This is my post about race.

It's not a very well-thought out or important one, but I'm not as smart as I used to be so take what you can get. I may once have been up to the challenge of scintillating socio-political analysis. (Was I?) But these days, sadly, a long or complicated sentence is more likely to net you a frazzled "Huh?" than a coherent reply, lol.

I'm getting off track already.

So about race: One of my favorite shows recently -- *shhhhh!* don't tell -- is Girlfriends on UPN. It airs during prime time, I know, but I'm still busy with the girls at that hour: shuttling between the two, trying to nurse one to sleep (and hope she stays that way) and placate the other with tooth brushes, cups of tasty cold water having just the right number of ice cubes, extra stories, and perhaps a quick rendition of Old McDonald's (not a typo; she confuses the farmer with the fast food clown). Luckily, the baby often allows me the opportunity to see syndicated reruns of the show that air at 2:00am and 2:30am, respectively.

I hear so often that women can't (or shouldn't) be friends with one another, that some biological imperative makes us all catty backstabbers just waiting, with polite smiles, to get the upper hand. My experience in a family full of girls (I love my brothers, too, but this isn't about you!), with lifelong female best friends, and having attended a women's college tells me that just the opposite is true. I will be, to my dying day, a firm believer in the power of the sisterhood.

Girlfriends affirms this belief for me: It's about four women, all in different places in their lives, from different backgrounds, with different opinions, for whom friendship is a defining priority. They stick together. It's like Friends, but without much of the neurosis and minus, say, Joey and Ross. I don't know.... I just like it. I think they're interesting characters. I like the writing. I'm fascinated, too, by a life that resembles mine so little.

And there's where it comes in: Joan, Maya (whom I remember from Linc's on -- *gasp!* -- BET), Toni, and Lynn are all black. 95% of the cast is black; they had a token white boss for a while, and a white husband. Oh, and Lynn is biracial and grew up in an [off-stage] all-white family, so there's that.... But essentially it's an African-American show.

For some reason, I feel like I'm not supposed to watch it because I'm white. Soooooo white, lol. I don't know where that feeling comes from; I'm sure the producers want as many viewers as possible! While everyone has built-in (and often unconscious) prejudices -- I'm sure I've got my share -- I honestly don't see myself as a bigot. So why do I feel like my TV viewing habits are supposed to be comfortably segregated? Why do I feel that it would be more seemly for me to watch programs with, say, one minority character in a sea of white than this show with its all black cast?

Why is this the first time I've even mentioned my love of Girlfriends to anyone?

So tell me, is this my problem? Can I pawn it off on society? On "they" -- the infamous, nefarious, vague "they" who make all the sweeping generalizations we fall back on?

Why does race even matter? I don't think it should, but I still feel ... like an intruder, sort of. I don't know. I feel a little embarrassed.

Anyway, that's my post about race.


~RCH~