an incident today in english class really made me wonder…
we’re starting on a new book, brave new world by aldous huxley
i’ve heard of it, and now i’m reading it
at any rate, the teacher told us to start reading, and left the class for a moment
a couple of black girls started putting up objections, “oh i’m not reading this”
i thought it was because they felt it was too complicated for them (which i felt it was, a bit — definitely not like many other books i’ve read)
at any rate, i ask “why not? it’s sort of confusing?”
“no, i haven’t even started reading it yet, it’s just one line, on page nine…”
“… you should see the way a negro ovary responds to pituitary!” (quoth the book)
i say, “the book was written in the 30s, it was a common reference back then. it’s not meant to be offensive”
they kept objecting, and i said “listen, how many times have you heard the word in a rap song in the past thirteen days?” (my own personal count … countless)
the girl responded “oh, don’t get me started”
i’d rather not, so i didn’t
cuz she can really get started
(but then again, i’m not a chia pet)
at any rate, i let it go
the teacher came back in, they pointed it out, she talked about how the word was common in the vernacular back then and stuff
and described how even martin luther king jr. used the word in his most famous speech, and she said the word wasn’t discontinued till the 70s
i wanted to argue that malcolm x was one of the pioneers of discouraging that word, and starting using the words “african-american” and “black” instead
didn’t get that chance (though she did respond to a separate query at the end of the class with a ten minute lecture on the history of england and britain)
at any rate, that seems to have calmed the girls down
but that was a stupid objection
you could see right through it, they just didn’t want to read the book
it’s like blaming the arrow or the bow because your shot’s off
it’s stupid
i’m not being racist, i’m not saying all black people would use petty excuses not to read a book
i’m just saying it’s stupid to use your skin colour as an excuse for your own incompetency

whatever