A couple of issues have come up while talking with friends about my recent post about racist jokes. In particular, one friend pointed out the problem in my choice to write a post that simultaneously examined a racist joke I made, on the one hand, and celebrated the positive influence of Black female pop singers in my life, on the other.

In a post intended to confront my racisms, I think talking about the importance of Black female artists in my life had the opposite effect. It implied that, because I listen to, say, Lauryn Hill, I'm not "actually" racist. This is flawed thinking. Just because I enjoy certain kinds of African-American pop music does not mean I don't simultaneously have racist tendencies.

Second of all, it was also somewhat preposterous to imply I have an authentic connection to "Black culture" just because I listen to pop music. "Black culture" means a lot of things and not all of these can be described by pop cultural media that is highly mediated and very intentionally produced. To imply that I "know" "Black culture" is a homogenizing, racist idea, too.

What I had been hoping to do in my last post was to identify the ways in which I, as a white gay man, am racist, own up to them, and in doing so hopefully diminish these tendencies in the future. I want to become more empathetic to my friends who are marginalized in various ways--and this goal is impeded when I try to "save face" by downplaying the ways in which I actually am bigoted, insensitive, or imperceptive.