F. Stephen Foster · ← All posts
I wonder how many times we are offensive without knowing we’re being offensive. How often do we complain about being mistreated while acting exactly like the person we’re complaining about?
The Moth Radio Hour, an extremely popular show on NPR, aired an episode called Changes of Heart. In a segment called Fighting Words, Damon Young questioned his sense of self based on the power of a racial slur.
During the segment, Mr. Young spoke of three ugly incidents — of three ugly attacks during which white people called his mother and grandmother the n-word, a white girl called his sister the n-word, and a white boy called him the n-word.
As a black man, Mr. Young was right to complain, was right to tell the world about instances in his life when racists expressed their hatred based on something as idiotic as the color of their victim’s skin. I fully agree with Mr. Young on all of that.
But then Mr. Young said something that I’ve been thinking about ever since.