OMG, I LOVE 'When the Leevees Broke,' along with Eric Michael Dyson's 'Come Hell or High Water.' And yeah, there are things Kanye does that make me crazy, but then he calls GWB a racist and I'm like, "Kanye is the voice of my generation" lol
Your former friend = horrible. The implication that there is something wrong with being black, and so that people that can "pass" should...totally gross. Everything that's wrong with our racist-ass society.
Another story: I took (and later, co-taught) a class on the rhetoric of racism at Washington State. WSU is a really traditional campus: the students are mostly white, middle-class, 18/19 year olds, so taking a class on racism with them was interesting because some of the students were really resistant to the idea that racism is endemic, even after being presenting with incontrovertible evidence. Some of them would have this 'a-ha' moment about halfway through the semester and then get very angry and become activists. And some were POC who were like, "Uhh, yeah."
One of my friends in the class was the only black person on his sports team and he'd been dealing with racial bullying since he joined the team. Like, the white kids on the team would make cracks like, "The black kid has to sit in the back of the bus hahahhahahaha." He didn't really know how to deal with it--he was really uncomfortable, but didn't want to make waves and kinda laughed it off, but through the course of the class it just started bothering him more and more. It all culminated with two of the kids calling him the n-word TO HIS FACE and him reporting it to the coach. The two players were suspended, but they told all their friends and my friend received threatening notes under his door and he was scared to go out on the water (rowing team at a land-locked school, so they had to go far away to find a spot to practice) with his teammates, because he didn't know which of them was responsible for the threats. He ended up leaving the team and the school.
I think about him a lot, and the terrible privilege of those kids that made fun of him, and how they reacted when that privilege was questioned. I think we're seeing that in macrocosm in the US right now. The fact of a black president just drives the racists crazy, and all the shit that results--from the above story to Trayvon Martin--just further reinforces how goddamn racist our society still is. But I'm also so so happy that more people are calling that out, and that some of those people are white (because it's unfair to leave the burden of that to our black brothers and sisters.) It gives me some (small) hope that things might change.
Oh, I feel so bad for your friend. I can empathize as I tend to do alot of 'non-traditionally black' type things myself.(You have to agree that being on a rowing team is not traditionally black). And yes, there's always some idiot waiting to be an asshole. The president has called a LOT of people on their racism, just because of his existence. Example: Louis Henry Gates would never have made the news if he hadn't been a friend of the president. And, Trayvon Martin wouldn't have been news at all(KUDOS to President Obama for pointng out if he had a son, he would look like Trayvonn. HE RULES!!!) As to my former friend- I think because I tend to do alot of non-traditional black type things AND I have alot of multi-cultural friends, my friend has told herself that I am 'not really' black and she can get away with being a racist bitch. My (white-now deceased and I miss her dearly) Grandmother used to do the same thing. My mom, sister, me and our kids were 'not really black' to her.
I say this because my grandmother used to say the same thing when she was alive(I shouldn't emphasize that he's black). The difference being that I will accept it from an 81 year old terminally ill woman who is talking about her great-grandson, I won't take it from my friend. And, I have become a bit more militant since I had my son because it is very important to me to raise him as a young black man. He will be in the unusual position of- when he gets older-hearing alot of shit about black people without people realizing that HE'S black. He's light enough that he'll never be pulled over for DWB or have a Trayvonn situation happen to him. However, I predict a couple of racial fights as he gets older-especially if we stay here in Michigan, land of the KKK.(Weird sidebar- this same racist friend has a father who is jewish and when they moved to Michigan, had a cross burned on their lawn and she doesn't see that these are the same silly assholes who are eating up fox news and believing every word it says just like her.)Another thing will help change too is that there are ALOT more mixed race children being born. WHen my mom was coming up in the 50's, she was the only kid in school that had a white mother, but now it's really common now. And while some of these kids-especially if raised by the white parent-are choosing to 'pass' many of them(like our President) are choosing to be black and to honor that identity. I personally think the reason Tiger Woods is so fucked up is that he's never really embraced that while he is asian, he is ALSO BLACK. And, you have more people who are realizing that white privilege is white privilege and calling others on this. And yes, this is why the country is going crazy because Racism has been the elephant in the room for so many years. (I am going to go one step further and say that slavery is the elephant in the room. The African American community has STILL not come to terms with the loss of culture that the slaves suffered. Say what you will about the Native population- and I have cousins that are Native- but they didn't lose their culture wholesale like the Africans who were imported as slaves. So we are flailing around grabbing anything to culturally call our own- be it music, sports, art, etc. Add to that the white people don't want to really admit that slavery existed- because of collective guilt.I truly think that one thing that helped the president BE the president was that he has no connection to American Slavery, either on the maternal or obviously, the paternal side.
Your former friend = horrible. The implication that there is something wrong with being black, and so that people that can "pass" should...totally gross. Everything that's wrong with our racist-ass society.
Another story: I took (and later, co-taught) a class on the rhetoric of racism at Washington State. WSU is a really traditional campus: the students are mostly white, middle-class, 18/19 year olds, so taking a class on racism with them was interesting because some of the students were really resistant to the idea that racism is endemic, even after being presenting with incontrovertible evidence. Some of them would have this 'a-ha' moment about halfway through the semester and then get very angry and become activists. And some were POC who were like, "Uhh, yeah."
One of my friends in the class was the only black person on his sports team and he'd been dealing with racial bullying since he joined the team. Like, the white kids on the team would make cracks like, "The black kid has to sit in the back of the bus hahahhahahaha." He didn't really know how to deal with it--he was really uncomfortable, but didn't want to make waves and kinda laughed it off, but through the course of the class it just started bothering him more and more. It all culminated with two of the kids calling him the n-word TO HIS FACE and him reporting it to the coach. The two players were suspended, but they told all their friends and my friend received threatening notes under his door and he was scared to go out on the water (rowing team at a land-locked school, so they had to go far away to find a spot to practice) with his teammates, because he didn't know which of them was responsible for the threats. He ended up leaving the team and the school.
I think about him a lot, and the terrible privilege of those kids that made fun of him, and how they reacted when that privilege was questioned. I think we're seeing that in macrocosm in the US right now. The fact of a black president just drives the racists crazy, and all the shit that results--from the above story to Trayvon Martin--just further reinforces how goddamn racist our society still is. But I'm also so so happy that more people are calling that out, and that some of those people are white (because it's unfair to leave the burden of that to our black brothers and sisters.) It gives me some (small) hope that things might change.
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As to my former friend- I think because I tend to do alot of non-traditional black type things AND I have alot of multi-cultural friends, my friend has told herself that I am 'not really' black and she can get away with being a racist bitch. My (white-now deceased and I miss her dearly) Grandmother used to do the same thing. My mom, sister, me and our kids were 'not really black' to her.
I say this because my grandmother used to say the same thing when she was alive(I shouldn't emphasize that he's black). The difference being that I will accept it from an 81 year old terminally ill woman who is talking about her great-grandson, I won't take it from my friend. And, I have become a bit more militant since I had my son because it is very important to me to raise him as a young black man. He will be in the unusual position of- when he gets older-hearing alot of shit about black people without people realizing that HE'S black. He's light enough that he'll never be pulled over for DWB or have a Trayvonn situation happen to him. However, I predict a couple of racial fights as he gets older-especially if we stay here in Michigan, land of the KKK.(Weird sidebar- this same racist friend has a father who is jewish and when they moved to Michigan, had a cross burned on their lawn and she doesn't see that these are the same silly assholes who are eating up fox news and believing every word it says just like her.)Another thing will help change too is that there are ALOT more mixed race children being born. WHen my mom was coming up in the 50's, she was the only kid in school that had a white mother, but now it's really common now. And while some of these kids-especially if raised by the white parent-are choosing to 'pass' many of them(like our President) are choosing to be black and to honor that identity. I personally think the reason Tiger Woods is so fucked up is that he's never really embraced that while he is asian, he is ALSO BLACK. And, you have more people who are realizing that white privilege is white privilege and calling others on this. And yes, this is why the country is going crazy because Racism has been the elephant in the room for so many years. (I am going to go one step further and say that slavery is the elephant in the room. The African American community has STILL not come to terms with the loss of culture that the slaves suffered. Say what you will about the Native population- and I have cousins that are Native- but they didn't lose their culture wholesale like the Africans who were imported as slaves. So we are flailing around grabbing anything to culturally call our own- be it music, sports, art, etc. Add to that the white people don't want to really admit that slavery existed- because of collective guilt.I truly think that one thing that helped the president BE the president was that he has no connection to American Slavery, either on the maternal or obviously, the paternal side.
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I've been listening to Cornell West this morning and am now all fired up and want to kick off a revolution or some shit lol.
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