Mayer's not the only one who thinks he has a 'hood pass'

I wanted to steer away from pop culture this week, but this one was too big to miss. The now infamous John Mayer Playboy interview has been a burning hot topic on news sites and blogs since it broke last week.

For anyone who isn't familiar with this story, John Mayer said in a Playboy magazine interview:

"Someone asked me the other day, 'What does it feel like now to have a hood pass?' And by the way, it’s sort of a contradiction in terms, because if you really had a hood pass, you could call it a nigger pass. Why are you pulling a punch and calling it a hood pass if you really have a hood pass? But I said, 'I can’t really have a hood pass. I’ve never walked into a restaurant, asked for a table and been told, ‘We’re full.''"

He later elaborated on his racial preferences when it comes to sexual encounters. When asked if black women throw themselves at him, Mayer replied:

"I don’t think I open myself to it. My dick is sort of like a white supremacist. I’ve got a Benetton heart and a fuckin’ David Duke cock. I’m going to start dating separately from my dick."

From writer and filmmaker Molly Secours to rapper Talib Kweli, everyone had a slightly different take on Mayer's words. As I looked through these comments, ranging from outright fury to lighthearted "he was just kidding," I found The Boston Globe's commentary to be the most thought-provoking.

Author Adam Mansbach laments the two-dimensionality of America's discussion of race issues, which he says lack thorough analysis and critique. Mansbach argues that Mayer's gaffe will soon be a thing of the past, a transgression added to a shelf alongside those of Chris Matthews, Harry Reid and Don Imus.

Mansbach enumerates the ways in which society and the mainstream media will overlook Mayer's faux pas and fail to examine the implications of his words. From Mayer's allusions to white-supremacy to his use of a racial slur, Mansbach says we will sweep it all under the carpet. The dismissal of the "hood pass," he argues, will be the most detrimental.

Mansbach defines a "hood pass" as a widely accepted symbol of white acceptance by the black community. Although Mansbach says the term itself places power in the hands of blacks to decide whether or not to accept a white person, it also makes it easier for whites to deny racism exists, at least in themselves. Whites can buy into an often marketed and exploited black culture and say they have a "hood pass," and therefore understand or appreciate the struggles of the black community.

To add to Mansbach's critique of the term, I argue that "hood pass" perpetuates the individualistic fallacy, which says racism is a product of individual beliefs and prejudices. Crucial to this fallacy is the notion of intention: If we do not intend to keep blacks down, we cannot be racist. This ignores the fact that racism, the culture of whiteness and white privilege all permeate our society's social, economic, political and cultural structures.

The idea that a white man like Mayer can somehow be granted access to "blackness" is an endorsement of white privilege in the worst way. Not only does white privilege grant whites "natural" or "expected" superiority in all social spheres, but it is so ingrained in our society that we often overlook it. According to Peggy McIntosh, associate director of the Wellesley College Center for Research on Women, white privilege grants whites a sort of internalized comfort that they will not be discriminated against in the workplace, that they can have their voices heard (even when in the racial minority), and that they can dress or speak as they choose without attributions to their race. Mayer's "hood pass" comment, a seemingly casual blurb in a men's magazine interview, reveals our subconscious internalization of white privilege, and the "right" bestowed on whites to exercise their advantages in all spheres, including the black community.

A "hood pass" is not a get out of jail free card for whites to say, "See, I'm not racist!" Rather, it is a way to hide, to deny involvement and to run from the problem. And while we may decry Mayer's comments, only to shove them on the shelf by March 1st, his interview is yet another opportunity to start a broader dialogue. Like Matthews' "post-racial" America and Imus' "nappy-headed hoes," we must focus on the larger issue. Mayer is one man. "Hood pass" is two words. But both prove the perpetuation of racism, whether overt or covert, begs investigation.

Photo Credit: GlobalGrind.com