[JeremyNT]

> There's a lot of great stuff in this interview, but what really floored me was the question, after Miles had talked so much and so eloquently about race in America and his experiences, "Have you always been so sensitive about being a N*?" Like nothing Miles said entered the reporter's skull.

There are several points in this interview with archaic / anachronistic language that read a bit oddly to me, which is what I think is going on here.

My suspicion is that being "sensitive" has some kind of negative connotation to a modern reader than it mightn't have at the time. Note that Davis himself repeats the term and doesn't exhibit any inkling of having taken offense.

> Being sensitive and having race pride has been in my family since slave days

Try substituting other turns of phrases here to see how they feel. Like, "Have you always had such strongly held opinions about" or "have you always been so thoughtful about" or "passionate" etc. I think it's more telling about the modern reader looking back that we somehow find using "sensitive" here jarring - why should we do so?