Caution: White girl on race issues.

They recently added a young black man to the cast of General Hospital, and less than two weeks later, the only other (slightly older) black man just wound up dead and stuffed into a car trunk. And both of them worked for the mob. So, completely ignoring why I'm watching GH, or am comfortable addressing it by an acronym, let's mull over this for a moment. Now, we've all heard the phrase "token black guy" or are familiar with the concept - that, in this instance at least, to show they're "diverse," a network will incorporate some minor minority characters. Minor minority - that spells marginalization all over daytime TV!

Anyway, I'm not trying to make some sort of grand statement here, but what is going on? Let's assume their casting is based on giving the public characters they relate to. I don't know how stay-at-home moms wearing elastic-waisted pants can necessarily relate to mob kingpins and wealthy heiresses, but anyway. Is putting two or three black characters (in a cast of perhaps 35) really going to attract a black audience? I don't think so.

So why the charade? It seems more like they just do it for appearances, like, "Hey.. SURE we're doing this for business reasons, not to be politically correct..(wink).." like when a stage actor feigns something in an embarrassingly obvious way. How dumb.

The even dumber thing is how high-context the politics of race have become, which has manifested itself in a myriad of ways - like the token black guy. People, we're a low-context society. We have lots and lots of words to throw around, but instead of invigorating our civil discourse, they seem to muffle us over time. So much has been said and done, it's confused the crap out of everyone.

I'm not suggesting that we discount the history of civil rights in America, but does every bit of that history still need to provide a backdrop for any issue regarding race, however minor? I mean, I'm wary to even talk about race, it's as though since I'm white that topic is off-limits. I know I'm quixotic, but I'd like to believe that one day all of that context can fall into the background of our lives and we can tackle issues without baggage and with an eye to the future.

Hmm, I'm not even really sure what I mean. If I didn't have such a dubious past I could be a politician...For the record, I'm pretty liberal, if it isn't obvious, and I like to believe that most of us are really good at heart, but I also believe it's every citizen's duty to take responsibility for his/her own life and pursuit of happiness. Any thoughts?