The race guy

Black people just crack me up sometimes.

On reflecting upon the previously link-to Deflating The Blog Bubble, one Mr. Willis states:

What's sort of weird is that it violates a couple of the boundaries I set for myself here.

1. Writing about race
2. Writing about bloggging

As far as the second goes, I don't do that a lot because I hate navel-gazing about this stuff. There's already enough written about blogging and "normal" people's eyes tend to glaze over, I think.

When it comes to writing about race, I just don't like to do it because since I'm black I don't want to be pigeonholed as "the race guy". I don't pontificate on it a lot on in the real world, and I try to make my blog as much like me as possible. Those of you who met me probably realized this quite quickly.

I only brought up race because it felt like the 3-ton elephant in the corner everyone was ignoring.

This post wouldn't exist if he had just given his second reason for not doing race issues (on the whole; he doesn't so much avoid them as not actively seek them out). But that first reason…and mind you, he's not the first person I've seen say that.

Let me be clear. Oliver's choices are valid, his, and this is no criticism. It's more than likely I read more into things than necessary. But I note he lists "race" as the first boundary, yet explains it second.

I would just like to say that they can't make you The Race Guy if you don't let them. If people…and not to put too fine a point on it, but were are talking white folks here… keep asking you about race until you become uncomfortable, just say, "Hey, what am I, The Race Guy?" They will back away so fast you'll hear a sonic boom. And it will be a good–consciousness raising, even–experience for them.

Then reflect on the reasons for your own discomfort. It will be a good–consciousness raising, even–experience for you.

Interestingly enough, I'm seeing a few more folks risking becoming The Race Guy recently, thanks, I think, to TAPPED and the dread Law of Unintended Consequences (which law my fellow chaos deities have charged me with enforcing).

This probably sounds stupid coming from someone who is seen as The Race Guy. But there's a difference…I don't give a damn.

Posted by Prometheus 6 on October 7, 2003 - 3:42am :: Race and Identity
 
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Trackback from Negrophile:

During one of the Saturday sessions a member of the audience referred to the assembled crowd as "utopia". Now, yes, I loved the blog camaraderie but quite frankly I don't want to be the only black person in utopia. I......

Posted by  Negrophile (not verified) on October 7, 2003 - 5:10am.

i for one never saw you as 'the race guy', for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that you named your blog identity after a titan, in actuality my favorite titan. there's a broader humanism implied in referencing the being who was punished by the gods for giving fire to mankind, maybe. when i think of 'the race guy' i think of rush limbaugh, since that's the kind of thing he used to get the most mileage out of. as for the blogs that fit under that rubric -- i avoid them.i kind of think aaron h. made himself flypaper for people looking for that person by naming his blog the way he did, then left little booby traps in the form of posts about anime, etc. to blow unsuspecting whitey minds [and of course, collaterally, anyone else dumb enough to stand too close]. which is why his site is a daily must-read for me, even if it is nothing but him posting "i suck" again.keep on confounding people's expectations, it's the only way to blog.............

Posted by  r@d@r (not verified) on October 7, 2003 - 10:47am.