Not to be Racist, but Get Over Yourself. (37857 hits)
Category: PoliticsRating: 1.86 on 118 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Icarus_1987 (View user info) at 2005-03-22 15:49:40 EST
"You just want me to be white." Susan said. Her shoulderpads squared; her metallic purple upper lip stiffened like a U-boat breaching the water; the brightly painted and decaled acrylic nails that adorned her fingers dug into the fiberboard arms of the office chair. She was, I realized, doing her best Rosa Parks. Her best Martin Luther King. Her best Saladin staring down the Infidel hordes at Jerusalem.
She was just like them. All of them. Except she had no cause.
By this point in the conversation, Susan and I had engaged the better part of two hours arguing the same subject. The battered women's shelter, where I worked as an advocate, had three requirements for the thirty-two women it could house at any time. First, they had to keep their apartment clean. Second, they had to attend the community college courses we set up for them. Third, they had to work full-time; they could either go out to find their own jobs, or we could set them up with one -- usually at K-Mart or Goodwill.
That was the problem with Susan. She littered the floor of the apartment she shared with her three children with beer bottles; she dropped or failed her courses; on good days she showed up an hour or more late to her stocking job at K-Mart and spent most of her time taking smoke brakes; on bad ones she never showed up at all.
She had her excuses, of course. Hell, she had a whole Dickensian novel chock full of oppression and hardship. The professors were either carded klan members or sleez-bags who wanted her in bed. She was fed up with the shift supervisor's attitude, and the boys she worked with (she was 38) wouldn't take her seriously. Her mother never taught her how to clean and the kids wouldn't do their chores.
We'd discussed the subject. We'd analyzed it. We'd argued it. We'd orbitted it like a dead sattelite and beat it like a mandril with a baseball bat. In the end, it came down to a simple ultimatum; we couldn't support her forever; other women needed the apartment just as much as she did; she had to either get with the program, or face a 30-day eviction notice.
I let her dramatic pause pass, propping my cheek bone on my thumb and cupping my hands around my lips. Was she expecting me to be speechless, I wondered? How much time did the other advocates let pass after she pulled the race card? "Would you like to elaborate?" I asked in my most political tone.
"You're trying to make me go to your white schools and attend your white jobs like I'd some damned Ward Cleaver." She was in full form now, her head swiveling on her neck like one of those executive office toys they had back in the '80's -- the kind where one little metal ring spun inside another.
"I didn't realize that paying bills or taking cosmotology courses impacted the color of your skin." I said.
"Let me tell you how it is." She preached, jabbing an acrylic nail in my direction. The little daisy decal, I noticed, was starting to peel off. "The white man dragged my people from their homeland and made 'em work in farms and plantations. He beat 'em and raped 'em, and after all that he has the nerve to say he set them free. But he still makes the rules. He still figures he has the right to tell them when to get up and when to go to work and what they need to learn to be educated."
"I see." I said, crossing my legs. "So you figure the white people who enslaved your ancestors hundreds of years ago owe you."
"Damn right." She said.
"What race do you think I am?" I asked, careful to keep perfect eye contact.
"White." She said. It was like she was ordering a sub sandwich; the veggie deluxe on what bread?
"I'm a quarter Ojibwa actually." I said, giving her a meaningful look.
"Oh-what-way?" She asked. 'Nig-who?' I thought.
"Native American. American Indian." I said. "My grandfather was from a reservation up near Fort Francis."
She nodded. "Oh, one of those casinos. Yeah, your people are rich."
"Some are." I said, "My cousins who still live there live in trailers and siding shacks. They have water and septic tanks now, so that's a good thing. Do you know much about the Indians, Susan?"
"They clobbered the Phillies 8-6." She said. She smiled, obviously intending it to be a joke.
"Something like that." I said, keeping a straight face and maintaining the almost clinical eye contact. "When the Western Europeans; the white man, you call him, came to what they labeled Plymouth Rock, in a continent they called America, the Native Americans were there to lend a hand to help him get through the winter; to show him the basics of how to survive."
"Yeah, yeah." She traced her lip with the tip of her pointer finger, wiping off specks of metallic blue grit. "Thanksgiving and all that."
"Right." I said. "And in return, the Western Europeans pushed them off their land, forced warring tribes together on to small and barren reservations, slaughtered them, portrayed them as cannibals and savages, gave them foreign diseases, and attempted to convert and enslave many of them. My particular tribe currently resides on about a quarter of a percent of their original range, and about six percent of their population remains. They were lucky."
She blinked. I went on. "Now, I'm not blaming all Western Europeans for this wholesale slaughter, and I don't think the history books do either. David Crockett, when he was a senator, opposed the relocation act that spurred many rebellions. The French, the other seventy-five percent of my heritage, actually mixed comparatively peacefuly with them and took their side in a rebellion against the English."
"What're you saying?" Susan asked. She'd folded her arms by this point. She'd lost eye contact at some point, and was looking at some indefinite point on my desk.
"I'm saying that I paid my own way through college." I said. "I'm saying that I worked retail jobs, and hauled bales and drove bobcats at nurseries. I'm saying that the white man didn't keep me down, and he sure as hell didn't make all the piss-poor decisions that led up to you sitting in my office. I'm saying, if I'm hearing you correctly and you're asking for pity, that I don't give a damn."
She looked up. My eyes were there -- cold an clinical. It was as though I'd stabbed her in the gut. All social workers were supposed to be liberal; accomodating; plagued with a college-prescribed agenda of racial guilt. We were supposed to coddle, to buy into their sense of entitelement. At the bare minimum, we were supposed to care. It was an assumption, an unspoken law, when it came to the women I dealt with; the 'the customer is always right' of the social work scene. Only these weren't customers; these were people who desperately needed to get their lives in gear.
"I'm also saying that you have two weeks." I said. "After we've finished this discussion, which will be in about five minutes, you're going to return to your apartment. You're going to clean up the beer bottles and all the other crap on your floor. You're going to keep the television and the stereo down. You're going to sit your ass down and study for your midterms, and you're going to pass."
She blew air between her lips and stood up.
"They're going to take your kids this time." I spoke the words calmly and evenly. It wasn't a threat -- it was a simple certainty. She paused. "They're going to take them and put them in a foster home, and I'm not going to fight for you. From my perspective, they'd be better off. If you want that, walk out. I'll have the eviction notice on your door before you even get back."
She sat back down, her body turned towards the window.
"As I said, you're going to study. Then you're going to get up tommorow morning at seven and go to K-Mart."
"You trippin'?" She asked, cocking her head. "You know I got my little nephew's birthday tommorow morning!"
"I'm your case worker." I said, "Not your day planner. If you have issues with the schedule, work it out with your shift supervisor, but I don't want to hear about any more fights, and I don't want to hear about you not showing up, or showing up late, or calling any of the stock boys your 'new husband.'"
I could hear her muttering something, repeating it over and over, looking up at the ceiling. A solitary tear rolled down her right cheek, down her neck, staining the collar of the only blouse she owned with glittery purple mascara. I continued. "If you fail to do this, if I get another call from your managers or your professors, if I so much as have to deal with you for the next two weeks, you're gone. I have seventeen other cases to handle, and while you're a priority, you can't be getting in the way of the other people who need help just as much as you do. There are no more last chances. Are we copasetic on this arrangement?"
In the silence, aside from the ticking of the wall clock, I could make out what she was repeating: "So that's the way it's gonna be, huh?" . She stood up again and headed to the office door.
"I'm going to repeat this one more time, Susan. Do you understand what I'm telling you?"
"I get it." She muttered as the door hissed shut behind her.
I left Social Work a year later, returning to my Alma Mater to get a bachelor's in tech writing. It wasn't because of people like Susan as much as it was because of my coworkers who bought into her mentality. One of my supervisors -- she called herself a 'behavioral rationalist' though she only had a six-month certificate -- once explained to me that Susan was right; the dead white man who had abused her dead black ancestor over a century ago was reaching beyond the grave to fuck up Susan's life. He was the one who had gotten her pregnant at 14. He was the one who got her into prostitution. He was the one who hooked her up with the abusive cocksucker of a husband and it turns out that he even turned her subwoofers up all the times her neighbors had complained. It turned out that he was a real bastard -- even for a dead white guy. Being a somewhat white male myself, she explained, it wasn't my fault for not seeing it sooner. It had to do with some book she just read about Mars and Venus and other seemingly scientific things. Our top job, she explained, was to improve our client's self-image. We couldn't do that unless we showed them that they had no responsibility for, or power over, their lives.
I didn't really think about Susan until a few weeks ago. I was lying in bed at the time when I the deep thud of bass shook my bedroom wall. I sat up, and checked the clock. It was Three-AM and the bass was still rippling the surface of the water in my wall-mounted hourglass. It was even, not fading, not moving from east to west. This wasn't just some jack-ass on the road outside.
I threw on my robe and went to the window. A sedan was parked two stories below with its lights on. After a minute or two, the lights and the bass died together, and a young man stepped out of the car; eighteen or nineteen; white baseball cap; of African American descent. "You mind keeping it down if you're gonna park this late?" I shouted down. He didn't look up. "HEY!" I shouted. He looked up, annoyed.
"Keep the music down! It's three in the morning and people are trying to sleep!"
"Am I in the car?" He asked.
"Pardon?" I asked.
"Do I look like I'm still in my car?" He asked.
I rolled my eyes. Are you getting old when you start using words like "fucking" and "teenager" in the same sentence? "No." I said, "But I'm telling you to keep it down, so next time you do decide to park your car outside the building at three in the fucking morning you think to turn your goddamned radio down."
"Is this the first time you've asked me about it?" He asked.
"Yes," I said, "and it's going to be the last. Your little pimp mobile is directly below my window, and I think I've got some spoiled milk in the fridge."
He looked up for a few seconds without responding. He knew I'd be much more likely to call the apartment complex, which had a three-strike noise and damage policy. Judging from his lack of discretion, I doubt it would have been his first strike.
"Racist!" He called up. We looked at each other for a minute, then he ran into the building. I thought about his ejaculation as I slipped back into bed next to my wife, who was still snoozing away. Was I upset at him because I was racist? Not really. Sure, the young man had a penchant for rap, but if polka, or Barry Manilow, or the 1812 Overture would have blasted through my bedroom wall at 3 AM, would I have been any less pissed? I doubt it. I wasn't using race as an excuse to persecute him; he was using it as an excuse to be a shit-eating fuckwit. And people do it every day.
Now, I'm not engaging in all-out blanket statements here. This behavior does not extend to the entire African American community by any stretch of the imagination; nor is it limited solely to it. When I was taking a required women's studies course, the professor went about how men are the source of all evil; how we are no longer useful for anything but procreation; for two whole days before asking me, as the only male in class, to kindly move a desk for her. Individuals from almost any group will use the stereotypes they pretend to have such issues with as an excuse to be an asshole.
We used to do speculative writing projects in college; what would happen if two people in your life who didn't know each other met up. One girl from backwater Wisconsin did one about how her racist-pig of a grandfather met the black man she used to work with three months back. I've considered doing one about Susan and my young neighbor watching Soul Plane on DVD. I can see them sitting there on her couch, yucking it up as Snoop Dogg and Method Man portray African Americans as belligerent, semi-literate, drug-crazed, sex-minded criminals. Then the input switches, and the TV fades to Cops. The camera jolts about as two policemen (one African American, one latino) tackle a young, shirtless, African American man accused of rape. As they slam his head into the squad car, one finds a crack pipe in his pants. The young man complains; it will be his second time in jail.
"Turn this shit off!" Susan says.
"Damn right." The young man says, pressing the clicker. "It's fucking racist."
What an incredible, convenient double-standard.
If someone disturbs my space with their music, it's part of their culture. If I disturb their space by asking them to shut up, I'm a racist-fucking-cracker. If someone asks me to give them a free place to live, free food, and a free shot at education and some spending cash, it's part of their culture. If I expect the slightest bit of effort in return, I'm a fucking-racist-tool.
Well, I'm formally getting off the racial guilt merry-go-round. Don't get me wrong. I don't have any delusions about changing things on a municipal or global basis. I don't plan on taking over the world, or forming a master race. All the same, I'm going to tell people where to shove it when they go to far, and no matter what their skin color, creed, and shampoo of choice may be, I'm not going to feel particularly guilty about it. Don't make any mistake; I'm doing it for myself. My culture, my space, my standards mean just as much as everyone elses'. And in the end, everyone else benefits too. If I expect a group of people to behave like raving fuckheads, I'm not 'respecting their diversity;' I'm just holding them in a lower regard than the rest of society; giving them another excuse to be morons. If I treat them the same as anyone else, expecting them to the same laws and standards; getting pissed at them for the same reasons; respecting them for the same reasons; I'm doing more than pity or enabling could ever do.
User Reviews
Submitted by sandmantate (user info) at 2009-07-11 01:19:35 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Oh man, this is an oldie. One of the first posts I read on this site.
Submitted by rob_berg (user info) at 2009-07-11 00:12:43 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I'm glad to have read this. Well done, sir.
Submitted by domenad (user info) at 2009-07-10 22:01:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Congratulations on being linked by Wordpress.
http://needsofthemany.wordpress.com/2009/07/05/excellent-commentary-on-blacks-using-race-as-an-excuse-to-be-jerks/
Submitted by YourNameHere (user info) at 2009-05-03 22:11:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
No Comment
Submitted by UNconfused (user info) at 2005-04-20 19:02:42 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Racist bastard.
Submitted by icarus1987 (user info) at 2005-04-06 15:19:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Wiggles (user info) at 2005-04-05 20:48:26 (#)
Ranking: 1
I'm not saying that being a minority is an excuse to sit on your ass. But I think that the disproportionate numbers of poor blacks proves that something has been wrong with the system, and something still is. People in America are rarely rewarded for how much they contribute to society. They are rewarded for greed and for being in the right families. The aristocracy is clearly not a meritocracy, so we are left with a race of people who are still suck in poverty after forty years of integration. I don't suggest that black people should be given special priviledges. I think that poor people in general need to be given better opportunities, particularly in education, from a very early age.
_________________________________
Alright. I'm with you that far. Pisses me off that a massive wave of yuppies move into my hometown. They have to build a school for their little rich-bitch children, and we need to pay for it. Not only does the grade school have to be designed with courtyards and a friggin' marble ROTUNDA, we also have to give ALL the kids brand new laptops, because god forbid the spoiled little fuckers don't get every opportunity available to them. Meanwhile, 20 miles away, in downtown Minneapolis, the inner city kids are lucky if they get basic computer comprehension courses on used, donated, out of date computers. Talk about your fucking misallocation of funds!
Submitted by Wiggles (user info) at 2005-04-05 20:48:26 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
I'm not saying that being a minority is an excuse to sit on your ass. But I think that the disproportionate numbers of poor blacks proves that something has been wrong with the system, and something still is. People in America are rarely rewarded for how much they contribute to society. They are rewarded for greed and for being in the right families. The aristocracy is clearly not a meritocracy, so we are left with a race of people who are still suck in poverty after forty years of integration. I don't suggest that black people should be given special priviledges. I think that poor people in general need to be given better opportunities, particularly in education, from a very early age.
Submitted by polyamorousaj (user info) at 2005-04-04 10:53:44 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Well put.
Submitted by icarus1987 (user info) at 2005-03-29 16:28:35 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Wiggles
If you say person A can get away with murder because they're from a historically oppressed group, and person B can get away with rape because they couldn't get a date to the prom, you not only create a culture of victims (and giving people an excuse to be idiots,) you're also arguing that laws should be subjective at best. Essential Hobbes: society is founded on personal responsibility.
Life is tough. There are a lot of people out there who have more than I do. Most are related to the folks who oppressed my people. Many don't work as hard as I do. Some are less educated than I am. That doesn't give me, or Native Americans in general, an excuse to sit on our collective asses and behave like morons. If it did, there'd be hell to pay. Do you know, looking back in history, how many people can claim their 'ancestors' were opressed? Short list would include Asians, Jews, Catholics, Irish, Italians, Anglo-Saxxons, Lombards and Normans.
Submitted by Wiggles (user info) at 2005-03-29 13:25:46 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
Of course there are many examples of blacks who have risen above their circumstances to achieve amazing things. But the fact that the playing field is not level is what irritates me.
With Susan, I don't think you necessarily did anything wrong in dealing with her, but I believe that she is the person she is today not because of her intrinsic nature, but partially because of her poor upbringing.
Submitted by FartSmeller (user info) at 2005-03-28 16:03:05 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Man, I FUCKING HATE NIGGERS.
Submitted by icarus1987 (user info) at 2005-03-28 12:27:24 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Wiggles
>>If I was black, no matter what my economic status was, I would still feel a bit of resentment towards the fact that my life would've been so different had I been born with lighter skin.<<
I think resentment is natural. I resent the fact that there are less jobs available because of outsourcing. I resent the fact that my generation is going to be the first to have a lower standard of living than the one that came before. I resent the fact that, historically, 97% of my ancestors were wiped out. But ruining my life, annoying my neighbors, or speaking in ebonics isn't going to do much to resolve the situation.
Submitted by icarus1987 (user info) at 2005-03-28 12:22:48 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Wiggles
>>That being said, the reason that these people are so (to put it bluntly) stupid is probably their economic background. I don't want to get into this whole argument, but I do tend to show extra sympathy towards poor blacks because there is a strong liklihood that their upbringing was unjustly sparse.<<
If you want to talk about sparse, you can talk about the ghetto and historic slavery. You can also talk about people living through the depression, Irish and Jews refused work, Japanese in internment camps, children working in mines, women refused the right to vote, hold property, or seek higher education, homosexuals being refused civil rights, 97% of Native American population being put to genocide.
You can talk about it all you want. But is it an excuse? It didn't stop Virginia Woolfe, Susan B Anthony, Nathan Lane, Oscar Wilde or Groucho Marx. It didn't stop Martin Luther King, Maya Angelou, Sojourner Truth or Oprah Winfrey. You might not have the same toys as the other kids. Your house might not be as big as the Jones'. Some jerks out there might stereotype you or make fun of you. That's life. If you give up, if you buy into the stereotypes, if you don't take advantage of the opportunities that are out there, then you're only opressing yourself. That's my take on it anyway. I'd be interested to hear how you think you'd handle someone like Susan.
Submitted by Wiggles (user info) at 2005-03-28 02:16:30 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
If I was black, no matter what my economic status was, I would still feel a bit of resentment towards the fact that my life would've been so different had I been born with lighter skin.
Submitted by Wiggles (user info) at 2005-03-28 02:09:25 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
So Deathwatch, you're saying that based on your experiences with them, you believe blacks are biologically more likely to be stupid assholes than white people? Because to say that isn't so much racist as it is just plain wrong.
Submitted by Deathwatchz (user info) at 2005-03-28 00:13:53 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
the only reason i cant agree with you wiggles is that ive grown up in a "poor black neighborhood" and have seen many intelligent "poor" young african americans who have the same attitude as ones who grew up in "better economic situations". i have had multiple racist comments thrown at me for simply walking down the block, let alone saying anything to anyone. my presence alone was enough to illicit a negative reaction from a large percentage of people who lived in the same neighborhood as i did, and some of them even went to school with me. i cant simply say it is blacks, either. i have gotten comments concerning race from multiple other racial groups, who all feel that since im white, i have things better off, i will get it easier on jobs, i was born with more money, i didnt have to eat government cheese and powdered milk when i was a kid, and hope that the food stamps lasted the whole month. oh well, i guess im just mad because i was opressed as a child... sorry it wasnt my great great great great grandfather instead of me.
Submitted by Feijuada (user info) at 2005-03-27 23:21:47 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
You racist bastard.
Submitted by Chinaski (user info) at 2005-03-27 17:32:01 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
uhh nigga YEEEUUUH. YEEEEUUHH. UHNNNGN.
Submitted by right_wing_extremist (user info) at 2005-03-27 17:15:30 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Well-written and articulate. Plus 2, just because there is no plus 3.
Submitted by the_lone_stranger (user info) at 2005-03-27 01:47:16 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
People generally suck ass.
Submitted by Rawrg (user info) at 2005-03-27 01:19:31 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
AMEN.
Submitted by Wiggles (user info) at 2005-03-26 22:57:36 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
I certainly don't think you are a racist, and I certainly don't think the two people in your story were presenting you with sensible arguments.
That being said, the reason that these people are so (to put it bluntly) stupid is probably their economic background. I don't want to get into this whole argument, but I do tend to show extra sympathy towards poor blacks because there is a strong liklihood that their upbringing was unjustly sparse. That's really all I can say without launching into a great big essay on this topic.
Submitted by Prez (user info) at 2005-03-26 22:10:34 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by TenYears_Gone (user info) at 2005-03-26 19:35:41 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Solid.
Submitted by jimmiss (user info) at 2005-03-26 19:13:42 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
BTW, while I lived in Halifax my room-mate worked at a movie theatre. He kicked a couple of teenagers out who didn't have any tickets. So they called him racist, and physically intimidated him. ie: got in his face in a semi-circle etc. Good ol' racism.
Submitted by jimmiss (user info) at 2005-03-26 19:12:01 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I learned the hard way. If you are white, you are assumed to be racist by black people. And are venomously hated because of it. There is nothing you or I can do to change that fact. Most black people HATE you.
Submitted by Maddog (user info) at 2005-03-26 18:06:28 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Brilliant. Right on the mark
Submitted by 2x4fun (user info) at 2005-03-25 22:59:50 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
little too long.fucking solid.fucking true my hats off to you.
Submitted by EatMeCompletely (user info) at 2005-03-25 19:48:02 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Istaros (user info) at 2005-03-25 14:15:44 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
"If you divide people by race, it's almost impossible to leave racism out of it."
"almost?" not "almost." that *is* racism, by definition.
Submitted by icarus1987 (user info) at 2005-03-25 13:03:48 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Wiggles
Economics is a separate issue - this post is about self-respect.
Discard Susan for a moment, and look at the young man. Did he crank his subwoofers because he was economically repressed? Did he object to my scrutiny of his behavior because his ancestors were enslaved? No. In labeling me a 'racist', he was saying:
A. He should be held to lower standards because of his race.
B. By objecting to the volume of his music, I was not only objecting to HIS behavior, but to that of all Americans of African descent.
With one word, he was disrespecting himself, and his culture. He was disrespecting Martin Luther King, and Harriet Tubman, and all the other people who fought to give African Americans equal regard in this nation.
Now, let's return to Susan. Did I ever once say that she didn't deserve shelter? A little help with education and finding a job? Never once did I criticize her for those things. On the contrary, I criticized her for NOT taking those opportunities when they were presented to her. For saying that she cannot hold down a job or get a college education simply because she is African American. If you disagree with that, if you think I should have enabled her sense of entitlement, then please speak up.
Submitted by Shroom (user info) at 2005-03-25 01:47:48 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Sheet, niyya! I tripped all ova myself on dis!
Submitted by Wiggles (user info) at 2005-03-25 01:24:26 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
I'm against most of what affirmative action does, but I still disagree with a lot of your post. Well written, but you need to understand that even if blacks are not legally oppressed anymore, they are still economically oppressed because of the financial situations of their ancestors. And in America (and pretty much everywhere), family economics is a big deal.
Submitted by TheSpook (user info) at 2005-03-24 16:30:16 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Flying_buttmonkey (user info) at 2005-03-23 03:19:20 (#)
Ranking: 2
Get that man a beer
I can't believe I'm using a quote from a flying buttmonkey....
Submitted by icarus1987 (user info) at 2005-03-24 16:00:11 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
openly prioritizing one *race* over another
Submitted by icarus1987 (user info) at 2005-03-24 15:56:12 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
strider
In my fallible opinion, if you want to downplay stereotypes and eliminate prejudice, openly prioritizing one over another is not the way to do it. Let's say six employees are competing for a promotion in a large company. Five of them are caucasian. One of them is african american. The african american is the most qualified, but it is a well-known fact that the company supports affirmative action. When the caucasian employees hear the decision, most of them are going to assume the african american got the job because of affirmative action, and suddenly, their livelihoods and their families are threatened. They're going to band together against a common threat just like humans always have, and stereotype and dehumanize the percieved threat just like humans always have. I've seen words like 'nigger' and 'coon' creep back into a workplace because of AA. I've seen african americans become the target of workplace conspiracies. The same kind of thing will happen at schools. If you divide people by race, it's almost impossible to leave racism out of it.
Now, I'm all for scholarships, and grants, and giving people of every race every opportunity to go to school... but when you determine who can and can't get jobs or attend colleges based on race or sex, it's bound to lead to trouble.
Submitted by VoRn (user info) at 2005-03-24 15:21:52 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
This is just really really good. You own, I agree with everything you say.
Submitted by strider (user info) at 2005-03-24 14:57:23 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Icarus, this was an excellent post! Bravo!
I'd really like to know your thoughts on Affirmative Action policies, particularly in colleges and universities.
Submitted by icarus1987 (user info) at 2005-03-24 14:03:40 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
hcp28
We all see stereotypes as something the 'majority' puts on the 'minority'. Sometimes it's even true. But not all the time.
Imagine if I were to say "Susan, I heard you showed up to work twice last week. What's with that shit? Don't you know you're African American? Don't you know, according to Snoop Dogg, you're supposed to be a lazy, contraband-bogarting, government-reliant criminal welfare leech whore? Where's your black pride? Now I want you to go out there, blast your stereo, quit your job, and get jiggy. If you don't come back with at least one welfare baby, I'm kicking you out."
That would be perpetuating a stereotype. That would be expecting less of someone based on their race. That would be racism, and it would be exactly what she was doing.
My point with Native Americans, and Susan in general, had nothing to do with money, or government subsidies. It has do with a certain standard of behavior. I am part Native American. Have my people suffered? Yes. Am I proud of my ancestor's cultures? Sure. If I was half-blood, and the state offered to pay for my college tuition, would I have taken advantage of it? Doctorate here I come! Do I expect less of myself, or expect others to expect less of me, based on my race? No. If you go back far enough, everyone suffered under someone else and everyone is a minority. Christians suffered under Romans. Jews suffered under Christians. Zulus suffered under Saxxons. Saxxons suffered under Normans. You can't use that as an excuse.
Submitted by hcp28 (user info) at 2005-03-24 13:31:07 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
good points all around. However, I think that you are both right. Susan feels oppressed by the culture that surrounds her, you feel she should get over herself. She is oppressed and she should get over it, but neither of those things are going away any time soon. You also have to take into account that People of American Indian descent get some of the largest government subsidies of any minority group.
Submitted by icarus1987 (user info) at 2005-03-24 10:08:38 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
tinactin
I should have mentioned that I look white. Very white. The only thing that gives it away is the Native American nose, which most people assume was just an injury. The point was that she was both using her race as an excuse to leech off social service's teat, and being racist herself. If I had said 'nig-who' the way she had said 'oh-what-way', I would have been called up on racism and probably lost my job.
Submitted by nrduncan (user info) at 2005-03-24 09:55:19 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by DeathJester (user info) at 2005-03-24 09:37:26 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I got lost somewhere, but +2 for not jumping on the PC band wagon.
Submitted by Eclectic (user info) at 2005-03-24 07:00:01 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Very well written.
Good points.
Good us of humour.
It is teh excellence!
Submitted by Diskincluded (user info) at 2005-03-24 06:50:12 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Funnily enough, I've noticed that the group that suffers from the most discrimination is the white male. I've seen it on television, heard it in sports, and even experienced it first hand.
Australia Vs West Indies cricket match. An aussie player calls one of the w.indies players a black cunt. There's outrage all over the place, his resignation is called for, he gets all sorts of penalties, etc. Then later, the w.indies player calls the aussie player a white cunt. What happens? Nothing.
I have the same amount of respect for everybody upon my first meeting them. What they say and/or do from that point on will determine whether my respect for them grows and diminishes. I don't care what their skin colour is. If someone acts like an idiot, they should expect me to treat them like an idiot.
Thanks for the post, I enjoyed reading it.
Submitted by tinactin (user info) at 2005-03-24 04:57:45 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I agree with the majority of this, although the 1/4 Indian thing is pretty irrelevant. I havent seen your picture but Im guessing you probably look pretty white, and it's all based on appearance. I dont know how many times I've been called a "Mexican".
Submitted by c1ndy (user info) at 2005-03-24 04:43:43 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
i HATE anything that starts "i'm not a racist but...".... but this was perfect.
Submitted by jack0173 (user info) at 2005-03-24 03:08:48 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by domenad (user info) at 2005-03-23 23:11:30 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
The first paragraph was brilliant prose. The rest was just excellent.
Submitted by TenYears_Gone (user info) at 2005-03-23 22:28:25 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I think the way you stated your opinion made it so convincing. Thank God that this looked intelligent.
Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2005-03-23 22:15:03 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
YOu ever notice how you only see this when blak people are in a group? In an office where there are very few black people I have never noticed black people acting differently, however i have worked in a few places where it was mostly black, and if the boss was white, they got walked on, and to call into question any behavior by any of the black employees was looked at as racism.
I just made about 15 generalizations there, but I have seen so much of that shit since I got home, and it is making me sick.
Submitted by drstrangedhruv (user info) at 2005-03-23 22:14:29 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Nator (user info) at 2005-03-23 19:15:12 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
And you know why? Because white man will march on.
Submitted by urbaneruralite (user info) at 2005-03-23 17:31:16 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Worm (user info) at 2005-03-23 17:22:11 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Magnificent.
Submitted by Jo_of_the_golden_P (user info) at 2005-03-23 15:01:56 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Pentameter (user info) at 2005-03-23 14:35:38 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Great idea, well written and perfectly executed.
One of the better pieces on Uber.
Submitted by thaumaturge (user info) at 2005-03-23 14:35:29 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Well done. Simply that. I think that you would be a great debater.
Submitted by NerfHerder (user info) at 2005-03-23 14:17:18 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
An actual fiction piece on the MH list? Deservedly so.
Submitted by AlwaysAnEagle (user info) at 2005-03-23 13:48:42 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
This was the SHIT.
Submitted by Shaun_Rocks (user info) at 2005-03-23 11:21:00 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Really great post, really great message. I'm sick of every(and any)one over-doing all this PC (political correst) bullshit. The way things are right now, no matter what someone says it will offend someone else.
Submitted by JinkyWilliams (user info) at 2005-03-23 10:36:15 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
+2, sir.
Great stuff all around. Fantastic, even.
Stay orange.
--JW
Submitted by Auron (user info) at 2005-03-23 09:53:45 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Great post. I read it three times it was so good.
Submitted by thorpe (user info) at 2005-03-23 06:33:53 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
This was fucking excellent. For some reason, I thought it was a first post - I dunno, it just kind of read as one - and I was going to say it was the best first post ever before I checked your user info and found out all your stuff was good.
Submitted by apollo88 (user info) at 2005-03-23 06:23:51 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Fantastic.
Submitted by Walrus_King (user info) at 2005-03-23 06:09:37 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Yup
Submitted by myredmirage95 (user info) at 2005-03-23 04:20:13 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
In high school, I worked at a fast food restaurant where the majority of the employees were of African-American decent. The manager, the assistant managers, everyone except me, another girl (who only dated black guys), and this other guy were black. They all would show up late for work or not show up at all, leaving me there to cover for them and pick up their slack, and if i said a word about it, just one word, I was called a racist, white bitch.
Honestly, what is so fucking hard about calling in if you can't show up or if you're going to be late? and what the hell does anyone owe them? I don't care if they are purple, green, yellow, or a fucking bear, if you're late and you cause me to have to spend one more second over my shift that I dont get paid for, I would shove my foot up your ass!
Oh, yeah +2 x a billion.
Submitted by Wazza (user info) at 2005-03-23 03:38:43 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
YESSS.
Submitted by boneface (user info) at 2005-03-23 03:36:02 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I hate it when black bums play the race card. I've had people come up to me, "Hey, are you cool with black people." After saying that it doesn't matter, they still pull out the, "How about you give a brother a dollar?"
Submitted by Spam (user info) at 2005-03-23 03:32:49 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Sheer and utter quality.
...(racist)
Submitted by Flying_buttmonkey (user info) at 2005-03-23 03:19:20 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Get that man a beer
Submitted by d_prime (user info) at 2005-03-23 03:16:32 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Fucking brilliant.
http://www.aynrand.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=7903&news_iv_ctrl=1076
Submitted by darko (user info) at 2005-03-23 03:07:57 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Outstanding
Submitted by DavyJones (user info) at 2005-03-23 02:54:45 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
High quality.
Submitted by Umbilical_Cord (user info) at 2005-03-23 02:40:41 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Fu king A
Submitted by MJP (user info) at 2005-03-22 23:45:09 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Actually made a point?
Explained it well?
Told a very head-nodding story?
Didn't include pr0n? Points off.
+2.
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-03-22 21:32:02 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Great post, solid argument, good explanation of your ideals. Fucking A.
Whitey.
Submitted by calbearspolo (user info) at 2005-03-22 20:01:24 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
very well written
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2005-03-22 19:42:27 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Good post, man.
Submitted by Slypher (user info) at 2005-03-22 18:42:44 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I hate you all.
DIE MOTHERFUCKER, DIE!
Submitted by Joemama (user info) at 2005-03-22 18:24:05 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
This is a "+3"!
Submitted by BobLobla (user info) at 2005-03-22 18:06:26 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Fucking niggers man, I tell ya
Submitted by SPG (user info) at 2005-03-22 17:56:41 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
"I don't discriminate, I HATE EVERYONE"
I do believe this is appropriate.
Do you remember that guy in..The Animal I do believe it was who was black and kept going on about reverse racism, and how no one would dare criticize or yell at a black person? It's sad that that's pretty accurate.
Submitted by GreenRiver (user info) at 2005-03-22 17:55:53 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by icarus1987 (user info) at 2005-03-22 17:49:40 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Jimmy
Sorry, kid. Quit handing out welfare checks to work in the private sector a LONG time ago.
Submitted by williamson (user info) at 2005-03-22 17:37:14 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Plus 2. That's all I really have to say on the matter.
Submitted by Jimmy (user info) at 2005-03-22 17:35:48 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Get a real job you tax sucking motha fucking parasite
You should be stacking shelves alongside the deadbeats you patronise.
Submitted by WhoLetYouIn (user info) at 2005-03-22 17:28:11 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Awesome work. Soleeed.
Submitted by LadyPlural (user info) at 2005-03-22 17:28:11 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Werd, yo.
Submitted by Dannie (user info) at 2005-03-22 17:25:37 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by lizzard (user info) at 2005-03-22 17:10:03 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by HZRD (user info) at 2005-03-22 16:54:50 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by the_mysterious_stranger (user info) at 2005-03-22 16:31:38 (#)
Ranking: 2
Yo! Diz be DA SHIT Nigga!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAAA!111!!1
Submitted by Hatch (user info) at 2005-03-22 16:47:17 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
solid +2
Submitted by nrduncan (user info) at 2005-03-22 16:46:19 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Plus. Fucking. Two.
Submitted by icarus1987 (user info) at 2005-03-22 16:39:38 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Jimmy
I know! Isn't it amazing? You can be a moron without being a racist.
Submitted by screamfeeder (user info) at 2005-03-22 16:36:34 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I may be a Bleeding Heart Liberal Pussy, but this is fucking spot on.
I have some nitpicking but I will not sully this place with it.
Submitted by TimeCop (user info) at 2005-03-22 16:33:12 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I think that you are me in about 5 or 10 years. My women's studies class was almost the exact same way, and I get in trouble at work for telling everyone to get to work on time and not be late, but one of those people is black. Therefor, I am somehow insinuating that he is a crack dealer.
Submitted by munkeypants (user info) at 2005-03-22 16:32:40 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
word
Submitted by the_mysterious_stranger (user info) at 2005-03-22 16:31:38 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Yo! Diz be DA SHIT Nigga!
Submitted by j0andre1 (user info) at 2005-03-22 16:31:26 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Bravo
You said it all.
Submitted by jumpinjellyfish (user info) at 2005-03-22 16:31:07 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Here here!
Submitted by PoloboiGC (user info) at 2005-03-22 16:24:40 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I understand exactly where your coming from. It's not just the african americans{ shit let's be real it is}.
I have a friend that is Nigerian/british background{ he's 1/8th white} he grew up in nigeria and he told me there history. From how the Portouguese first came and killed alot of people, sold slaves, and mixed with the population. Then the british came in around the 1700's enslaved alot more of them, sold them, controlled them and interbreed with some of the population. His country didn't get there independance until 1960'. His countrys background is basically british. He speaks british with british dialect etc..
Well he moved here when he was 7 years old. His whole family is smart. His 3 cousins go to Stanford, 1 goes to Harvard. The others go to Washington State, and University of Washington. His family didn't act like fucking idiots, or blame race on somethings. It's not there black skin that holds black people down. because my friend was black, looked black, and looked like a black American. His attuide was that he is the same as everyone else. And fuck the past do your shit get your money. He now goes to UCLA and is kicking ass there getting his MBA.
It's just the african americans that think everyone owes them. Every country in africa got fucked by white people of differrent decents. Fucking Cape Verdans{Dutch} Nigeria{British/portouguese} Jamaica{Brtish} Haiti{French} putero rico{Spanish} Brazil{portougese} Dominican{Spanish} etc...
All the people that are black nowadays got fucked by white people in the past. It is only the african americas who blame there whole life on raceism and bullshit like that. To tell the truth it is getting old. And people are getting tired of it. Bill Cosby was on the money on alot of things. Any black person who gets made at what he said is an idiot. Long reply for a long ass post.
+ fucking 2
Submitted by supersloth (user info) at 2005-03-22 16:23:21 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Well written... goed point... just a little long
Submitted by Yes (user info) at 2005-03-22 16:17:48 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
damn skippy.
Submitted by Teephphah (user info) at 2005-03-22 16:12:04 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Seriously. This is just so very, very good.
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-03-22 16:10:07 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Excellent.
Submitted by GodChicken (user info) at 2005-03-22 16:10:03 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Thats good shit, yo.
Submitted by Sethor (user info) at 2005-03-22 16:08:36 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Bravo. Well written.
Submitted by Teephphah (user info) at 2005-03-22 16:06:00 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
P
F
2
+2
Daaaaaaaaamn kid. You IS trippin! But I like it.
Submitted by Jimmy (user info) at 2005-03-22 16:03:43 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Oh yeah? At least I'm not a racist. There I said it.
Submitted by Jeanneee (user info) at 2005-03-22 15:58:02 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
People really should read this, it's excellent.
Submitted by Jeanneee (user info) at 2005-03-22 15:57:17 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by reallybored (user info) at 2005-03-22 15:57:09 EST (#)
Ranking: -1
Im not reading all that!
Submitted by pen_name (user info) at 2005-03-22 15:57:03 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
i'm tired and ill read it later, but from the few lines i've skimmed, it looks solid.
Submitted by icarus1987 (user info) at 2005-03-22 15:56:36 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Jimmy
Learn to read, retard.
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2005-03-22 15:55:47 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
once a moolie, always a moolie.
Submitted by Caulaincourt (user info) at 2005-03-22 15:55:22 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
This was way too long. I skimmed the last quarter.
But "beating a mandril" makes me laugh.
Submitted by Jimmy (user info) at 2005-03-22 15:54:42 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
I'm not reading all that, just give me the jist, jerk