racism – Page 3 – The View from a Drawbridge

Okay, I Can’t Stand It.

A dear friend, whom I love and respect, posted the following on her Facebook page. It broke my heart that someone I care about and admire so much could be so taken in. I’ll start with the quote (Which is from some other source, which has since disappeared from Facebook, and I’ll remain faithful to the spelling errors, screwed up punctuation, and all), and then I’ll respond, point by ignorant point.

This saddens me. I’m a woman and a human first, so obviously I’m against rape, sexual assaults, molestation, etc. However, there is much more to this story that a lot of you wont even understand. I don’t even believe that in this day and time ppl brains even expand as far as this situation really goes. The reality is this man ‪#‎BILLCOSBY was getting ready to take over a huge television network called ‪#‎NBC. Which would have open doors for ppl of color to be on a major television station much more often. He’s was speaking on positive opportunities in the black community, on race issues and things he believed black ppl should do to get ahead. Then and ONLY then did these outlandish accusations from 30… THIRTY YEARS AGO come out about him. One by one. When a black man is “getting too big for his bridges” Hollywood, white America has to stop him. Now he’s been indicted on charges for something allegedly happen 10 years ago. This 78, lets just say 80. This 80 year old man is now in prison on a 1 million dollar bail for extremely old UNPROVEN accusations. When he should be home preparing to die, because let’s just face it, he’s gonna die soon and now instead of dying for being one of the greatest of all time! For being a positive successful huge black public figure, he now has to die with this stigma on him as a serial rapist. Same thing they did to Michael Jackson. The craziest part is that they don’t even have to try hard because black ppl doing the dirty work for them. Working against their own. Believing the hype. Black men, comedians, etc making jokes and accusing Bill. Black Women going against him don’t even know the facts or wether it’s even true. Just running w/accusations. Think about this ‪#‎StephenCollins the father off “Seventh Heaven” was accused of and admitted to CHILD MOLESTATION and no one is talking about it. The show also airs faithfully on television still. That’s what you call ‪#‎whiteprivilege. As long as black men are selling drugs and encouraging black ppl to do drugs and disrespecting our women and things like that they are ok with you. The minute you try to spread positivity into your black community and make major moves BE CAREFUL.

There is much more to this story that a lot of you wont even understand. I don’t even believe that in this day and time ppl brains even expand as far as this situation really goes.

If you want to have people take you seriously, you might want to avoid insulting them with your condescension right out of the gate. But then, I guess I’m doing that, aren’t I?

The reality is this man ‪#‎BILLCOSBY was getting ready to take over a huge television network called ‪#‎NBC.

Guess when Mr Cosby was attempting to do that? 1992. So if your conspiracy theory holds water, it sure took a long time to get up and running.

He’s was speaking on positive opportunities in the black community, on race issues and things he believed black ppl should do to get ahead.

He said poor blacks all buy their kids $500 shoes. He also said “Those people are not Africans. They don’t know a damned thing about Africa. With names like Shaniqua, Shaligua, Mohammed and all that crap and all of them are in jail.”

He was also the main spokesperson for Jello for many years. Jello is owned by R. J. Reynolds, a tobacco company that targets its menthol cigarette advertising to the black community. Menthol allows you to draw smoke deeper into your lungs, increasing your chances of cancer.

Then and ONLY then did these outlandish accusations from 30… THIRTY YEARS AGO come out about him. One by one.

And? Is there a statute of limitation on morality? If he got away with it for this long, is he somehow absolved of his sins?

When a black man is “getting too big for his bridges” Hollywood, white America has to stop him.

Uh… the expression is “Too big for his britches,” you fool. And if that’s the case, why hasn’t anyone “stopped” Sydney Portier, Morgan Freeman, Will Smith, Jamie Foxx, Eddie Murphy, Denzel Washington, Danny Glover, Samuel L. Jackson, James Earl Jones, and on and on and on…

Now he’s been indicted on charges for something allegedly happen 10 years ago. This 78, lets just say 80. This 80 year old man is now in prison on a 1 million dollar bail for extremely old UNPROVEN accusations.

Is there an age limit for morality? Do you get to get away with shit because you’re old? And on an initial arrest, the charges are ALWAYS unproven. That’s what trials are for.

He now has to die with this stigma on him as a serial rapist. Same thing they did to Michael Jackson.

Michael Jackson was another pervert. You wear the chains you forge in life. Sorry to disappoint.

The craziest part is that they don’t even have to try hard because black ppl doing the dirty work for them. Working against their own. Believing the hype. Black men, comedians, etc making jokes and accusing Bill. Black Women going against him don’t even know the facts or wether it’s even true. Just running w/accusations.

Um, do YOU know the facts? And are you supposed to unquestioningly support everyone within your race? That must be exhausting.

Think about this ‪#‎StephenCollins the father off “Seventh Heaven” was accused of and admitted to CHILD MOLESTATION and no one is talking about it. The show also airs faithfully on television still. That’s what you call ‪#‎whiteprivilege.

No, that’s what you call, “Who the hell is Stephen Collins”? I’ve never heard of the man. I’ve never seen the show. He’s not nearly as famous, so not as many people are talking about him. And a Google search tells me there were 3 women, not more than fifty, and he admitted to it, instead of trying to deny, so while it’s still heinous, it’s less “interesting” to the media.

Did white privilege save Bill Clinton from the Monica Lewinsky scandal?

As long as black men are selling drugs and encouraging black ppl to do drugs and disrespecting our women and things like that they are ok with you. The minute you try to spread positivity into your black community and make major moves BE CAREFUL.

Tell that to Oprah, honey.

God, sometimes I just want to scream. Racial bias goes both ways.

Trump is the New Hitler

I have a German last name, and because of that I have always taken the events that led up to, and occurred during, World War II very seriously. Growing up, I was fascinated by the Diaries of Anne Frank and all things related to concentration camps. I was proud of the fact that my father helped to liberate one during the war.

I could never understand what would cause a nation to be sucked in by an insane man who spewed nothing but hate. I could never imagine being so afraid of an entire group of people that I would leave even its women and children out in the cold. I couldn’t comprehend how anyone could justify depriving a whole religious group of its human rights.

I still don’t understand it. I never will. But now I can see how it happens. The other day, Donald Trump said, “Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what the hell is going on.”

First of all, the screening system that allows immigrants into the US is extremely rigorous. If you think people just wander over the border willy nilly, think again. Better yet, Google it. If the system had been this stringent when my grandparents came to this country, they’d very likely have been turned back at Ellis Island, and I wouldn’t exist.

Normally, I wouldn’t take anything Donald Trump said very seriously. In my personal opinion, he’s a racist nut job with a bad comb over. But what was terrifying about this current bit of insanity of his was that when he said it, the crowd cheered. They cheered just as the Germans did when Hitler spouted his racist insanity during the Nuremberg Rally. Do you understand what I’m saying? They cheered.

In Germany, at the time, the economy was in a shambles. People were afraid. They wanted someone to blame. So a charismatic man with a bad hairdo came along and exploited their fear and turned it into hate and as a result over 60 million people died in a war that should never have taken place.

By the way, it wasn’t until much later in life that I discovered, thanks to the Elie Weisel Foundation, that none of my relatives had joined the Nazi Party. My family comes from the Alsace-Lorraine region in what is now France. Although this region has been dragged back and forth between France and Germany throughout history, during most of the last century, and this one so far, it’s part of France. What a huge weight off my shoulders!

But can I truly set down that weight? Now history seems to be repeating itself. Trump doesn’t scare me nearly as much as those cheering people in the crowd. Those people, those fellow Americans, do not seem to have learned from the deadly mistakes of history. Those people vote. I don’t want to see what happens if their hatred wins.

trump hitler — [Image credit: Youtube.com]

Outing the KKK

Back in the early 80’s, when I was 17, I was driving to a local park with an African American friend of mine to go swimming. To get to this park, you had to go miles down this rural road to its very end, then come to a stop at a T junction and make your turn. Normally this wasn’t a big deal, but on this day it was about to get nasty.

Let me set the scene: Small town Florida, where racism was not only commonplace, but rather militant; where it was still acceptable to mention that you were a member of the KKK in the high school yearbook, amongst your other affiliations, such as the pep club. And we were on a stretch of road where my friend had once been shot in the face with a bb gun by a total stranger. The fact that we were even in the same car together raised eyebrows.

And as we approached that T junction, we saw a hooded member of the KKK handing out flyers to everyone who stopped at the stop sign.

“Oh, shit, I’m dead,” my friend said. I knew what she meant. This is a small town, and she’d be recognized. They may not take kindly to her being in my car. They’d know where she lived.

“Hold on tight!” I said, and went off the road, straight at the guy. (I wouldn’t have hit him, but he didn’t know that.) He threw his pointy-headed self headlong into the kudzu. He was too busy picking palm fronds out of his teeth to recognize anyone as we sped off.

I have to say, that was one of the proudest moments of my life.

So, when I read an article that said a group that calls itself Anonymous is planning to reveal the name of about 1,000 Ku Klux Klan members, I was thrilled. Yes, there’s freedom of speech in this country, even for hateful KKK speech, but you shouldn’t have a right to hide. If it’s your conviction, this hatred of yours, then own it. If you know you have something to be ashamed of, maybe you should rethink your philosophy.

Anonymous is apparently a group of hackers that are currently targeting the KKK, but in the past they’ve also targeted Scientology, the Westboro Baptist Church, and child pornography rings, so I consider them the good guys. I’d love it if they outed the KKK.

But here’s where it gets uncomfortable. If I don’t think the KKK should be allowed anonymity, then in all fairness, this group Anonymous shouldn’t be, well… anonymous either. Here’s the thing about facelessness: it brings out the worst in people. While this group is currently doing things that I happen to adore, it wouldn’t be hard at all for them to turn to the dark side. That’s what scares me.

So yes, Anonymous, please do shine a light on those KKK cockroaches. But lift up your figurative hoods as well. That way we can all shake your hands. And keep you honest.

Forcing the Issue

As I mentioned in yesterday’s blog entry, I got a chance to see Bernie Sanders speak here in Seattle on Saturday night. It went really well. At 15,000 attendants, it was his largest crowd to date, and about 3 times larger than Hillary Clinton’s largest gathering. But earlier in the day, he attempted to speak at another event which turned out to be a bit of a disaster.

That event was supposed to be about celebrating the anniversary of Social Security and Medicare, but it got taken over by the Black Lives Matter movement. They were hostile and aggressive, as you can see in this video. The crowd, who had waited quite a long time to see Bernie, was not amused.

This seemed like a very self-destructive move. Yes, black lives most definitely do matter. Yes, they have a lot to be angry about.

But it seems like common sense to me that when you’re advocating for change, you should partner up with the very people who are most predisposed to agree with you. Bernie Sanders is not an enemy of this movement. He speaks out about racism, advocates prison reform, wants an increase in the minimum wage, has spoken out against the militarization of our police forces, works for immigration reform, women’s rights, and more access to education for all.

And everyone in that crowd felt the same way. So why would you push your way onto a stage, scream, make threats, and show downright hatred toward this group of people if you want them to be persuaded by your message? Is your goal increased support and advocacy or alienation?

If you want the kind of awareness that moves people in your direction, sometimes it’s better to hop on the bandwagon, even if it’s not rolling along as fast as you’d like it to be, rather than trying to set fire to it. A lot of people actually want to be on your side, ladies. I know I do. But this situation turned me off. Just sayin’.

Breaking the Cycle

I know someone who is a chronic worrier. She comes by it honestly. Everyone in her family is a chronic worrier. Just being around them makes your stress level go up. It makes me wonder if this is genetic or behavioral or a combination of both. Anxiety disorders can definitely run in families. But you can also learn to expect the worst by seeing that everyone around you does just that.

In addition, you can pick up negative traits based on other people’s trauma. I know a woman who has an intense distrust of men. She freely admits that she learned it from her mother, who also had the same distrust. What she didn’t know until she was in her 40’s is that her mother had learned it from her grandmother, who had been brutally raped. So, in essence, my friend learned to distrust men because a woman she had never even known had once had an admittedly horrible experience, and that experience had since rippled down through the generations.

That’s heartbreaking to contemplate. She is now trying to break the cycle with her daughter. She’s attempting to learn a healthy balance between self-protection and acceptable vulnerability so that she can pass these qualities on to her child. It won’t be easy for her, but the very fact that she’s making the effort is bound to have an impact.

There are many insidious family cycles that need to be broken. Abuse,whether it be physical or emotional, is not something you want to perpetuate. Neither is racism or a devaluing of education.

Think about your family’s strengths and weaknesses. What does your family get right or wrong? Make an effort to stop that wrong stuff in its tracks. This far, and no farther. The destruction you prevent could be that of a relative you will never live to see. Let that be your legacy.

[Image credit: Pinterest.com]

Marketing Genius or Tasteless Idiocy?

At the risk of giving this disgusting company more free publicity, I feel compelled to talk a little about wickedcampers.com. At first blush, this company, which rents out colorfully decorated campervans in many countries throughout the world, seems harmless, irreverent, and even fun. Their website has a bunch of 20 somethings posing nude in front of their rentals. I genuinely LIKE companies who think outside the box.

But then I started seeing what they write on those camper vans, for all the world to see, and it makes me a little sick. Here are a few examples:

She was asking for it in that skirt.
Drink Till She’s Pretty!
Save a whale, harpoon a jap.
If I promise not to kill you can I have a hug?
In every princess there is a little slut who wants to try it just once…
If you drink and drive you’re a bloody idiot. If you make it home you’re a bloody legend.
It’s better to be black than gay coz you don’t have 2 tell your parents.
The best thing about oral sex—5 minutes of silence.
A wife: An attachment you screw on the bed to get the housework done.
Dear Lucy: I can already imagine the gaffa tape on your mouth.
Men have two emotions—hungry and horny. If you see him without an erection, make him a sandwich.

Oh, I could go on forever, but what would be the point?

Here’s what I want to know:

Who would want to be seen in one of these tasteless vehicles?
What woman would rent one?
What woman would get into a van with a man who would rent one?
Who thought this would be a good idea?
How does this company stay in business?

Hell Hath its Benefits

When I listen to my coworkers complain about this job, I have to inwardly giggle. They think this job is bad. They think they’re being mistreated.

For 13 years I was in a horrible job situation. I worked graveyard shifts and got a one dollar raise every 6 years, and they tried to find ways to deny us even that. I had no health insurance to speak of. We got $3000 dollars a year to spend on our health, including prescriptions. After that, we were on our own. I was usually on my own by about the end of February. Forget about dental or vision or retirement. It was a right to work state, so we could be fired without cause. Racism and sexism were blatant and they made neither apologies nor excuses for them.

That’s what happens when you don’t have a union. Do you honestly believe that employers will treat you decently of their own free will? Trust me when I say that doesn’t happen. I’ve lived it.

So when I got this union job, which pays 2 ½ times as much for the same work, and has health insurance, vision, dental, retirement, deferred compensation, and more paid vacation time than I know what to do with, I felt as though l had died and gone to heaven. What’s to complain about?

That’s something you never think about when times are tough. Having lived in hell, you will always be grateful for and fully aware of those moments when you are no longer there. That’s something that my coworkers don’t have: the pure and bitter glory of perspective. What a gift. Seriously. What a gift.

[Image credit: imgkid.com]

Siamese If You Please

Ugh! I’ve got a song in my head, and this one is embarrassing. As a child I loved the Disney animated movie Lady and the Tramp. For some reason one of the songs from that film, We Are Siamese If You Please, is on this feedback loop in my brain and nothing seems to be able to dislodge it.

The problem with that is that from an adult, twenty-first century perspective, this song is racist as hell. I feel as though I should apologize to the people of Thailand for humming it under my breath. If you watch the video below, you’ll see what I mean. It portrays Asians (in this case, Asian singing cats, but hey, it’s a cartoon) as dangerous, devious, cruel, and deadly. If they don’t kill you, they’ll rob you blind. Those slanty-eyed beasts simply cannot be trusted. Poor Lady, the all American dog, runs around desperately trying to keep her family and property safe from these evil creatures.

And as the film goes on, poor Lady becomes disenfranchised because of Si and Am, after their owner tries to muzzle her. She feels the need to run away. It’s all the cats’ fault, of course.

This film came out in 1955, two short years after the end of the Korean War, and you know, all those countries are exactly the same, right? That was the perspective at the time, anyway. But what disturbs me most about this is that it was a film directed at children like myself, who didn’t know any better. It was basically racist propaganda for the next generation.

So if you pass me on the street and hear me humming this diabolical tune, please don’t slap me upside the head. I’m already doing that to myself. Thanks, Disney, for such a wholesome earworm.

New Racism

There aren’t that many indigenous people left in Northeast Florida, so you don’t really hear the topic come up there much at all. Don’t get me wrong. Racism is alive and thriving in the area, unfortunately, but the focus is on other minorities.

Here in Seattle I’ve been shocked on several occasions to hear otherwise reasonable people voice racist opinions about the various tribes in this area. Racism always shocks me, to be honest, but this racism is hard for me to grasp in particular because it is brand new to me. It’s almost like I woke up one morning and suddenly everyone was expressing animosity toward bananas. It always makes me think, “Wait, what? Where is this coming from?”

Granted, I don’t know the history or the politics around here. I don’t know the resentment that’s probably been building up on both sides for decades. I don’t know the injustices that have been meted out. So to me this is a banana issue. To others it’s much more personal.

For example, people complain about how the Muckleshoot Indians’ fishing nets clog up the local waterways. I imagine the fishermen in question could just as easily complain about how the entire city of Seattle clogs up the county. It’s all about perspective.

But this whole situation has emphasized to me how ridiculous prejudice is. It has to be taught. It has to be reinforced. It can only thrive if you make an effort to hold a grudge, and this is a grudge that I do not have.

But those bananas, man, they just can’t be trusted.

[Image credit: giantbomb.com]

Freedom of Speech 101

Could we puh-leeze get past the Duck Dynasty guy? I’m so sick of people holding him up as the poster child for freedom of speech martyrdom when nothing could be further from the truth.

Let’s get back to basics. What is freedom of speech?

The right, guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, to express beliefs and ideas without unwarranted government restriction.

The government had absolutely nothing to do with what happened to Phil Robertson. It was him spouting his mouth off in a public forum, (most likely in direct violation of the ethics clause in his contract, by the way) causing his employers to want to distance themselves from him as they did not want to be associated with Phil’s lunatic fringe views. A&E does not want to be viewed as racist and homophobic. They just want to produce low budget, tasteless reality television in peace.

If Phil Robertson wants to get a paycheck from a broadcast company and still express his opinions, all he has to do is find one that is in line with those opinions. Maybe he should move the show over to Fox. Simple.

And what does the first amendment say, by the way?

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

No one is restricting Phil’s freedom of speech. In fact, it’s because we have freedom of speech that the press was able to pass on his tasteless commentary. Congress made no law to fire his redneck butt. He can stand on a soap box in any public park in this country and say whatever he pleases. And that’s wonderful. What he can’t do is be an embarrassment to his employer without consequences. If he could, if that was the law, then here’s some of what we’d see every day:

Cashiers would tell us to go f*** ourselves when we ask for paper instead of plastic.
Telemarketers would tell us that they really think that what they’re selling is crap made in some evil communist country and they wouldn’t buy it themselves.
Nurses could say things like, “If you weren’t such a fat pig, maybe you wouldn’t have so many health issues. Gluttony is a sin.”
A tow truck driver could say, “If it weren’t for the fact that you’re a stupid woman driver, you wouldn’t be in this mess. I should leave you on the side of the road.”
Cab drivers could say, “Oh no. Get your white Republican a** out of my car. I don’t want to hear you moan about how your Bruno Magli shoes are pinching your feet when I’m struggling to provide milk and a roach-free roof to keep the rain off my children’s heads. I don’t serve your kind.”
Firemen could say to reporters, “Yeah, another loser who fell asleep while holding a lit cigarette in one hand and a beer in the other. Maybe the planet is better off without him. Next time we should just break out the marshmallows and let ‘em burn.”
Waiters could say, “Stop bothering me or I’m going to spit in your tortellini. And by the way, you’re going to hell, because I don’t agree with your lifestyle.”
Movie theater staff could shout fire during the matinee and laugh during the subsequent stampede.
Foster parents could say, “Yeah, I’m only in this for the money and the free under-aged sex.”

If all these people who are “Standing with Phil” are sincere in their beliefs, then they would not fire any of the people above. But believe me, if they were the employers in question, they would. The only reason they hold Phil Robertson separate is they like watching him on TV, or perhaps, heaven forbid, they agree with his views and delight that they’ve gotten a good bit of attention.

So, yes, Phil, you have every right to shoot whatever you want out of your pie hole. I highly recommend you get a blog, because trust me, you’ll be able to say whatever you please, just like I do.

But if the soap box on which you stand exists solely because you have a television show, and what you say impacts the reputation of the very company that made that soap box possible, then stand up and take the consequences like a man, and stop acting like a millionaire martyr.

But here’s a cookie for you: I’ll help you spread some of your speech freely in this forum. I’ll let it stand on its own merits:

[Image credit: baltimorepostexaminer.com]