Oh, that is just BULLSHIT
So this thing happened tonight and it's got me so annoyed still that I can't sleep, and I thought I'd get it off my chest.
Earlier tonight, there's a knock at the door. Nathan and I were relaxing and eating nachos.
I get to the door, and there's a young black man in a good shirt and tie standing there. Since we weren't expecting company and I didn't know him, and I saw he was holding a folder full of papers, I figured he was either selling something or wanted to ask if we'd Heard the Good News.
He quickly launched into spiel about only taking a moment of our time, and that he was taking a class in motivational speaking in order to better himself, et cetera. Standard procedure for someone standing on your porch on a Friday night who isn't holding a pizza.
I didn't feel like wasting his time or ours, so I waited while he took a breath to tell him 'I'm sorry, we don't have any disposable income right now.'
My understanding of the phrase 'Disposable income' is any moneys a household possesses which is not immediately needed to pay for necessities. I've never heard it as anything else--it's what you use to pay for all the stuff that is not food, shelter, or bills. 'Fun money,' to use a different phrase.
I wasn't prepared for his reply.
'Oh disposable income--so you don't wanna throw money away on someone trying to better themselves?' was his very quick reply. And what he said next took my breath away:
'You might as well have called me the N-word.'
Now that is some BULLSHIT.
I shut him down by saying 'No, I don't have a job and I can't give you any money.'
He hurriedly said 'Well I can at least give you back the most valuable thing you have, which is your time.' Then he shook my hand and left.
1. The fact that this young man knocked on my door and all but called me a racist because I didn't give him any money for whatever he was selling really, really bothers me. Enough that I'm so angry I can't sleep.
2. The worst thing, is that I suspect he either carefully thought up responses or was coached by his sponsor or whatever organization he was working for with different possible replies to people's demurrals. And that one of them would be 'intimate that they are racist' seems like a truly, truly stupid and RUDE thing to do. The fact that his tone never really changed, that he didn't seem actually offended when I said 'disposable income' makes me think that yes, he'd either thought out opposing arguments or been coached, and to casually toss out such an inflammatory accusation at a stranger (no matter what race they were) is the Wrong Thing To Do.
He doesn't fucking know me, he doesn't know anything about me. When did it become okay to just throw that out there like that? Is 'you're a racist' some kind of new hip joke with the kids these days? To my knowledge, only full-of-shit Conservatives are saying that racism is over with the election of President Obama--everybody else knows that very little has changed. In fact, the Southern Poverty Law Center reports that hate group membership is up 54%.
I've bought magazine subscriptions from people (of ALL colors) going door-to-door before. Some had stories about hard lives, and some just wanted to do their business and be gone. I give when I can, and I help people when I can.
Man, I can think of all these things to say now and am just so frustrated. But maybe now that I've written it all out I'll be able to relax and sleep.
. . . Nope.
Earlier tonight, there's a knock at the door. Nathan and I were relaxing and eating nachos.
I get to the door, and there's a young black man in a good shirt and tie standing there. Since we weren't expecting company and I didn't know him, and I saw he was holding a folder full of papers, I figured he was either selling something or wanted to ask if we'd Heard the Good News.
He quickly launched into spiel about only taking a moment of our time, and that he was taking a class in motivational speaking in order to better himself, et cetera. Standard procedure for someone standing on your porch on a Friday night who isn't holding a pizza.
I didn't feel like wasting his time or ours, so I waited while he took a breath to tell him 'I'm sorry, we don't have any disposable income right now.'
My understanding of the phrase 'Disposable income' is any moneys a household possesses which is not immediately needed to pay for necessities. I've never heard it as anything else--it's what you use to pay for all the stuff that is not food, shelter, or bills. 'Fun money,' to use a different phrase.
I wasn't prepared for his reply.
'Oh disposable income--so you don't wanna throw money away on someone trying to better themselves?' was his very quick reply. And what he said next took my breath away:
'You might as well have called me the N-word.'
Now that is some BULLSHIT.
I shut him down by saying 'No, I don't have a job and I can't give you any money.'
He hurriedly said 'Well I can at least give you back the most valuable thing you have, which is your time.' Then he shook my hand and left.
1. The fact that this young man knocked on my door and all but called me a racist because I didn't give him any money for whatever he was selling really, really bothers me. Enough that I'm so angry I can't sleep.
2. The worst thing, is that I suspect he either carefully thought up responses or was coached by his sponsor or whatever organization he was working for with different possible replies to people's demurrals. And that one of them would be 'intimate that they are racist' seems like a truly, truly stupid and RUDE thing to do. The fact that his tone never really changed, that he didn't seem actually offended when I said 'disposable income' makes me think that yes, he'd either thought out opposing arguments or been coached, and to casually toss out such an inflammatory accusation at a stranger (no matter what race they were) is the Wrong Thing To Do.
He doesn't fucking know me, he doesn't know anything about me. When did it become okay to just throw that out there like that? Is 'you're a racist' some kind of new hip joke with the kids these days? To my knowledge, only full-of-shit Conservatives are saying that racism is over with the election of President Obama--everybody else knows that very little has changed. In fact, the Southern Poverty Law Center reports that hate group membership is up 54%.
I've bought magazine subscriptions from people (of ALL colors) going door-to-door before. Some had stories about hard lives, and some just wanted to do their business and be gone. I give when I can, and I help people when I can.
Man, I can think of all these things to say now and am just so frustrated. But maybe now that I've written it all out I'll be able to relax and sleep.
. . . Nope.