chasm

By ( articles ) | Jun 04, 2004

Mark Steyn on Sean Combs's performance in the Broadway revival of Raisin in the Sun:

It's slightly freaky watching a black man do his own minstrel act. But, in this case, the authentic black man of 2004 is so estranged from the authentic black man of 1954 he's meant to be playing he might as well be doing it in burnt cork.

In the early '90s, hundreds of pages of turgid commentary were written by way of grappling with the conflict between Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill. For my money, Steyn's remark contains more wisdom on the reality of the cultural gap than all of them put together.