"As for Ms. elevator, I once experienced a white male literally grabbing his white girlfriend closer to him for dear life as I walked going the opposite direction to them. It was a huge hotel hallway and there was plenty of room between us for a full car pass through. It's like he did it as if he thought there would be "trouble" if she so much had caused wind to brush up on my elbow, or as if I would have knocked her down for walking close to me, like I was some kind of female brute.
I hate how ignorant bigots can make you feel sometimes"
Okay, I'm going to do a bit of a rant here. Usually, I feel compelled to rant after a number of incidents have happened in which I decided to look at the correlation between them. The above quote is from one of my regular blog reads, Stuff White People Do and I happened to read it a few hours after an incident that was similar to the above:
I recently moved to a neighborhood that is located in mid-town Toronto. This is the third time I've lived in this area, and it is convenient, a relatively clean 'hood and while I miss some of the restaurants and shops in the area that I had lived for six years, this neighborhood is a bit more safe and my rent is reasonable. When I had moved away from this area about seven-eight years ago, the area was very multicultural with a high population of Filipino families, as many Filipino women worked in nearby, upper middle-class / rich Forest Hill as caregivers. currently, the neighborhood is a real mix: There are less Filipino families and more middle-class whites, and for the first time in a long time, I am one of the very few blacks in the 'Hood, but if I go three blocks over, the area is chock full of Jamaican, Asian and South Asian folks.
On the first night I moved back, I realized that if I wanted good service in my 'hood, I had better be properly dressed and my makeup had to be right. Hours after moving in and wearing a doo-rag, no makeup and my favorite Judas Priest T-shirt, the store clerk at the local store wouldn't take money right from my hand - he had me place it on the counter, and then he slowly counted out the money I had put there and then glared at me suspiciously.While I made a note never to go there again, when I walked in a week later to buy some emergency kitty litter after work ( when my hair was 'did,' and I was wearing heels and makeup), he smiled and inquired if I had recently moved onto the street.
Unfortunately over the past three months, after several women grabbed their purses when I passed them on the street while walking to the subway, dressed nicely, hair 'did,' heels, et.al, I realized that it had nothing really to do with my clothing and more to do with the fact that despite the cultural hotbed a few block's over, I was still a strange vision in the 'hood. Last Friday, I almost had enough, when this one woman not only grabbed her purse when I passed her on the street, but also hissed at me. I don't know what it was that stopped me from grabbing her by her hair and tossing her into street traffic, but I didn't. I just fantasized about it all the way to work.
And then I thought, well, if all of these women really think I'm going to mug them, why not? Hell, I could do with the cash.
Interestingly enough, I hadn't heard of any muggings or robberies in the area, I'm a 40 year-old professional and don't think I look that scary, and it is broad daylight when I go to work, so there was no reason for the exaggerated responses. Also, a young white woman moved in across the hall from me this weekend, and when I passed her in the hall and unlocked the door to my apartment, the look she gave me was enough to curdle milk. Again, the thought of suddenly grabbing her blond mane and repeatedly slamming her head against the wall flashed through my mind, but again, I didn't (as if I did, I'd be writing this from a jail cell).
I have lived alone in this city since I was 19. I have encountered probably hundreds of incidences like this and while I can eventually shrug them off, I am feeling a bit exhausted and overburdened right now with people's ass-hattedness. A couple of days ago, there was someone who posted a comment on Facebook who basically said (a white dude) asking why people are so wrapped up with just one instance of racism / bigotry coming from one individual, and how that is kinda pointless. I had to somewhat agree with that statement, even though I also knew it was coming from a It doesn't bother me as I am unable to put the perspectives of people who do not look like me and are not my gender into consideration, and I'm tired of all this racism shit it makes me uncomfortable and defensiveplace that is all so common when trying to diffuse constructive discussions about racism, Why get so wrapped up about individual instances of racism or race-tinged bigotry?
There have been a couple of pretty awful things that have recently happened and reported in the blogosphere. Obviously there is the furor over Arizona's incredibly horrific decision to racially profile citizens whom they suspect are living there illegally. While no one from that particular camp has openly said it, we all know that because Mexico shares a border with Arizona and the last few years of overt bigotry directed at Mexican residents, legal and illegal, it doesn't take too much to figure out what they want to achieve. While this is a not-so subtle discriminatory bill, is it okay for people to be outraged? After all, it was really the actions of a small handful of politicians that created the bill...a bill that had enough support to be passed through. And why as a Black Canadian be concerned that it was even allowed to be passed through?
Also, and this one really bothered me, as even though I have been an anti-racist activist for all of my adult life, I couldn't believe the hatred from these college students. Here is the account from Resist Racism. Ugh. I hope these girls are pulled into an alleyway and beaten. However, how many other people are there in the world that are that cruel and stupid?
There was also a recent case of this dumb-ass law student at Harvard who sent an email that unfortunately for her, went viral. Here is a portion:
I absolutely do not rule out the possibility that African Americans are, on average, genetically predisposed to be less intelligent. I could also obviously be convinced that by controlling for the right variables, we would see that they are, in fact, as intelligent as white people under the same circumstances. The fact is, some things are genetic. African Americans tend to have darker skin. Irish people are more likely to have red hair.
If you read the article via the above link, what is interesting is not as it initially reported, that someone was personally offended to the point that they sent it to the Black Students Law Associations - nationwide - apparently, it was sent because the person had gotten pissed at the original sender over something else and just did it for spite - months after the email was originally sent. So I think that it is safe to say that the 'sendee' probably really didn't have much of an issue with the contents, but knew it was offensive enough to piss the Negroes off. Which it did.
But again, if this is the perspective of just one person, why are people getting upset?
Well, the original sender is...or was....going to do a clerkship for the Federal Court. Chances are, this woman will become eventually become a high-profile lawyer responsible for sending a lot of people to prison. With her attitude, methinks that is really scary.
So what do you think? Should be pay attention to individual actions of bigotry / racism or should we focus on the whole picture? Be more concerned about systemic and institutional racism than some idiot?
Sandra Bullock's New Son
I wrote a post for Blogher this week about the whole Bullock - James drama and the surprise announcement of her adopted son. Funnily enough, I was listening to the Today show, doing my hair when they announced that she had a adopted a child. Please sweet Jesus don't let the kid be black, I thought as I put down my iron and headed to the living room. Sure enough, the child was black.
Now look, every child deserves a loving home and if Bullock can provide it, good for her. What jumped out to me, was the media reports about Jesse James's Nazi fascination and if he held racist views, how would they affect the child? Now, Bullock is divorcing the prick, so chances are that he will have little to nothing to do with the kid, but what are Bullock's views? From what I have gathered, she is pretty adamant about not being a bigot, but if what they say about James is true ( which because of the amounts of the reports, probably is), and she was screwing and living with the dude, what does that say about her did she tolerate his attitude? Chances are, is that she must have known that the guy was an idiot, and if she was willing to turn a blind eye towards that, how is she going to raise a black boy in this society?
So before I went to work, I sent off a blurb on Twitter and Facebook and surprisingly I got this response:
I hardly think that there is ONE family in this entire country that doesn't have someone one in it who has bigoted mentalities.
I've met scores of black people who have married persons who had bigoted views towards white people...
A white person adopts a black child and they have to be absent of any bigotry but it's ok for blacks to have bigoted parents? No.
All from the same person (who is African-American). As an trans-racial adoptee, I would bet on my life that the effects of a black child being adopted into a white family or having one family member who is a bigot will have a longer lasting effect on a black child than a black child being adopted into a black family. NO It is not 'okay' for anyone, regardless of their ethnic / religious culture to be bigoted towards anyone. Because the black child who is adopted by a white family will more than likely be raised in a predominately white community, the bigoted attitude of the parent will most likely have a longer, more insidious affect than if they were in a black community, or a community where there are more of a variance of different cultures. That's just me, however, what do you think?
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Posted by: buy viagra | June 14, 2010 at 09:52 AM
For some weird reason Blogger and Typepad got banned here at the university computer labs...weird. I couldn't check my blogger account and it stripped your CSS styles out.
Anyways, unfortunately anyone who doesn't see the big picture should realize that this would lead to racial profiling. My brain is having a massive headache from all the internet racism that's going around since this bill got passed in Arizona. Let's see how Arizona's economy further goes down the red with the potential lawsuits that are going to happen as a result of profiling.
I give the Phoenix Suns a lot of props for wearing their Los Suns jerseys during their playoff game against the Spurs. OMG, the comments on ESPN's site...do people even use their fucking brains anymore?
Posted by: Carm | May 05, 2010 at 02:18 PM
Hey Carm - I wrote a response over at your blog but I think it got deleted.....
Anyhoo, The tea baggers....well, why don't they just come out and say what their real agenda is? Funnily ( or not so funnily) enough I can't remember any of 'em during Clinton's reign or Bush ( well that makes sense, I guess). People do not like being called racists yet they still say and do racist things. And then get real mad when people call them on their shit and then try to blame the ones who had the balls to call them out on their shit, racists ( or communists, or socialists, choose your poison).
About Canada - I can't really compare the two, but I would say that just because it's "free" ( we are paying for it through our taxes, trust me) doesn't always mean that it is good healthcare. We have a dearth of doctors, because they can make more in the US so they leave, and the service isn't great. I was lucky - I was able to get a general physican 20 years ago. Now, those who are looking for one cannot find one and have to depend on walk-in clinics or ER. A good friend of mine had a health crisis and was mis-diagnosed last week. If she hadn't stood up for herself ( she had a serious infection) lord knows what could have happened.
I agree with you about CNN. I went into a rant about Lou Dobbs, whom despite being told that 'illegal immigrants' was better and more correct that 'illegal insurgents' or 'illegal aliens' he basically told CNN "Fuck You" and did what he wanted. What was even more disturbing was that his young-ish wife is Latina and they lived with her elderly parents. I'm still trying to figure out how his racist attacks against Lations was justified in his own mind, but I think he thought that because he was sleeping with one, it was okay!
Posted by: Lainad | May 03, 2010 at 09:09 PM
Oh how the stars aligned! I recently wrote a blog post out of utter frustration with Arizona SB 1070.
Anyways, I recently passed by a tea bagger party in Chicago recently while on the way to get some art supplies. What really struck me is that the tea baggers are bunch of morons with no clear agenda. What are they really protesting about, anyways? Healthcare? What's wrong with having healthcare? I wish I lived in Canada sometimes because y'all there have healthcare! The federal deficit? Last time I checked, there was this previous president who ran this country to the toilet because of his war pet projects. And he even bailed out the banks before he left office! Obama as president? Jeezus. These idiots still can't get over the fact we have a black president, and they even deny that this specific rant is racist! I shudder at the thought of a McCain/Palin administration. World War III would've probably started last year if that happened. My brain hurts just by thinking of these. I don't really see these people in the city because they're usually living in the false security of the suburbs or small towns, far from the scary big city!
What's really distubring is the scores of people on the internet who reveal their racist selves because they're under the false hood of anonymity. The comments on CNN are just horrible. They usually hide behind this whole false pretense of patriotism. How can people think like this? It makes me wonder why if we actually have any brains working in this country anymore.
Posted by: Carm | May 03, 2010 at 03:52 PM