The Big "C"

I watch this show called "The Big C" on Showtime. A great show that raises lots of questions about life, choices, and being happy. On the show the lead Cathy, played by Laura Linney, finds out that she has Cancer which causes her to take stock of her life. The resut of this inventory leads her to ask her childish, inconsiderate husband, Paul played by Oliver Platt, to leave the house while she figures some things out. She proceeds to explore and indulge in activities that she's been curious about including a dalliance with the new art teacher at her school "Lenny" played by heartthrob Idris (Stringer Bell) Elba. I don't know who's call it was to cast DJ Big Dris, (his London Moniker) in this part but my alarm went off right away and I wondered aloud that when and if this tryst was uncovered, would race be an issue? I hoped not but was very skeptical. So, during the latest episode as Cathy carelessly got it in on her deck with Lenny and Paul looked on through the window, I waited with race bated breath for how he would confront his cuckolding wife. Then, Boom! Paul tells her that he saw her with Lenny but he doesn't say" Lenny" he says I saw you with the Black guy and then makes reference to Lenny's Black penis. I was more than disapointed, I was confused and disapointed. My confusion being, is Paul being charaterized as a racist on the show or are the writers racist and missing the point that they put racist words in Paul's mouth. It's obvious to me that "Black" was used as an intensifier amping up the taboo-ism of Kathy's infidelity. Not only did she cheat but she cheated with the insatiable, super lover, jungle brother. She layed down with a man-beast who would forever raise the bar of her sexual expectation to heights and tempatures that Paul could never match. It will be interesting to see if Paul's statements will be questioned or analyzed by Cathy but I doubt it because she was mortified at being caught. I hate to think that the writers, who are great storytellers and observationalists, failed to realize what they were doing when they produced this dialogue but I sadly think they did. If that is true, I don't think a more depressing statement can be made about the white-hot (pun intended) topic of race in America. The fact that we "Black men" continue to be America's boogie man in all aspects of this society is a weight that I wouldn't wish on Osama Bin Laden, well maybe him but you get my point.