jennifer tells a story that I imagine is quite common. A black woman at her church has beautiful hair, and Jennifer wants to compliment her. After all, the woman has probably gone out of her way to make her hair look beautiful. Why shouldn’t she be complimented? But Jennifer, a white woman, fears that her compliment on the beauty of the woman’s hair will be misinterpreted as a disguised comment on the woman’s race, and awkwardness (or worse) may ensue. My first thought is to tell Jennifer that, since her motives are pure, she needn’t worry about how her words will be interpreted. But that is naive advice, for such a compliment coming from a white woman does indeed risk giving unintended offense, no matter how much we all might wish it didn’t.
Jennifer’s dilemma illustrates the core conundrum of colorblindness in miniature. That is, she wants "race" not to matter when complimenting a black woman on her beauty (or intelligence, or punctuality, or discipline, etc.) And yet, the racial subtext of such a remark is unavoidable. Jennifer's innocuous intent on its own is not sufficient to exempt her from the constraints imposed by the enormously complex web of racialized meanings which American social history has, over centuries, bequeath to us. Neither can personal declarations of racial self-definition circumvent the subtleties of perception and interpretation that attend even our most casual social interactions.
A “white” woman expressing wide-eyed wonder at the beauty of a black woman's hair runs the risk of becoming a fraught encounter. If Jennifer could communicate her intentions unfreighted by the weight of our racial history, she would have nothing to fear. But she cannot speak outside of the flow of history and the web of culture. None of us can. In theory, I might try to “absolve” her of any wrongdoing, as a black man, by confirming that she is not a racist. In reality, the so-called “black card” is non-transferable. There is little that any one person can do to change this state of affairs. That should not stop those who wish for a different racial reality from working to bring it into being. But we should not confuse the desire to change our social reality on matters of race for reality itself.
The Conundrum of Colorblindness
(A Response from W. F. Twyman, Jr.)
In one of my favorite Substack essays thus far, I write about curiosity and hair. I was on a tropical island thousands of miles away from home. The views were spectacular. The beaches were heavenly. Everyone on the island looked like me, except for our fellow tourists:
"A few moments ago and quite by chance, I witnessed a racial moment through my American eyes. A local waiter with grace and tenderness caressed the bright red hair of a white toddler. The toddler was around three years old and unaware of her striking hair color and texture from the perspective of the waiter. The moment only lasted for two or three seconds. No self-consciousness, pure curiosity on the waiter’s part.
Reverse this racial moment…imagine a resort in the United States where a white waiter mindlessly ran her fingers through the tightly curled hair of a black toddler…without Mom’s permission. The foreseeable consequence might be a Twitter mob, a Tik Tok meltdown." — https://twyman.substack.com/p/the-souls-of-black-folks
In a recent clip titled The Conundrum of Colorblindness, Professor Glenn Loury reflects upon a story my co-author Jennifer Richmond had about black hair. Jen wanted to compliment a black woman on her hair. Jen lost her nerve due to…race. Professor Loury properly sizes up the situation as the unavoidability of race. “Jennifer’s innocuous intent on its own is not sufficient to exempt her from the constraints imposed by the enormously complex web of racialized meanings which American social history has, over centuries, bequeath to us.” So sayeth Glenn.
Jen is white which I guess makes all the difference in these here states. Sigh.
I get where Glenn is coming from. For the same flow of history reasons, I kept my distance from South Boston while a law student at Harvard. I hold my tongue when critiquing Kwanzaa due to the web of culture in my beloved close family. I try to show Theory of the Mind at times/smile.
But if I am honest, I am rooting for Jen and a better country where we are as wise about race as the black waiter was on the tropical island. It is human to be curious. One should feel joy upon a hair compliment. It is not to confuse the desire to change our society reality on matters of race for reality itself that causes Jen and I to see the world as we see it.
Beautiful non-conforming minds always see beyond the horizon of reality itself into the promised land of color indifference. We usher in the coming of a better time one individual at a time. https://twyman.substack.com/p/a-beautiful-mind
https://www.moon.com/travel/trip-ideas/10-reasons-to-go-to-fiji/
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Professor Glenn Loury on Hair Compliments and Reality of Race
In this part of my conversation with Jennifer Richmond and Winkfield Twyman Jr, Jennifer tells a story that I imagine is quite common. A black woman at her church has beautiful hair, and Jennifer wants to compliment her. After all, the woman has probably gone out of her way to make her hair look beautiful. Why shouldn’t she be complimented? But Jennifer, a white woman, fears that her compliment on the beauty of the woman’s hair will be misinterpreted as a disguised comment on the woman’s race, and awkwardness (or worse) may ensue. My first thought is to tell Jennifer that, since her motives are pure, she needn’t worry about how her words will be interpreted. But that is naive advice, for such a compliment coming from a white woman does indeed risk giving unintended offense, no matter how much we all might wish it didn’t.
Jennifer’s dilemma illustrates the core conundrum of colorblindness in miniature. That is, she wants "race" not to matter when complimenting a black woman on her beauty (or intelligence, or punctuality, or discipline, etc.) And yet, the racial subtext of such a remark is unavoidable. Jennifer's innocuous intent on its own is not sufficient to exempt her from the constraints imposed by the enormously complex web of racialized meanings which American social history has, over centuries, bequeath to us. Neither can personal declarations of racial self-definition circumvent the subtleties of perception and interpretation that attend even our most casual social interactions.
A “white” woman expressing wide-eyed wonder at the beauty of a black woman's hair runs the risk of becoming a fraught encounter. If Jennifer could communicate her intentions unfreighted by the weight of our racial history, she would have nothing to fear. But she cannot speak outside of the flow of history and the web of culture. None of us can. In theory, I might try to “absolve” her of any wrongdoing, as a black man, by confirming that she is not a racist. In reality, the so-called “black card” is non-transferable. There is little that any one person can do to change this state of affairs. That should not stop those who wish for a different racial reality from working to bring it into being. But we should not confuse the desire to change our social reality on matters of race for reality itself.