Comments | adelheide: Long…rambly… Possibly without a point.

adelheide

Long…rambly… Possibly without a point.

Aug 08, 2007 12:56

Well, it’s Blog Against Racism Week. At first, I thought, What the heck do I, as an educated white woman, have to say about racism? Well, plenty. First and foremost that racism has to be one of the dumbest, direst -isms around. I mean, how can you reject someone just because of the color of their skin or the shape of their features? That makes ( Read more... )

Comments 11

dizzycadence August 8 2007, 21:08:50 UTC

Your midwest experiences that were oddly void of racial diversity were probably due to the long-lingering (and quiet, if you're white) effects of a nauseating phenomenon called "sundown towns" (some info links included on the bottom of linked page.) Yuck factor x a million, and these were ALL over the country, with a big prevalence in the midwest. Makes me queasy, it does.

I'll have to sit back for a bit and think about what I can contribute to BARW in terms of personal experience. I'm not sure how relavent the prejudice I've experienced because of mistaken racial identity and "being the wrong kind of white" could really be, my deep suspicion that my family line is not as "pure" as my grandparents seem to think aside. :/

adelheide August 8 2007, 22:35:04 UTC

I'm not sure if that was the case. It's entirely possible that branch of the family was just prejudiced. Yes, I have some abolitionists on my mother's side of the family, but I think it's more an example of "sticking to our own". They didn't dislike people of color. They just didn't associate with them.

Of course, when I was 16, my granma said to me, out of the blue, "Well, I hope you have the sense not to date a Puerto Rican." I just looked at her like she'd sprouted another head. And then, full of teenaged righteousness, I told her that it didn't matter what any potential dating material looked like. It only mattered how they treated me ( ... )

dizzycadence August 8 2007, 23:44:34 UTC

*puzzles* I wasn't talking about your family, though - just saying that in the case of some midwestern towns where "I dunno, I don't think I really know that any black people live here..." it's because not so far back it was the spoken or unspoken policy to keep families of color from settling there. Most people, especially today, don't have a clue about it... and for white folks, why would they think about it? (Ah, the things privlige keeps us from having to worry about. *eyeroll*) They're town is just all white people. It's only weird for persons of color (and white people like you and I who HAVE been in more racially diverse situations), who have to scratch their head and wonder why the high school for a town of 40,000 or so has one token black kid and the only way the young generation knows how to interact with people who AREN'T white is through weird stern lectures from people full of white liberal guilt, which can lead to an overdeveloped awareness of exactly what someone else's skin color is at all times. Buckets of fun ( ... )

adelheide August 9 2007, 13:34:43 UTC

Oh, I know what you meant. And the whole "sundown town" thing is entirely possible (I checked the lists, but didn't find some of my main towns, so I'm going to breathe a sigh of relief on that).

I think diversity is not only good but important, for the reasons you stated. It's much better to get to know people than to have an idea of some theory. People aren't theories. And anyone who doesn't understand that needs a beating.

Thread 8

anakin415 August 9 2007, 04:36:16 UTC

first off wow I didnt know that this is what that week is ... I will have to blog something then lol.

secondly your experience is really awesome, learn something new every day.

hugs

adelheide August 9 2007, 13:37:34 UTC

See? I find the learning process so much more interesting. Part of the fun of a developing friendship is learning something new about the person. To this day, I will have experiences with long-held friends where I will say, "I didn't know that! How did I not know that?"

It goes for people in general. It's very easy to paint the Other in simple, broad brushstrokes that don't require any thought. When you get up close and see the complexity of a living person, it changes your perspective.

darkpike August 9 2007, 21:16:45 UTC

OK now I feel like some innocent little kid watching the wrong kind of porn. I just don't understand the concept of racism.

adelheide August 9 2007, 21:21:12 UTC

I don't either.

Okay, well, I do. I understand how prejudiced people think in that I understand the mechanics of their mindset. But I don't get it. I cannot comprehend being so angry/fearful/uneducated. I mean, I see ample evidence of human stupidty daily, but this? *shakes head*

However, like any other -ism, there are many common characteristics. Racism is like sexism is like heterosexism. It's all the same thing, just a different target.

(The comment has been removed)

adelheide August 10 2007, 15:23:39 UTC

Well, bear in mind, I grew up in California in the 70’s. It was a completely different world then. (Good grief, I sound like one of those people who say, “I had to walk uphill in the snow-both ways!-to get to school!”) The Vietnam War was still going on. We were waist-deep in hippies and Earth Children. And looming at the end of the decade, like some coked-up vulture, was disco. But we were very much the peace, love, and happiness generation. Okay, yes, we came up with pet rocks. It was all the pot, okay ( ... )