I was eagerly looking whether the social phenomenon of white men going into black neighborhoods and exposing themselves to the girls went up or down, whether auto dealerships slamming blacks for more money or throwing them out went up or down, and how this compares to how disrespectfully Asians are treated there as well – just leave. I was hoping that the article would slam anyone who wants to progress beyond such profiling for not acknowledging how National Geographic magazine finally apologized to especially black women for famously displaying their naked bodies in magazines that teachers would use in school systems, putting young black girls in situations where they would just want to hide.
It's true, that there are people who are not racist. It is true that despicable racism is not leveled only against black people. And that despicable racism of different forms may be up or down lately. It has not, however disappeared.
I was at a birthday party of a 99-year-old woman of black and Japanese-American descent. When she brought the subject up of the Japanese having to leave east coast homes with only as much as they could put into a suitcase during WWII time, if this happened to her family, she said, no, because her father was dead by that time. But, there was extensive shaming, an FBI file made on her family, investigators sneaking around, talking to neighbors. This, of course, is the same type of treatment that Jews got in Poland, to pack a suitcase, only theirs was to be taken once the concentration camp was reached. Jews, Japanese, blacks, sure racism all over, some more, some less, some going up, some down. The number of suitcases being packed has gone down, I'll bet.
Sleeping while black is now worth investigation by police officers. Let's not get all hypnotized by the article. No need to get off the racism treadmill, when it’s really a circling house of mirrors.
And not all calls to the police end up with blacks being unfairly investigated such as the woman at Yale. While at the 99th birthday party – and by the way, she married a man born in India, so the house is filled with all sorts of colors, no one willing to tolerate a bit of racism, but willing to share stories – a black disabled vet told of how someone called the cops on him in a similar situation as experienced by the black student (Has calling the cops on sleeping black people gone up that much lately?) this dark skinned older man with Negroid features to boot tells of how when the police arrived, one interrogation question asked, was how he got his disability. When he responded in Viet Nam, the officer immediately stopped and left. Being a vet was duly respected, like being a white guy more often than not is. On the other hand, I'm thinking, Trump had the Native American code veterans stand under a portrait of Andrew Jackson, the Trail of Tears racist sicko. Are we shaming our non-white war heroes more, less, or the same lately?
Since being with Mary, it's like entering the twilight zone of racism. She gets treated unfairly negatively more than any white friend I have had. When at a store and it happens, you wonder, is that person mean to everyone, or just black people. When it happens at a hospital, you have to ask yourself, does that doctor disrespect all his patients, or just black ones.
Mary & I came back from California to be picked up at Logan Airport. Her African/Indian/Japanese/Irish-American son who looks Negroid black came with his lighter, maybe even passable 7-year-old son to pick us up. (White people need to be more careful with racist talk, never know when there’s a mixed family member around, or even a passable black. Is that down or up?) Anyway, a state trooper who was having trouble with traffic, mostly from a carload of white young ladies in confusion mode, laid into him as soon as he pulled up, yelling at this respectable dark-skinned high school teacher with his son in the car, to not go toward his Negro black mother to pick her up. His hand was on his holster and he yelled more when Mary's son went to put his seat belt back on, as if he did not immediately obey his command. This was getting dangerous. I stepped in and started yelling at the cop, in a way a black man cannot. I was outraged and hurt – harsh, dangerous racism leveled at one I love right in front of me – but created such a diversion that, with seat belt fastened, he went down the pick up area, away from the racist cop.
Whether up or down, we need to have zero racist cops. How do we get them out. What is in our system that does not weed them out before they kill somebody or act racistly in how they investigate and interact with the public?
Now that I am on the circling house of mirrors of racism, I can only be shocked at arguments that tend toward everything being racially copacetic. It's not. The way to “step off” as if it is a treadmill, is to move to a white zone somewhere. You can see how the idea of “stepping off” is in itself racist.
Another of Mary's grandson's just got his license. He's the dark-skinned one who looks African-American. Indeed the Jewish in him is more apparent than the Indian, Japanese, Irish, or Portuguese – Mary being the “other” side of the family, lots of Cape Verdean. He was even sporting an Afro this past winter. Nicest kid, smart, sensitive, so wonderful, and what a wonderful loving grandson he is. Mary's so justifiably proud of him, as is the entire family, loves him so much. I pray he escapes at least the most horrific of racist intimidation tactics. Hopefully he does not get shot and killed by a cop. Not him, please, please. It would be great to be able to "step off" a treadmill.
I was eagerly looking whether the social phenomenon of white men going into black neighborhoods and exposing themselves to the girls went up or down, whether auto dealerships slamming blacks for more money or throwing them out went up or down, and how this compares to how disrespectfully Asians are treated there as well – just leave. I was hoping that the article would slam anyone who wants to progress beyond such profiling for not acknowledging how National Geographic magazine finally apologized to especially black women for famously displaying their naked bodies in magazines that teachers would use in school systems, putting young black girls in situations where they would just want to hide.
ReplyDeleteIt's true, that there are people who are not racist. It is true that despicable racism is not leveled only against black people. And that despicable racism of different forms may be up or down lately. It has not, however disappeared.
I was at a birthday party of a 99-year-old woman of black and Japanese-American descent. When she brought the subject up of the Japanese having to leave east coast homes with only as much as they could put into a suitcase during WWII time, if this happened to her family, she said, no, because her father was dead by that time. But, there was extensive shaming, an FBI file made on her family, investigators sneaking around, talking to neighbors. This, of course, is the same type of treatment that Jews got in Poland, to pack a suitcase, only theirs was to be taken once the concentration camp was reached. Jews, Japanese, blacks, sure racism all over, some more, some less, some going up, some down. The number of suitcases being packed has gone down, I'll bet.
Sleeping while black is now worth investigation by police officers. Let's not get all hypnotized by the article. No need to get off the racism treadmill, when it’s really a circling house of mirrors.
And not all calls to the police end up with blacks being unfairly investigated such as the woman at Yale. While at the 99th birthday party – and by the way, she married a man born in India, so the house is filled with all sorts of colors, no one willing to tolerate a bit of racism, but willing to share stories – a black disabled vet told of how someone called the cops on him in a similar situation as experienced by the black student (Has calling the cops on sleeping black people gone up that much lately?) this dark skinned older man with Negroid features to boot tells of how when the police arrived, one interrogation question asked, was how he got his disability. When he responded in Viet Nam, the officer immediately stopped and left. Being a vet was duly respected, like being a white guy more often than not is. On the other hand, I'm thinking, Trump had the Native American code veterans stand under a portrait of Andrew Jackson, the Trail of Tears racist sicko. Are we shaming our non-white war heroes more, less, or the same lately?
Since being with Mary, it's like entering the twilight zone of racism. She gets treated unfairly negatively more than any white friend I have had. When at a store and it happens, you wonder, is that person mean to everyone, or just black people. When it happens at a hospital, you have to ask yourself, does that doctor disrespect all his patients, or just black ones.
Mary & I came back from California to be picked up at Logan Airport. Her African/Indian/Japanese/Irish-American son who looks Negroid black came with his lighter, maybe even passable 7-year-old son to pick us up. (White people need to be more careful with racist talk, never know when there’s a mixed family member around, or even a passable black. Is that down or up?) Anyway, a state trooper who was having trouble with traffic, mostly from a carload of white young ladies in confusion mode, laid into him as soon as he pulled up, yelling at this respectable dark-skinned high school teacher with his son in the car, to not go toward his Negro black mother to pick her up. His hand was on his holster and he yelled more when Mary's son went to put his seat belt back on, as if he did not immediately obey his command. This was getting dangerous. I stepped in and started yelling at the cop, in a way a black man cannot. I was outraged and hurt – harsh, dangerous racism leveled at one I love right in front of me – but created such a diversion that, with seat belt fastened, he went down the pick up area, away from the racist cop.
ReplyDeleteWhether up or down, we need to have zero racist cops. How do we get them out. What is in our system that does not weed them out before they kill somebody or act racistly in how they investigate and interact with the public?
Now that I am on the circling house of mirrors of racism, I can only be shocked at arguments that tend toward everything being racially copacetic. It's not. The way to “step off” as if it is a treadmill, is to move to a white zone somewhere. You can see how the idea of “stepping off” is in itself racist.
Another of Mary's grandson's just got his license. He's the dark-skinned one who looks African-American. Indeed the Jewish in him is more apparent than the Indian, Japanese, Irish, or Portuguese – Mary being the “other” side of the family, lots of Cape Verdean. He was even sporting an Afro this past winter. Nicest kid, smart, sensitive, so wonderful, and what a wonderful loving grandson he is. Mary's so justifiably proud of him, as is the entire family, loves him so much. I pray he escapes at least the most horrific of racist intimidation tactics. Hopefully he does not get shot and killed by a cop. Not him, please, please. It would be great to be able to "step off" a treadmill.
Thank you for your inputs, Rus. They are highly valuable, especially given your personal experience with the issue.
ReplyDelete