BitsBlog The black hole in Dallas

There is yet another racial controvery born out of sheer ignorance, video link ^[1]. Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price insists the term ‘black hole” is racist, partial transcipt:

Price: “Can I get an apology, from this day and time (pounding his fist on the table), you don’t sit at a table, where you have diversity, and refer to a black hole!”

Mayfield: Well, sure I do. It’s terminology. It’s a science term

Price is full of it.

Merriam-Webster ^[2]:

Main Entry:

black hole

Function:

noun

Date:

1968

1: a celestial object that has a gravitational field so strong that light cannot escape it and that is believed to be created especially in the collapse of a very massive star2: something resembling a black hole: as a: something that consumes a resource continually <a financial black hole> b: an empty space : void ^[3]

There is no such thing as a black, or white, race. Black is a color which is often used to refer to race. That black can be used to refer to race, does not mean that the only meaning of the word is as a reference to race. The word Black has been an English word far longer than is been used as reference to race.

Michelle ^[4] offers a pithy summation:

The ignorance and sanctimony of John Wiley Price are something to behold

Clayton Cramer ^[5]:

You know, the argument for requiring a certain minimum level of education or knowledge to vote or hold public office looks better and better. My guess is that the standard would not have to be very high to exclude John Wiley Price from holding office

Price is free to use the term black to refer to his race. Such is his right. Wher Price is wrong, is in demanding that the term black always refers to race. It not does. For example, the term black humor does not refer to Sanford and Son ^[6].