Understanding Why You Don't Call a Black Man a Boy

 

When I read about Rep. Geoff Davis, R-Ky., using the word "boy" in reference to Sen. Barack Obama, I immediately thought of a routine — and subsequent book — by comedian Cedric the Entertainer.

While watching the movie "The Original Kings of Comedy," Ced had me rolling in the aisle as he was talking about being a "grown-ass man," and that eventually became the title of his best-selling book, "Grown-A$$ Man."

For those who think African-Americans are too sensitive about this issue and it's just a well-meaning person making a mistake, I understand that. But others must understand the history of African-Americans and what it always has meant to black men for people to call them boys.

One, it's the ultimate sign of disrespect and is often more offensive than calling them the N-word. For years, black men were dismissed summarily and treated with disregard. It was as if their stature was diminished when someone white called them boys. I've heard black men describe the hurt and pain of growing up and having someone white call them boys in front of their own children.

Again, I know some are reading this and saying, "Why can't we all just get along and forget all this race stuff?"

That would be great, but our history is truly our history, and there are things left over that, when said, immediately conjure up those feelings of old.

Do you remember the images from the sanitation strike that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was leading in Memphis, Tenn., in 1968? The most striking visual was that of the male protestors wearing signs saying "I am a man!"

There was a reason they were wearing those signs.

You may have caught the Showtime movie "10,000 Black Men Named George," which tells the story of labor leader A. Philip Randolph, who organized the black porters of the Pullman Rail Car Company during the 1920s and '30s, known as the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. The name is derived from the fact that white passengers never bothered to learn the names of the porters and dismissively would call them all George, which was seen during those days as a racial slur.

Remember earlier this year when former President Bill Clinton referred to Obama as a "kid"? That evoked a similar reaction by some because it was seen as being dismissive of a sitting U.S.

senator who also is a grown man with a wife and two daughters. Where I come from, we call that a man, not a boy or kid.

I have my own story when it comes to being called a boy. I was working at the Austin American-Statesman newspaper in Texas. An older white male colleague was talking to me, and in the conversation, he referenced me as a boy. I knew he meant no harm, but don't think for a second that it didn't cross my mind. He also stiffened up, realized what he said and quickly replied, "Now, you know I didn't mean to disparage you by calling you a boy?"

In this presidential campaign, we have had many instances when individuals have made references that were perceived as sexist or racist. Some have been called overt; others have been called covert.

I've heard men blow off comments about Sen. Hillary Clinton that are clearly sexist, and we do well to recognize that. I have a wife, sisters and nieces, and I sure don't want them treated with disrespect, so not objecting to sexism toward Clinton means that attitude will remain, and it may affect the women in my life one day.

Heck, Obama's comments about rural folks in Pennsylvania and the visceral reaction by some shows that even when it comes to guns and religion, some folks see that as an attack on who they are and where they come from.

When people suggest that we all shouldn't be so sensitive, I get what they are saying, but I also know that's always easy to say when you aren't the one who is being targeted.

Watching what you say is not being politically correct; it's realizing that words do matter and they have meaning.

This brouhaha over the comments by the Kentucky congressman won't blow up into a major story, and we likely will forget them. But let's treat all of this as a history lesson on race and gender and as a window into a world that many of us either don't know about, ignore or have long forgotten about.

Roland S. Martin is an award-winning CNN contributor and the author of "Listening to the Spirit Within: 50 Perspectives on Faith." Please visit his Web site at www.RolandSMartin.com. To find out more about Roland S. Martin and read his past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2008 CREATORS SYNDICATE INC.