On White Naiveté

I just watched, for the first time in a while, the Saturday Night Live skit from right after the 2016 presidential election.

“Oh my God, I think America is racist,” says Cecily Strong’s character, stunned as Donald Trump is about to be called the winner.

“Oh my God,” responds Dave Chappelle’s character with amused sarcasm.

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Watching it even now is like being smacked in the head.

I was no different than the white people in that room. My election viewing companions and I had had similar banter. It turns out our disbelief was coming from a place of naiveté.

Given what has been transpiring with regard to race in the years since Trump was elected, I am realizing how detached from reality I was. I’m not going to dwell in the embarrassment I feel, but I do want to acknowledge that it’s there.

(Incidentally, supporters of the President may as well just skip this column altogether, because even though it’s about you, writ large it is not about you at all. It seeks to illuminate a pervasive poison in our culture. By all accounts this week, in the wake of Trump’s racist comments about four freshman Congresswomen of color, you don’t think there’s anything to illuminate.)