Race & Pop
When the Colts and the Bears meet in the Super Bowl next week, it'll mark the first time that any black head coach has guided his team to the big game–and for good measure, it'll be two black head coaches. Understandably, the sports media is excited to have another story to report during the long run-up to the game, even as the Colts' Tony Dungy and the Bears' Lovie Smith keep insisting that real progress will be made when no one notices the race of an NFL head coach. And maybe I'm naïve, but part of me wonders if we're not already there. If the media didn't make this Dungy/Smith thing a story, would football fans be naturally inclined to focus on it?
Of course I say that because I'm white, so I can't speak for the millions of black sports fans who may be all pumped up about this historical moment. When it comes to race in America, there's a lot that I and other non-minorities are bound to miss. Consider the following two examples:
1. The Dreamgirls "Snub."
As I wrote earlier this week, I wasn't overly impressed with Dreamgirls, and I found some small measure of vindication in its being shut out of the Best Picture category when the Oscar nominations were announced on Tuesday. But some people see a subtle racism in its exclusion, while others are urgently pointing out that the movie got more nominations than any other film, in a year where black actors Forest Whitaker and Will Smith also received nods. (In fact, the favorites in three of the four acting categories are black; and two of them are from Dreamgirls.) Myself, I kind of side with the people who think there's something fishy here. It reminds me of The Color Purple scenario, where a black-themed movie racks up nominations, but fails to win awards. Dreamgirls isn't a great movie, and certainly isn't as good as Chicago, which wowed the Academy a few years ago (despite its own flaws). But Dreamgirls was apparently good enough to connect with voters in relatively minor categories … just not in the big one. It's hard not to wonder if the Academy members–as well-meaning and liberal as so many of them profess to be–just couldn't identify enough with the struggles of two African-American divas. (Just like the gay-themed Brokeback Mountain fell short last year.) Unlike last year's Crash, there's not a single white character in Dreamgirls waiting to be redeemed. Aside from one or two scenes, "white" show business is ignored or marginalized, not kowtowed to. And white voters like to be at least acknowledged–preferably in a "thank you white stranger for helping me out" or "let me put my life on hold while I help you out" kind of way.
2. The American Idol "Originality" Gambit.
On Tuesday night's Memphis auditions, pretty-good-but-not-great black singer Wandera Hitchye performed a creditable version of Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come," and was waved off with a curt "a lot of girls sound like you" dismissal. Then fresh-faced white girl Danielle McCullough did a slick, dry, half-flat version of a soul shouter, and was waved on through (over the reservations of the suddenly tough-minded Randy Jackson, it's worth noting). The judges have made it clear this year that they're looking for "personality" and "originality," and there's no denying that McCullough had a pep about her that the surly Hitchye didn't. But technically, Hitchye could sing rings around McCullough, and she should've been given a chance to at least come to Hollywood and bomb out there. Idol invites a lot of black singers to advance, and fans have supported them with votes, so charges of "racism" need to be measured when it comes to this show. But those charges aren't ludicrous either. The fact is that a cute white girl singing R&B; is more of a novelty than a plain-looking black girl doing the same, and so long as Simon Cowell is the ultimate arbiter of what goes through and what doesn't, a certain kind of blandly malleable beauty queen is nearly always going to go further then someone who's talented but too "earthy," so to speak. It's a benign kind of racism, but it's there.
All of which is way of saying that while I personally might not think Dungy and Smith's success is such a phenomenal accomplishment, there are still hundreds of minor affronts that add up to a major roadblock to people with those coaches' talent—including the relative indifference of guys like me. Their victory is in sticking it out, despite institutional ignorance.