Whatever the answer, White folk can claim some legitimate confusion when they hear African American people using the "n-word" so freely. Perhaps if we look at this controversy from a different perspective, then we Black folks will see that there's no such thing as closed space and "inside talk" in a multicultural society. Despite African American sensitivities, many see everything -- even our coded internal conversations -- as fair game.
Now that much of the furor has died down, it is possible to step back and both chuckle and scream at the way Boston Magazine must be laughing all the way to the bank. Their provocative, insulting title was used to garner attention for a magazine that is rarely read outside the tiny state of Massachusetts. It undoubtedly increased the number of hits to the magazine's Web site, although it may have lost as many subscriptions as it gained. And it raised disquieting questions about race, journalism, higher education, status in the United States.
For all his much-touted brilliance and many contributions to our nation's life, is Gates satisfied to he considered a filter, an intermediary, an interpreter of Black folks? Are we content to have any African American described that way? And is ignorance any excuse for the insult Boston Magazine lobbed at Gates and at the rest of us?
What are Black folk actually in charge of in America when a man Boston Magazine described as our most eloquent interpreter isn't even allowed the courtesy or dignity of interpreting his own reality?
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