No - let's not shrug off the slur

A man came to our newspaper office on Wednesday to renew his subscription.

He didn’t seem to like the paper, so it’s difficult to understand why he wanted to continue reading it, but old habits die hard I suppose.

Specifically, he said he was unhappy that we had “too much Portales news” and he had issues with our “black boy” who takes pictures.

There must have been some confusion on that last part. We don’t have any black boys working here.

I can only assume he meant Tony Bullocks. Our photographer is a black man. He hasn’t been a boy in almost 50 years.

While the pigment of his skin seems important to our reader, Bullocks is better known throughout eastern New Mexico for his friendly demeanor, his gentle nature, his presence at community gatherings.

If you talk to him for five minutes, you’re sure to hear about his loyalty to the San Francisco Giants and 49ers and his appreciation for the athletic skills of Willie Mays, Joe Montana and Steph Curry. Guess which team the Bay-area native is rooting for in the NBA finals?

Our unhappy reader might also like to know Bullocks is retired from the United States Air Force. He is a proud pet owner. And later this year, he expects to become a grandfather for the first time.

None of that has anything to do with his working at our newspaper, of course. We hired him because he’s a hell of a photographer. Everybody has a camera and takes pictures. Bullocks creates art. He has boxes of awards that prove he’s better than most.

I can’t know for certain, but I suspect our unhappy reader is simply a racist. I know the term he used to describe my associate was disrespectful. Want to argue? I’m about the same age as Bullocks and no stranger has called me a boy in almost 50 years.

Some will say we should just shrug off the slur because that’s probably how the old fellow was raised. Old habits die hard, right?

But a lot of people grew up eating fried food with cream gravy every meal, smoking one cigarette after another, drinking six Cokes a day. They stopped when they learned those habits would likely shorten their lives.

If we can learn to eat healthy, we can learn to show respect for people who don’t look like us.

Our newspaper may have too much Portales news some days for some tastes. Our readers are free to agree or disagree.

Our readers also are free to complain that we hire black men, black women, Hispanics, gays, Jews, Muslims, white Christians and anybody else we think can help us with our longstanding mission to “inform and inspire our communities with service, quality and integrity.”

Our business. Our choice. Anyone who doesn’t like it doesn’t have to read the paper.

God bless America.

David Stevens is editor for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at: [email protected]

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