The racial experiences of blacks are poignant and touching: the young man who feels alienated by the suspicious glances of complete strangers, the father who finds it exquisitely painful to explain to his teenaged son that he mustn't give the police cause to arrest him, are meant to elicit sympathy.
The racial experiences of whites, on the other hand, are deemed not germane to this "honest" and frank racial discussion.
For reasons not explained, they simply don't signify.
Actual experiences like being robbed or threatened illustrate no larger theme about race relations in America.
In this, they are different from the woman clutching her purse or the click of a car door.
These more privileged experiences clearly underscore Deep, Racial Truths.
The experiences of white folk, on the other hand, are treated as isolated incidents with no deeper meaning. Bringing them up is Not Helpful - it can only lead to forbidden thoughts and proscribed ideas (like the notion that people of all races are slow to forget unpleasant experiences, or that we all have an unfortunate tendency to generalize from particulars).
The President is right to think purse-clutching women are indicative of some larger problem.
Hanson is wrong to think that menacing teens are symbolic of anything.
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