in honor of mlk day
I thought today in honor of Martin Luthor King day, I would post something that will make a lot of you very uncomfortable, but there's a reason for it. It says nigger many, many times. It's by a black guy, and there is a very good point to it. And it may not be the message he was sending but the message I get from it is one I've always believed, in that you can't make stuff go away by ignoring it, you make stuff go away by acknowledging it and talking about it. Because racism isn't ALWAYS born out of ignorance, but most of it is. Either by people that haven't met and gotten to know enough black people to understand that "they" are not all the same, "they" do not fall into the same stereotypical paper-thin representations that have been given to us over the years, "they" are just as complex and different and stupid and brilliant and kind and horrible and criminal and saintly and judgmental and open as the rest of us.
Me being from the south, people assume I am racist. I've always tried to explain my belief that it's not that southerners are more racist, its that they're more vocal, which.. no one believes, understands, or agrees with. It also opens the argument of what's more harmful, the openly vitriolic racist crap that's spewed forth from the southern mouth, or the inner hatred that is politely sat on silently from the nothern/eastern/western mouth? Because see, I can't be ignorant about black people, I've known too many, gone to school with too many, hung out with too many, worked with too many, to believe that stereotypes represent even 1% of the population.
Yes. There are racist people in the south. People that say nigger and mean it with all the venom in their heart. Absolutely. I also think you need to take into account the fact that there are more black people per white people located here in the south than say, Ohio. If you live in a state where there are very few black people, the occasion to say "nigger" in that "i fucking hate all you people" way just does not occur. Doesn't mean the sentiment doesn't exist though. I think the only way to truly tell what section of the country is more racist is to give the entire country the Truth Serum and have every state have the same genetic makeup of white:black:hispanic:asian:other. Then and only then will we truly know what sections of the country are racist.
And people have in fact assumed I was racist by the very things I have said, because people fail to understand the concept that ignoring does not make it go away. Yes, I do speak my mind. I do say things that are politically incorrect. I refuse to be politically correct, sorry. Politically correct doesn't fix, it hides. I can say "oh well, ya know, golly, no beans for me tonight, I'm full" and not hurt anyone's feelings, or I can say "Yeah, I hate the texture of beans, none for me ever thanks." One's the truth and one's not. And yeah, I know that sounds like I'm comparing food preference to racial issues, which I'm not in terms of importance, but I AM saying that political correctness and being polite for polite's sake doesn't fix anything, it just sugarcoats the issue an the issue remains.... Next Sunday I will be offered beans again and another black person will be called or thought of as a nigger.
I have never had a negative/iffy/uncomfortable moment with a black person because I have known black people my whole life. School, work, hanging out in bars/clubs/concerts/whatever. And I think the reason for this is because they know, by how I am and how I act and what I say, that I don't think of them as anything but exactly what/who they are, which are people that have a darker complexion than me. I don't censor myself and I don't think twice about what I'm going to say, because I mean no malice... and because of that, they hear no malice.
So my point is, after all of that rambling, is to say, stop remaining silent. Talk about it. Be open. Be willing to say you don't know. Be willing to say you'd be more nervous walking down a dark alley and seeing a black man rather than a white man, TO a black person. Be willing to admit you don't understand the cultural differences, and ask. By remaining silent you are PART of the problem, not helping to fix it.
Click to viewMe being from the south, people assume I am racist. I've always tried to explain my belief that it's not that southerners are more racist, its that they're more vocal, which.. no one believes, understands, or agrees with. It also opens the argument of what's more harmful, the openly vitriolic racist crap that's spewed forth from the southern mouth, or the inner hatred that is politely sat on silently from the nothern/eastern/western mouth? Because see, I can't be ignorant about black people, I've known too many, gone to school with too many, hung out with too many, worked with too many, to believe that stereotypes represent even 1% of the population.
Yes. There are racist people in the south. People that say nigger and mean it with all the venom in their heart. Absolutely. I also think you need to take into account the fact that there are more black people per white people located here in the south than say, Ohio. If you live in a state where there are very few black people, the occasion to say "nigger" in that "i fucking hate all you people" way just does not occur. Doesn't mean the sentiment doesn't exist though. I think the only way to truly tell what section of the country is more racist is to give the entire country the Truth Serum and have every state have the same genetic makeup of white:black:hispanic:asian:other. Then and only then will we truly know what sections of the country are racist.
And people have in fact assumed I was racist by the very things I have said, because people fail to understand the concept that ignoring does not make it go away. Yes, I do speak my mind. I do say things that are politically incorrect. I refuse to be politically correct, sorry. Politically correct doesn't fix, it hides. I can say "oh well, ya know, golly, no beans for me tonight, I'm full" and not hurt anyone's feelings, or I can say "Yeah, I hate the texture of beans, none for me ever thanks." One's the truth and one's not. And yeah, I know that sounds like I'm comparing food preference to racial issues, which I'm not in terms of importance, but I AM saying that political correctness and being polite for polite's sake doesn't fix anything, it just sugarcoats the issue an the issue remains.... Next Sunday I will be offered beans again and another black person will be called or thought of as a nigger.
I have never had a negative/iffy/uncomfortable moment with a black person because I have known black people my whole life. School, work, hanging out in bars/clubs/concerts/whatever. And I think the reason for this is because they know, by how I am and how I act and what I say, that I don't think of them as anything but exactly what/who they are, which are people that have a darker complexion than me. I don't censor myself and I don't think twice about what I'm going to say, because I mean no malice... and because of that, they hear no malice.
So my point is, after all of that rambling, is to say, stop remaining silent. Talk about it. Be open. Be willing to say you don't know. Be willing to say you'd be more nervous walking down a dark alley and seeing a black man rather than a white man, TO a black person. Be willing to admit you don't understand the cultural differences, and ask. By remaining silent you are PART of the problem, not helping to fix it.