Speak Truth to Black Power, Too
That's about as challenging as telling a Donald Trump rally that their biggest problem is undocumented immigrants. (If only life was that easy, folks.)
Real courage would have led Williams to say a few words to his show-biz audience and colleagues about the cultural decay and ethnic apartheid that America's own entertainment industry has promoted.
We need to talk about police brutality, job discrimination and shrinking educational opportunities. But we also need to talk about black folks killing each other, belittling the value of education and promoting the N-word in hip-hop media.
Yeah, I said it. I know that too many white conservatives have used black-on-black crime as an excuse to ignore such problems as police misconduct, even when the abuses are caught on video. I hear it all the time.
I also hear cynical conservatives attack BET, which stands for Black Entertainment Television, as self-segregation. "Why isn't there a White Entertainment Television?" goes the sarcastic right-wing cliché.
There is, folks. It's called ABC, NBC, CBS, etc., etc. Failure to see that obvious reality explains why our nation's racial divide persists, despite our hard-won victories.
Williams did hold black entertainers accountable at one point, berating those who pray for lucrative product endorsements to "get paid for brands on our bodies."
But to go further with black self-criticism might well have exposed Williams to the criticism that some black intellectuals like to make about President Barack Obama whenever he strikes a similar balance in his speeches to black audiences. Folks, dialogue has to go both ways.
Instead, Williams rebuked critics even before he has been criticized. "If you have a critique for the resistance, for our resistance, then you better have an established record of critique of our oppression," he said. "If you have no interest in equal rights for black people, then do not make suggestions to those who do. Sit down."
That's a sharp message to the trolls out there. Not surprisingly, the audience loved it. But it also reminded me of the anti-intellectualism that I have witnessed sometimes in campus discussions, where criticism is silenced in the interest of "safe spaces" for students of color.
I fully understand the need for students to gravitate to comfort zones as they become accustomed to the unfamiliar environment of a college campus. But we also need to encourage students to get out of their comfort zones and deal directly with the world of diversity for which university life is supposed to prepare them.
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(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@tribune.com.)
(c) 2016 CLARENCE PAGE DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
