An Ignorant, but Well-Meaning, White American Male's Prespective on 30 Rock's Portrayal of Caucasian's Fear of Racism

30 Rock--Season 1 Episode 16 "The Source Awards"

http://amptoons.com/blog/2010/06/02/cartoon-reassuring-white-people/

Our country has made leaps and bounds in the way that equality among different races is executed. We aren't kidnapping foreigners and forcing them into lives of servitude. "One drop" of blood in our bodies doesn't forfeit protection offered  by the constitution. Heck, people can actually stay seated in whatever seat they sit down in for their entire bus ride! That means we aren’t racist, right?.....Right?

In 30 Rock's episode "The Source Awards",  Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) goes on a date with the smart and handsome Steven Black (Wayne Brady), and yes--he is black. While Black enjoys himself immensely during the date, he is oblivious to the fact that Lemon finds no chemistry, allure, or common interest to which she could build a relationship with him. Lemon turns down a second date, and Black accuses her of being racist. Lemon (Tina fey) then embarks on a frantic, uncomfortable quest to prove to everyone that she's a "color-blind" citizen. In the process Lemon--as do many white well meaning Americans--makes everyone around her uncomfortable with her unnatural interactions.

Yes, slavery, segregation, and the Jim Crow laws are dead. Racism does exist in many forms, but as a whole is condemned by our society. However, sometimes unfamiliarity with those of other ethnicities is confused with racism or bigotry. Since Americans don't want to be branded as a "racist" or a "bigot", we try to hide our insecurities with over-zealous respect and ignoring differences.

Before Lemon goes on her date, both her boss, Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) and her disgustingly self-centered friend, observes that Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski) Black is in fact, well--black. Lemon dismisses both comments and claims that she doesn't see people that way. Then before exiting the scene she says something about or has an interaction with black people that inadvertently draws more uncomfortable attention to their skin.

Of course, Donaghy and Maroney are both white. So after Lemon and Black have another talk where he suggests she is racist, she interrupts the black actor, Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan). As Lemon asks whether or not he, a black man, can reassure her white-guilt riddled mind, Jordan is in the middle of dressing up as Oprah Winfrey as part of the demands of a script she wrote. She misses the irony of the situation because she is far too caught up in whether or not her black friend thinks herself racist.

By no means am I suggesting that we as American's should not care about the perspective of others. I am not suggesting that we shouldn't get to know the perceptions of those around us. But when we some of the attempts that we make to appear tolerant are unnatural, it becomes evident that we are more concerned with how others feel about us, than how they feel. Whether it is pretentiously attempting to appear more cultured than we are, or showing an inappropriate amount of favor towards a minority of a different race, the result is usually making that person feel less comfortable.

Now, “The Source Awards” did not just poke fun at white people trying to hard to show their tolerance and respect for everyone equally. It also draws attention to those who “play the race card” way too often.

As mentioned earlier, Lemon couldn’t find any common ground to base their relationship on. He doesn’t watch TV, doesn’t care too much about food, and is not a huge Star Wars fan. Anyone who knows anything about Liz Lemon, knows that those are her defining passions, and that Lemon is completely justified in not seeing things working out on a person-to-person basis. As established, Black plays the “race card” and he gets dinner paid for, and a little make out session on the way home. Later Lemon asks him if all women uninterested in him are racist to which he responds: “No! Some women are gay.”

I do find it interesting that Black and Jordan have the same colored skin, but that they represent two very different cultures. Black is a well educated person, that comes from a reputable family, and enjoys the versions of movies that are shown on airplanes because the swear words are taken out. Jordan comes from a rough life in bad neighborhoods. He is spontaneous, uneducated, and has been lets all sorts of obscenities pass over his lips.  

I have met several people of different ethnicies who have been “white-washed” as Black has been. Whether they are black, latin, or asian others who have not assimilated to white culture have cracked jokes about how their white-washed brethren aren’t quite in the same group as them. This leads me to believe that perhaps Jordan’s sarcastic comments about Lemon’s racism is more credible.