No Straw MenEnlightened discourse proscribes arguments that are weak or imaginary, like straw, set up only to be confuted summarily.

Racism Is As Racism Does

In 2002, Denzel Washington won an Oscar for his performance in Training Day, becoming the first black man to win Best Actor. Yet breaking with conventional wisdom, especially in Hollywood, Washington declared his race to be irrelevant:

“[T]omorrow, when you report this,” he said, “why not just say Denzel won the Oscar, and not mention that he is black.”

In an interview last week with Time, the rapper Nelly echoed these admirable thoughts:

Q: You co-own a NASCAR team, and you’ve done a duet with Tim McGraw. Are you trying to break racial stereotypes in entertainment?

A: I’m trying to make money, sweetheart. I’m an entrepreneur.

Incidentally, Nell’s line echoes one from the 2000 movie, Boiler Room: “There’s no honor in taking that after school job at Mickey Dee’s. Honor’s in the dollar, kid.”

Addendum (12/21/2005): The actor Morgan Freeman echoes Washington in a recent interview on 60 Minutes:

“[Freeman] says the only way to get rid of racism is to ‘stop talking about it.’

“The actor says he believes the labels ‘black’ and ‘white’ are an obstacle to beating racism.

“‘I am going to stop calling you a white man and I’m going to ask you to stop calling me a black man,’ Freeman says.

Addendum (6/14/2011): About a year ago before she was named the top editor of the New York Times, Jill Abramson was asked for her thoughts on ascending to this position, in which case she’d be the first woman in the paper’s history to do so. Her answer is spot-on:

“I don’t dwell on it … I think it would be a healthy, nice thing for the country. It is meaningful to have women in positions of leadership at important institutions in society. But, you know, there are wonderful male editors in this place who are just as capable as I am, and they could run this place exquisitely well. If it happens, it happens, if it doesn’t, it doesn’t.”