Reverse Racism and a wonder about STEVIE WONDER

Was it that long ago that I bought my copy of "Innervisions?"

Well, yes.

Hell, it was a long time ago I replaced my vinyl with the CD version!

The big song on that album was "Living for the City." That's sit-tay, to you.

There was, of course, a bit of irony in that song, where Stevie says, "New York City, just as I pictured it!"

I mean, could this guy picture what somebody decided he should be wearing?

That's quite a colored shirt, isn't it? He's posing like he picked it out.

But...excuse me.

Is it ok to say COLORED SHIRT?

Shouldn't it be...SHIRT OF COLOR?

Isn't it strange how quickly reverse racism can happen? Say "People of Color" and everyone nods. Say "Colored people" and you'll see head-shaking and glowering.

I wonder whether there's been a change in Stevie Wonder's vocabulary. You know, to reflec' on wutts po-litically correc'

You remember a a few lines of "Living in the City?"

To find a job is like a haystack needle

'Cause where he lives they don't use colored people

Living just enough, just enough for the city...

Hmmmm. Should they, you know, digitally scramble that? Make it into...

Everyone...

"...PEOPLE OF COLOR."

Sure, let's just DO IT, 'cause it's the right thing to do. Do some audio trickery:

"To find a job, it's sure hard for a brother

'Cause where he lives, they don't use peopleofcolor!"

OK, you might have to mash-up the phrase a little, but let's not OFFEND anyone or UPSET anyone.

We all know that this world is NOT full of COLORED PEOPLE.

It's full of...PEOPLE OF COLOR.

Big difference. Go get your tweezer and see for yourself. BIG difference.

You never know when somehow, somebody decides "No, that's offensive, THIS is how it goes," and everybody has to go along.

Could Stevie Wonder get away with saying that he has some "colored people" in his audience? Would he have to catch himself and say "people of color," because somebody somewhere changed the rules?

Keep the faith. One day, somebody's gonna say "people of color" is OUT, too. Because technically, that could exclude albinos, who have no color. That's a technical issue so...I got it...

We'll say "people of technicolor."