And what if I’d actually delivered such a speech? The barber probably would have been both aghast and embarrassed. He probably would have perceived me as "too serious" and "uppity" and may have told me to get off of my "high horse." But perhaps if I had possessed the courage to reprimand the barber in that moment, I would have left there with more self-respect. I would not have felt sick to my stomach after the incident.

Instead, I was silent and my head ached with thoughts of how to protect my children from race-based self-loathing. When the hair cut was over, I actually tipped the barber "politely."

I’ve always thought I wanted to teach my children to be polite: please, thank you, excuse me, etc. I believe in humility and gratitude. But the incident made me think about the other "courtesies" that children are often trained to extend. As a child, I was taught to refrain from reprimanding others for fear of causing them shame. Moreover, many of us are conditioned to avoid the potential discomfort and social ostracism that such reprimands might trigger.

Later that evening, I was sitting in front of the television. "The Fashion Police" were critiquing Solange Knowles's choice of attire at New York's premiere of The Great Gatsby. Joan Rivers made a comment that suggested that an afro is not an appropriate hair style for a red carpet event—an implicitly racist comment, given that an afro is how a Sub-Saharan African’s hair naturally grows. The methods of making an afro straight, such as intense heat and harsh chemical relaxers, often cause scalp burns, hair breakage and hair loss.

Joan Rivers's co-hosts looked appalled. But no one challenged her racial insensitivity. They were all "polite." Perhaps they did not want to chide Joan Rivers. Perhaps they thought it would be uncivil. Or perhaps they did not want to call attention to themselves and risk being viewed as "overly serious" and "too politically correct."



This past September, comedian Sheryl Underwood, a black co-host of CBS's "The Talk," drew fire for commenting that Heidi Klum's custom of saving her biracial children’s shorn afros was “nasty”—but then suggesting that her white co-host, Sara Gilbert, could save her white child's hair because it is "beautiful, long, silky stuff." Again, no co-host challenged Sheryl Underwood's internalized racism in that moment. They just giggled "politely," thereby saving Sheryl Underwood the shame of reproach and foregoing their own risk of being perceived as "overly sensitive."

Unfortunately, ideas about the superiority, inferiority, beauty, mental capabilities and athletic predispositions of certain races persist. Recently, I attended a training event for New York City professionals who have signed up to mentor high school students. When we were assigned the task of discussing our high school experiences, a fellow mentor-in-training mentioned that she went to a high school that was so nerdy that the football players were outcasts. I asked her which high school she attended and she told me that she went to Stuyvesant High School. A surprised expression crossed my face. My uncle and brother attended Stuyvesant and Stuyvesant's rival, Brooklyn Technical High School, respectively, and those two men are the most passionate football enthusiasts that I know. "A bunch of Chinese and Jewish boys would not make a good football team," said the white alumna with a smirk. (Stuyvesant is known for having a large Asian student population.)