Awkward

This evening I felt uncomfortable watching The Help on TV while a large African-American man baked cornbread in my kitchen.

After a few minutes of watching a fictional young white woman bridge America’s racial divide, I realized I was being very inconsiderate to my roommate’s guest. So, I switched to watching Ice Age: The Meltdown in which a cartoon mammoth with an African-American voice-over imagines she is a possum. I thought, “I’m no further ahead,” as I enjoyed my cornbread.

I was more comfortable when I changed the channel to watch “Breaking Bad.” Everyone enjoys watching middle-class white men crash and burn.