Nish Kumar

So it's really important to keep that in mind.

Empathy is not a finite resource.

And so...

You should be able to have empathy for a man with Tourette's who has a completely involuntary tick that he cannot control that has led him to shout this word.

You should also be able to have empathy for two black men who were stood on a stage and had a racial slur that has its own appalling history and connection and connotations to slavery.

I can't.

speak directly to that experience i'm not black also i've not been in a situation as loaded as high profile as the one that the two of them were in when this happened but i can speak to the feeling of racism being directed at you in the entertainment industry and having to kind of hold yourself with a huge amount of dignity and it can be a very very lonely place

when there is any kind of racism-based incident in the entertainment industry.

There is this sort of assumption that the entertainment industry is, in of itself, full of progressive-minded people who are on the left of every political issue.

And would always step into this kind of situation.

That's simply not true, right?

The entertainment industry, like a lot of life, if you're in a majority white country, is very uncomfortable when it comes to conversations around race.

And I know from personal experience, the loneliness of feeling...

Like you have to absorb the pain of being on the receiving end of a racial slur or any kind of racial hostility.

Absorb that and process it.

And then in the moment, conduct yourself with total dignity.

That is a very, very important.

familiar experience for a lot of us that work in the media or in the entertainment industries.

It should be possible for us to have empathy for Delroy Lindo, Michael B. Jordan and John Davidson in this situation.

And we should not be entering into a conversation about this being a question of oppositional rights.