The Numinous Negro - His importance in our lives; why he is fading

National Review, August 20, 2001 by Richard Brookhiser

The most Numinous Negro of recent history is, of course, Martin Luther King Jr. The real Martin Luther King was a man of many talents-patient, shrewd, eloquent, and brave. He knew what he wanted, and he had faith in God and (ultimately) in his white fellow Americans that his program of civil disobedience would secure it. The real Martin Luther King, like other real heroes, also had flaws and limitations-he plagiarized part of his doctoral dissertation, he strayed from his wife. With the passage of time, we can see that some of the rhetorical flourishes of even the "I have a dream" speech are cornball: "curvaceous peaks of California," indeed.

But all that is lost in the glow of his holiness. The debunkers, and the intelligent admirers who follow them, have not yet done their work. Martin Luther King Jr. is still the divinity who shoved Washington and Lincoln into one holiday, and who is the only non-medical degree- holder, besides Samuel Johnson, who is always referred to as "Dr."

Conservatives have their own version of the Numinous Negro. Remember the joke: Who is the black man at a Heritage/AEI/Manhattan Institute pow-wow? Answer: The speaker. By touching our Numinous Negroes, we show the world, and ourselves, that there is no racism in us. Jack Kemp finally lost himself in the quest for the Numinous Negro. Sometimes it seemed as if he wished to become one.

THE CAST OF CHARACTERS

A word on who the Numinous Negro is not. There are four actors in the repertory theater of the American mind. One is a guest star, who represents the minority that has managed to capture the nation's attention: Irish Catholics and Jews have filled this slot; now gays do. The other three actors are permanent members of the company: WASPs, Indians, and Negroes; white, red, and black, the colors of our psychic flag. As in all small companies, the actors assume multiple roles. The WASP may be stern Cotton Mather, or goofy Steve Martin. The Indian can be Crazy Horse, or a casino owner. Similarly, the Negro plays various parts, which slowly shift over time.

The Loyal Negro has been both a figure of racist sentiment and a bridge across the racial divide: Old Black Joe, or the sidekick. The Erotic Negro has held the stage for a long time. Blacks "are more ardent after their female," wrote Thomas Jefferson. Whites who came up to Harlem in the Thirties "were just mad for . . . what you might call Negro soul," wrote Malcolm X. The Thuggish Negro is alternately feared (Willie Horton) and admired (Puffy Combs, a.k.a. P. Diddy). "[I]n the worst of . . . rape, razor-slash, bottle-break, what-have-you, the Negro discovered and elaborated a morality of the bottom," as Norman Mailer put it. Most compelling, perhaps, is the Performer, artistic or athletic, from Scott Joplin to James Baldwin to Michael Jordan.

With what degree of accuracy do these stereotypical characters reflect reality? More than zero, less than 100 percent. But accuracy is not the point: The function of these characters is to minister to our needs. All the many Negroes are invoked by both whites and blacks; depending on how they are played, or who the immediate audience is, these characters can flip from laudatory to hateful, or self-hating.