Happy Reading, You Racist Bastards
This quarter I have discussed multicultural education a great deal in all of my classes, and I also had one entire course devoted to the subject. I don’t know how much the average white American thinks about racism--I suppose it depends on your location, attitudes, awareness, etc. Anyway, due to these classes, I’ve thought about it more than I ( Read more... )
do i get a paddling now? ;)
i think we could have a lengthy discussion on this topic. i think that some things *i* have tried to say or could respond with would not translate well over the intardweb, especially since i am not very articulate.
i do realize that some of my comments could offend non-white ppl. however, i have said similar things in front of black ppl & - while it may have shocked them at first - they either agreed with me or would laugh at.. er... with me.
and i don't necessarily mean that all black (or white) ppl are as i described above, just from my experience.
just like - i prefer the company of men simply b/c most women are shallow, back-stabbing, petty creatures. oh, and let's not forget the fact that they are ruled by their emotions.
from what i know of you, you do not fit into that description of female.
from what i know of you, you are highly intelligent, loving, caring.. well, just marry me & shut me up. ;)
however, that's just my personal experience with women. you and my best friend, Ree (black woman), do not fit into that category. you two are the exceptions to the rule.
you could very well be an exception just b/c you are not from/in the south.
women here are NUTS. why do you think andrew & michael moved? ;)
as for my #23 - white ppl are and have been the minority for my last 2 jobs. maybe not really high up in the company at the corporate office, but they are the minority where *I* work. (last job - out of the 40+ coworkers, i worked with a maximum of 5 white ppl; this job - there are 2 besides me.)
and, noticed i said *sometimes*. it's not an all-the-time thing that i cannot arrange my activites, etc, but it does work out that way, sometimes.
however, i tend to remain at my house when i am not at work. i don't go out, i don't do stuff. when i do, it's usually to/at someone else's house, not somewhere "in public".
some of my responses, i was just being funny. i *did* get sidetracked.. perhaps another time when my brain is working, i can go back over the list and try to separate race from everything else. it's just hard for me. i don't look at skin color, i look at every other aspect of a person. i look at *who they are* (to me). so, this exercise is very difficult.
i have a hard time with "race" issues. depending on who i'm around, i'm worried that i may be lumped into the "racist bastard crackah" category simply b/c of my skin color. because i never know how well the ppl around me know me. if they know me, they don't say "i don't mean you, but--" (painfully pointing out that my skin color does matter to some).
it's just like being fat & someone saying, "fat ppl are so gross & stupid--oh, i don't mean *you*!"
also, i'm not trying to pretend i really understand what sort of racist bile they face day to day. i will say this... before i went to prison, i was under the assumption that racism wasn't really a problem anymore - only in a few areas or whatever. while in prison, a few of my inmates educated me. and i saw this state to be the most horrible (ad infinitum) place ever. this was not my mississippi.. i felt violated & betrayed at the things honest, hard-working black ppl are subjected to (almost) every 5 minutes of their lives. it makes me feel physically ill. i was not raised to see these things.. in fact, i was raised in a racist household & didn't begin to see the light (racism is stupid) until i was about 13 or 14yrs old.
i told those jokes with my friends on the back of the bus. never around black ppl, cuz i didn't want to hurt them. then, i realized, just hearing that crap & perpetuating it was harmful. i realized that if i wouldn't say it around one of my black friends, it didn't need to be said.
anyway.. i'm rambling.
as i stated to being with,... lengthy discussion. hop on AIM and let's continue it. ;)
Reply
I think Michael would disagree with you that I am not ruled by emotions :) Still, I have do have a practical and reasonable side. Shut up Michael, I do so.
I had a conversation with Michael a little bit about this the other day after I made my initial replies. I don't think I realized before then how different things are racially in the south. I mean, I knew they were different and had experienced some of the differences briefly when we had visited his parents, but I guess I didn't understand what it was like growing up in the south as compared to the north...especially where I grew up, which was in a rural area. I think these differences in experience can maybe lend themselves to miscommunication or a difference in interpreting others' words or motives...and again, this is also hindered by the medium through which we're communicating. Now I feel like I'm babbling.
Reply
Leave a comment