I’ve been trying to write this blog for days now. I haven’t because I actually have at least a dozen blog post I need to finish and put up, but this one is gnawing at me. Plus the timing is perfect as it concerns both the death of Whitney Houston and everyone’s new favorite Chinese flavor of the season Jeremy Lin. I’ll start at the beginning.
I was shocked when I heard Whitney Houston had died. I wasn’t shocked about the fact that she died. I’m cynical and no stranger to addiction so, in all honesty in the back of mind, I half-expect all addicts to die suddenly. What shocked me was how deeply affected I was. As soon as the news broke, I felt heavier. I’ve been busy lately which is normally a good way to stave off depression for me, but this news floored me. I didn’t smile for over 12 hours, and if you knew my daughter, you would know how incredible that is. I was sad and profoundly so. Why? I didn’t know Whitney Houston in any real sense. I was and am a huge fan of her music, but I’ve never been a fan of her personal choices. I’ve even been known to partake of the odd ‘crack is cheap’ easy swing chuckle ever so often. Why after the story’s told and the verdict is in did I suddenly care so much? I couldn’t put my finger on it; so I went out for Chinese food. I put my Sirius radio on the new temporary Whitney Houston Tribute station, listened to "Exhale (shoop shoop)" for the first time in a long time, and had to pull over so I could cry and not crash.
I live in a small town and for the past, oh, twenty-odd years or so I’ve gone to the same place in town for Chinese take out. I know the owners personally, as I went to school with their son, and the food is truly tremendous. I’ve been to nearly every state in the union and lived in Washington D.C. for three cognac soaked years, so I’ve tried American Chinese food of every stripe. This place is good. It’s the kind of place that is filled with Chinese people ordering take-out, ya dig? Anyway I slumped through the doors and was greeted enthusiastically by the wonder woman who owns the place with her equally affable husband. They both sat me down as per our established custom and offered me various appetizers and tidbits for free while I waited. I turned down all politely as I tend not to eat when truly sad. Then ESPN blared out of the mounted flat-screen something about Jeremy Lin, and everyone focused on the screen. When the story ended my friends turned to me and another customer and began regaling us with the tale of Lin. How he slept on his brother’s coach and had an inadequate contract and...Of course we both knew the story as it was the biggest sports story of the week, but I was willing to indulge their excited ramblings. The other customer, a white man, quickly made an excuse and left the premises. I immediately thought he was rude, and then just as quickly wondered why I thought so. In fact, why was I bothering to listen to all this myself? But as I looked in those shining Chinese eyes, I understood why. They were on actually on the same emotional spectrum as me, just at the opposite end. Both their excitement and my misery were both rooted in racism.
It’s hard to be a minority in America, largely due to racism. I don’t mean the stupid overt racism like some mouth-breathing redneck shouting “Nigger” from the bed of a truck. That shit just makes you feel tired. I’m talking about the institutional racism; racism with the force of law. What laws? Start with most redistricting laws and go from there. I have a whole ‘nother blog post to dedicate to the subject; for now, just trust me that it’s hard on us. But to tell you the truth, racism is so much a part of our America, we don’t really hope to get rid of it. We can’t afford to hope for fairness, but we can’t help but hope for understanding. Even if we can’t get reparations, it would be nice to know White America can at least see that point of view. It is this hope that keeps us struggling against the tide even as Newt Gingrich calls for “Black people to demand paychecks not handouts”. Side note: Republicans are disgusting.
The personification of this hope for black people, at least THIS black person, was Whitney Houston. There have been other candidates. I suppose Michael Jordan and Tiger woods came close, but they inspired jealousy where Whitney established a connection. When Whitney first came out she was an instant sensation, and it wasn’t just because of her amazing voice. She sang pop music which really doesn’t require a good singer in order to be successful, but Whitney’s songs made people feel differently about her music. You heard her sing and wanted to dance, to shout, to hug your neighbor, etc... It was feeling many in White America had never felt before, but Black America knew very well. Whitney was actually singing a blend of pop and gospel. Gospel had been inspiring us to sing, dance, shout, convulse, etc...for two centuries. We already knew it’s power, but it had never been given such a wide ranging appeal on a massive stage before. Whitney brought that feeling to the masses, and we instinctually understood the significance. They were feeling how we feel. They were understanding us, just a little bit. If we could come together on the fact that we all loved Whitney Houston, we could find common ground elsewhere. After all back in the 60’s music with it’s roots in Black culture helped spark the civil rights movement. It could be done, but it was a wild hope and not a conscience one. I never thought of the music of Whitney Houston as some sort of cultural turning point in my conscious mind, but I believed in my soul. I wanted it to be true, and performance after amazing performance, be it lifting us all with the definitive version of our national anthem or turning a little known country song into her own signature showcase, she made the wild hope more real, tangible. Even when she proclaimed her addictions in front of the world, I felt sure she would bounce back and unite us. Again, this isn’t a conscious thought, just a feeling. A hope.
Jeremy Lin is something akin to Whitney Houston to my Chinese friends right now. He has come from obscurity and captured the imagination of the nation, and he’s one of theirs. They too have the subconscious powerful hope that by understanding him, America can begin to understand them as well. In the restaurant that day I saw that hope clearly on their faces. Two days ago I went back to the restaurant and the aforementioned restaurant owner, asked me if I had seen that ridiculous scandalous ESPN headline. I said I had and it was terrible. She looked at me and I understood that the hope and been dimmed. Whitney Houston is dead, and my wild hope has died with her. I mourned that death and cried days before, so I understood that my friend understood that her hope was likely to land alongside mine eventually. But that’s the magic isn’t it. She understood me and I understood her, and we both could stand there not saying anything and share our thoughts. Together. United. So, I shook my head in a helpless fashion and smiled, and she shook her head and smiled back. I took my food home, sat down at the computer and wrote this post. More to come.
