offered for discussion, via rawstory
Former Daily Show correspondent Wyatt Cenac said an “incredibly defensive” Jon Stewart berated him in front of staff members after bringing up his concern over Stewart’s impersonation of Herman Cain, Vulture reported.
“He got upset. And he stood up and he was just like, ‘F*ck off. I’m done with you,'” Cenac told podcaster Marc Maron. “And he just started screaming that to me. And he screamed it a few times. And he was just like, ‘F*ck off! I’m done with you.’ And he stormed out. And I didn’t know if I had been fired.”
Hmm. It just goes to show that progressive bona fides don't exempt one from extreme white privilege, overreaction, anger, and resentment toward black people for telling the truth and calling us out over our blindspots. It seems to me Wyatt Cenac was simply warning John that June 2011 segment about Hermann Cain was tone-deaf no matter what the political leanings of the black man in question were. And John wigged the fuck out on him so hard that the man spent the night in a baseball field, alone, crying.
I am by no means saying I am perfect or free from privilege. I am simply relaying the message, which I had to think about for a while before I did this diary as well. We nice white progressives have to stop, completely, telling black people what parts of their experiences are and are not relevant, what we believe or don't believe is racism, and we have to stop flipping out when someone calls us out. Cenac critiqued Stewart, it was a fair critique, one about his own privilege, one about his writing staff's privilege. John had an opportunity to address Cenac's concerns like an adult, or at least person to person. He did not. He threw a hissy fit.
Perhaps there is something we can all learn here. And no, I am not talking about Bernie Sanders. He is learning his lesson. Us on the other hand, I am afraid...
I'll leave you all with Wyatt's analysis of the incident, which I thought was extremely telling.
“I gotta be honest if something seems questionable, because if not, then I don’t want to be in a position where I am being untrue not just to myself but to my culture, because that’s exploitative,” he explained. “I’m just allowing something to continue if I’m just going to go along with it. And sadly, I think that’s the burden a lot of people have to have when you are ‘the one.’ You represent something bigger than yourself whether you want to or not.”
Words that every. single. progressive. should take to heart.
Love you dkos, I really do.