This is a short, amazing video. The Atlantic people call it the most professional response to the most racist C-Span caller ever. I agree that it’s racist, but I’m surprised if that’s most racist call they ever received. The conversation apparently had nothing to do with race, but she called in because of the moderator’s race, and then referred to him as a colored man. That’s very racist in context. But aside from that context, she was somewhat polite. She also may have been somewhat won over by the guy’s response. She didn’t really say that blacks are bad. She just had a bad attitude and overstated how much free stuff our country has given black people. At best, it’s a very insensitive and inappropriately timed call to look on the bright side. So, it’s not what I expected from the most racist C-Spanner ever.
And I think the guy’s response to her was wonderfully deft and professional, but I don’t want to call it a perfect response because I think many people would say that he responded with unwarranted deference and diplomacy. I don’t want to imply that more umbrage or emotion would be less ideal, but perhaps a different kind of ideal. But, I think his response achieved the perfect outcome.
The Blaue Writer 