Trump frightens me. Discovering that friends of mine support him has been one of the worst parts of this election cycle. Finding out that someone I like and respect is, if at least not openly racist, supportive of someone who is spouting racist nonsense to get into office (and excusing it as being something that he's doing to "get attention"-from whom, I wonder?), is a little...
I stay silent about politics largely because they affect me personally far more often than I am comfortable with. This is one of those times. I almost feel like I should say something-because I am Chicana, and I can't stand what has been said, by all of the Republican candidates (but especially Trump) at this point, about my people.
Other people are able to shrug it off and go, "it's for the attention!", and I have to wonder what it means with respect to me and my family-how they must think of me, if dismissing where I come from is something that can be done "for attention", and be all right.
Historically, I know what they would say. It's something I heard fairly frequently, growing up in a community in which the debate over immigration was always in the foreground-"oh, but you're not one of those Mexicans": because I'm fluent in English, because I'm educated, because how I look and dress and sound tells those that are so eager to deport us otherwise that I must not be a part of the same group they are quick to decry as being unwashed, uneducated, and unwelcome in the US.
I's another uncomfortable truth, too: at the end of the day, if I say or do something they don't like, they will dismiss me as being the angry Latina woman, who can't help it, because it's "in her blood", if they decide what to address what I've said at all.
I envy others for being able to treat it as entertainment. It's not all thought exercises and "spirited political discussion", for me-it's another person on the long list of people who think, publicly or privately, that people like me shouldn't exist, or at least not where they can see us.
It's another quiet reminder that no matter how educated I am, no matter how much I contribute, someone is going to see my last name and the color of my skin and ask where I am from, and did my parents come here legally? That they are going to lean forward, in their chair, and ask: was Spanish the primary language in my house, and did my parents get welfare?
I am never going to be separated from my heritage, and I don't want to be. I wish I could be separated from the racist baggage that comes along with it, but with every Trump victory, with every person that takes him seriously, that says he's only doing it "for attention", I feel the distance between it and myself shrink just a bit more.
I have never been ashamed to be Chicana. I am appalled to see how it has become a talking point, over the last several years, to the point we're at now, where someone campaigning for president can say that myself and people like me are "rapists and drug dealers" (when he himself is a rapist!) and be met with resounding applause.
I'm terrified of what this means for me and mine. I have already seen a spike in racist incidents in my community. I'm afraid of what it will mean, if Trump does get the nomination. Already there's been an uptick in, "you're not like those Mexicans...", and I am frightened of what it will mean when they discover that yes, I am one of them.
It is so strange to live in a world where people can debate the terrible things that have been said about my community as though discussing the weather. As though it doesn't really affect anyone, as though it's a philosophical discussion. Reading the threads here, I feel almost weirdly unwelcome-because what is an abstract for so many people here is a lived reality for me.
It is hard not to take this personally. I get that. I normally stay away from political discussions because I tend to take things very personally, myself. I'm trying to be more objective these days, to disengage my emotions, and just discuss. That said, I feel absolutely horrible that this discussion is hurting you, because I can see that it is. I am sorry for that, for my part in hurting you.
I don't consider myself a racist. But I am white, and I have been told many times that just by being white I am by default a racist.
Like many, many people...peoples...have said, I can't do anything about the color of my skin, so I try to work on my attitude.
Your feelings matter to me. I don't want to hurt you or anyone. I am truly sorry.
Being white in the US means you benefit from a racist system...it's different for different parts of the world, though, and I'm not going to claim that what happens in the US is the center of the world. You've made it clear that you're not in the US, so. :)
I will say that this was definitely not aimed at you-I hadn't read your comments before posting it, and, well...I get the feeling that as someone who is not in the US, you are not as familiar with what has been said by those currently campaigning. So I don't take offense, or feel particularly "hurt" by anything you have said/done-the inclination is to jump up and go, "how could you not know?", but when it's politics that are outside of your own region, I have no real expectations.
Do the best you can by other people. It's all you can do, and you seem to try pretty hard at it, so I'd say you're doing just fine.
I am a cis-white man and I totally have benefited from the system even when I've actively tried not to. No kidding, no sarcasm.
Yeah, the thing is, treating others as equals doesn't lower your own privilege - it just raises everyone else's. I think a lot of my fellow white people see it as a zero-sum game where, in order to succeed, somebody else has to lose.
None of us are perfect, but we - as a species - need to keep striving to raise everyone up.
Trump and a significant portion of his supporters are about tearing people down. I always read "Make America Great Again" as "Make America White Again." I think his words and actions make that reading accurate.
Anyhow, I'm not worried about non-whites in a theoretical sense - I'm worried about what is happening right now to blacks, latinos, Mexicans, Muslims, women, and every other group that not just Trump, but many of his supporters, are actively threatening.
Its a frightening time and we can't ignore the rhetoric coming out of his (and many powerful people's) mouth. There are real and awful consequences to racist rhetoric.
Well, welcome to being part of the privileged dynamic, I guess! :) I've...never felt that, but I fall down on most fronts.
I'd say it's not just white people, but people in general who feel that for them to stay where they are, someone else has to be subjugated...I'm reminded of the early gay rights movement, when there was so much, "no, no, we're not here for those that are trans*, they're deviants, we're normal". We can't simply say, "Everyone should be equal"-we have a tendency toward, "Everyone should be equal, but I should be more equal than that guy over there."
Part of the reason I find Trump so frightening is the fact that he has managed to tap into the dark undercurrent that is at the heart of the Republican party: this idea that we have to rebel against feminism and racial equality because they have somehow "cost" us-that in "allowing" for Latinos and blacks and Muslims and women to lead ordinary lives without segregation or restriction, it has somehow had a negative affect on white people. (Which, I suppose, in their definition, it has-being white is no longer clearly seen as being superior, at least not openly.) It's terrifying.
And, of course, part of the major reason for the misery of the former White Middle Class is Republican policies and the business decisions of oligarchs like Trump. They screw over the working class and then blame brown skinned boogie-men.
Oh! And to be clear, I'm not bragging about being privileged - just trying to acknowledge that privilege does exist. Furthermore, I want to acknowledge that no matter how hard I try, I always find new subtle ways that I reinforce the system. I'm trying to stamp them out in myself, but when you grow up in that system its sometimes hard to have the perspective to notice all the ways that it is lousy.
Being aware puts you ahead of like 90% of people. I wouldn't stress too much. I mean, good on you for noticing and trying to change, and you should definitely consider when people tell you that your privilege is showing-but don't beat yourself up. :)
The always thought the thing to do is be an example to the rest of humanity-and treat everyone humanely. Then again, I'm the type of person who apologizes to rocks when I stub my toe.
I hope I haven't said (or not said) anything to make you or your opinions feel unwelcome. I completely agree that Trump's rhetoric concerning Latinos (and Muslims and and and) is dangerous and disgusting.
You confronted it head-on and called it "filth", you're fine.
It's...hm. I suppose it's because I've seen it on Facebook today, as well-it's people engaging and going, "well, I know that he's said some stuff that I might not agree with, but what about these points?"-as though you can ignore the racist bits and talk about economic policy. Which I suppose you can, if you're white.
I stay silent about politics largely because they affect me personally far more often than I am comfortable with. This is one of those times. I almost feel like I should say something-because I am Chicana, and I can't stand what has been said, by all of the Republican candidates (but especially Trump) at this point, about my people.
Other people are able to shrug it off and go, "it's for the attention!", and I have to wonder what it means with respect to me and my family-how they must think of me, if dismissing where I come from is something that can be done "for attention", and be all right.
Historically, I know what they would say. It's something I heard fairly frequently, growing up in a community in which the debate over immigration was always in the foreground-"oh, but you're not one of those Mexicans": because I'm fluent in English, because I'm educated, because how I look and dress and sound tells those that are so eager to deport us otherwise that I must not be a part of the same group they are quick to decry as being unwashed, uneducated, and unwelcome in the US.
I's another uncomfortable truth, too: at the end of the day, if I say or do something they don't like, they will dismiss me as being the angry Latina woman, who can't help it, because it's "in her blood", if they decide what to address what I've said at all.
I envy others for being able to treat it as entertainment. It's not all thought exercises and "spirited political discussion", for me-it's another person on the long list of people who think, publicly or privately, that people like me shouldn't exist, or at least not where they can see us.
It's another quiet reminder that no matter how educated I am, no matter how much I contribute, someone is going to see my last name and the color of my skin and ask where I am from, and did my parents come here legally? That they are going to lean forward, in their chair, and ask: was Spanish the primary language in my house, and did my parents get welfare?
I am never going to be separated from my heritage, and I don't want to be. I wish I could be separated from the racist baggage that comes along with it, but with every Trump victory, with every person that takes him seriously, that says he's only doing it "for attention", I feel the distance between it and myself shrink just a bit more.
I have never been ashamed to be Chicana. I am appalled to see how it has become a talking point, over the last several years, to the point we're at now, where someone campaigning for president can say that myself and people like me are "rapists and drug dealers" (when he himself is a rapist!) and be met with resounding applause.
I'm terrified of what this means for me and mine. I have already seen a spike in racist incidents in my community. I'm afraid of what it will mean, if Trump does get the nomination. Already there's been an uptick in, "you're not like those Mexicans...", and I am frightened of what it will mean when they discover that yes, I am one of them.
It is so strange to live in a world where people can debate the terrible things that have been said about my community as though discussing the weather. As though it doesn't really affect anyone, as though it's a philosophical discussion. Reading the threads here, I feel almost weirdly unwelcome-because what is an abstract for so many people here is a lived reality for me.
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I don't consider myself a racist. But I am white, and I have been told many times that just by being white I am by default a racist.
Like many, many people...peoples...have said, I can't do anything about the color of my skin, so I try to work on my attitude.
Your feelings matter to me. I don't want to hurt you or anyone. I am truly sorry.
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I will say that this was definitely not aimed at you-I hadn't read your comments before posting it, and, well...I get the feeling that as someone who is not in the US, you are not as familiar with what has been said by those currently campaigning. So I don't take offense, or feel particularly "hurt" by anything you have said/done-the inclination is to jump up and go, "how could you not know?", but when it's politics that are outside of your own region, I have no real expectations.
Do the best you can by other people. It's all you can do, and you seem to try pretty hard at it, so I'd say you're doing just fine.
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Yeah, the thing is, treating others as equals doesn't lower your own privilege - it just raises everyone else's. I think a lot of my fellow white people see it as a zero-sum game where, in order to succeed, somebody else has to lose.
None of us are perfect, but we - as a species - need to keep striving to raise everyone up.
Trump and a significant portion of his supporters are about tearing people down. I always read "Make America Great Again" as "Make America White Again." I think his words and actions make that reading accurate.
Anyhow, I'm not worried about non-whites in a theoretical sense - I'm worried about what is happening right now to blacks, latinos, Mexicans, Muslims, women, and every other group that not just Trump, but many of his supporters, are actively threatening.
Its a frightening time and we can't ignore the rhetoric coming out of his (and many powerful people's) mouth. There are real and awful consequences to racist rhetoric.
Reply
I'd say it's not just white people, but people in general who feel that for them to stay where they are, someone else has to be subjugated...I'm reminded of the early gay rights movement, when there was so much, "no, no, we're not here for those that are trans*, they're deviants, we're normal". We can't simply say, "Everyone should be equal"-we have a tendency toward, "Everyone should be equal, but I should be more equal than that guy over there."
Part of the reason I find Trump so frightening is the fact that he has managed to tap into the dark undercurrent that is at the heart of the Republican party: this idea that we have to rebel against feminism and racial equality because they have somehow "cost" us-that in "allowing" for Latinos and blacks and Muslims and women to lead ordinary lives without segregation or restriction, it has somehow had a negative affect on white people. (Which, I suppose, in their definition, it has-being white is no longer clearly seen as being superior, at least not openly.) It's terrifying.
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I have never heard this phrased this way and it's TERRIFIC. Thank you!
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It's...hm. I suppose it's because I've seen it on Facebook today, as well-it's people engaging and going, "well, I know that he's said some stuff that I might not agree with, but what about these points?"-as though you can ignore the racist bits and talk about economic policy. Which I suppose you can, if you're white.
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