We Wear the Mask

It’s November 5th here in Oakland, CA and I’m here again with what’s on my mind. But before I do that, I’m also struck by today’s date 11-5. That’s not necessarily a significant date in most places, but in East Oakland it is at the very least urban legend. The East Oakland neighborhood of Sobrante Park has a nickname of some notoriety in its“11-5” moniker. In police blotter parlance, 11-5 is the code for heroin, and this particular neighborhood is severely afflicted by that problem. As far as the urban legend goes, it is said that tempers tend to flare on this date in that neighborhood contributing, regrettably, to this city’s perennially high homicide rate. Well, that’s enough on the demographic lesson for today.

What’s really got me today is my internal pessimist trying to escape to say “I told you so” as yet another public figure got caught running off at the mouth. Of course, I’m speaking of Dog the Bounty Hunter, of A&E Network reality show fame. I can’t even say “apparently” on this one because ol’ Dog is on tape, delivering his rhetoric in no uncertain terms. On the now famous telephone rant, Dog drops N-bombs like a B-1 Lancer dropping bunker busters on Al-Qaeda’s mountain hideaways. Unfortunately, I can’t say that I’m surprised. Our culture routinely falls short in the area of racial harmony. Oh sure, it seems like everything is okay. Segregation in schools has been gone for more than 50 years, black quarterbacks are no longer taboo, and white kids in the suburbs not only buy all the rap music but also sag their trousers and wear doo-rags. We’ve clearly embraced one another, haven’t we? To quote the great Paul Laurence Dunbar, “We,” as a society, “wear the mask.”

We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes--
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile
And mouth with myriad subtleties.

Why should the world be over-wise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us while
We wear the mask.

We smile, but oh great Christ, our cries
To Thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!


Dog seemed like a likeable enough guy. I wasn’t a regular viewer of his show, but I’d seen it once or twice. He seemed like a guy that was trying to get people back on the right path, giving heartfelt pep talks to the escaped parolees as he corralled them. I’m not saying that I expected to see him penciled in as the Spellman College commencement speaker, but I didn’t expect this. But again, I’m not surprised.

The likable buffoon that was Cosmo Kramer on one of my formerly favorite shows (Seinfeld…but I just can’t watch those re-runs with the same pleasure anymore), showed his proverbial hind parts about this time last year with his angry explosion in response to a heckler at West Hollywood’s Laugh Factory. Comedians are usually given a significant amount of latitude to make light of the societies ills, but Kramer (Michael Richards is his real name) took it to a level that suggested a deep seated resentment that had long since eclipsed the realm of comedy. Finally (I wish I could really say finally, but it won’t be the last), shock jock Don Imus crossed the line on so many levels when he decided it was his place to refer to the young ladies of the Rutgers University basketball team, performing on their sport’s biggest stage, as “nappy headed ho’s”. The only silver lining here was that I really disliked Imus (I like him about as much as I like Savage, Hannity and Combs, or any other number of idiots that get airtime) prior to this incident, but still wish he had not stained the accomplishments of these young women with his nonsense.

The eternal optimist that I am, reasons that such exposures are necessary steps to progress in the positive direction. They are a necessary evil.

“Evil is Good…,” said Eddie Murphy as Preacher Pauly in A Vampire in Brooklyn.

All of my athletic career, I’ve been told there is no gain without first enduring some pain. CBS head man Les Moonves, in a statement following his decision to fire Imus stated it quite well:

One thing is for certain: This is about a lot more than Imus. He has flourished in a culture that permits a certain level of objectionable expression that hurts and demeans a wide range of people. In taking him off the air, I believe we take an important and necessary in not just solving a unique problem, but in changing that culture, which extends far beyond the walls of our Company.

That seems like a nice stance from CBS (MSNBC also dropped Imus), but just as serially losing coaches keep getting jobs in other football cities, Imus is scheduled to start another job on WABC (Citadel Broadcasting) in NYC on December 3rd.