Grammar Oppression
An MF writer (Melissa A. Fabello) at Everyday Feminism chimes in today with Why Grammar Snobbery Has No Place in the Movement. She means a social justice movement, not a bowel movement. The two movements have a similar aroma.
With more and more people using written english, there are more grammar mistakes. Some people enjoy pointing these out. The EF post says that such behavior is elitist, privileged, and yes, racist. The distinction between written, and spoken, is not made.
“So, if a person wrote a Facebook comment that said “That their was an example of cissexism,” a prescriptive grammarian might comment back, “I think you mean ‘there,’” and a descriptive grammarian might respond, “You understood what they meant.” And while both schools are accepted forms of linguistic thought, it’s important to note that any time we create a hierarchy by positioning one thing as “better” than another, we’re being oppressive.” (“That there” sounds clumsy and ignorant, even using the correct “there.”)
“Ghanaian blogger Delalorm Semabia, in a conversation about the eradication of “the Queen’s English” in Ghana, explained, “The idea that intelligence is linked to English pronunciation is a legacy from colonial thinking.” And this is precisely where we need to start this conversation. As educated (and – okay – snarky) activists, we’re quick to respond to “According to the dictionary” arguments with “Who wrote the dictionary, though?” We understand that a reference guide created by a white supremacist, heteropatriarchal system does nothing but uphold that status quo. Similarly, we have to use that line of thinking when talking about the English language: Who created the rules? And who benefits from them? As per usual, what this comes down to is an issue of privilege (of course!). In fact, grammar snobbery comes down to an intersection of multiple privileges.
…You’ve probably never given much thought to this, aside perhaps from believing that you speak “correctly” and that everyone else who speaks a different type of English than you do speaks the language “wrong.” And perhaps you’ve noticed how often “those people” are people of color. And we (as a society) denounce any form of the language that isn’t “white” enough. Umm, that’s racist.”
English is a living, evolving language. Spoken english changes faster than written english. The written form, devoid of vocal inflection and facial expressions, is more dependent on rules of grammar to communicate.
As different people use english, they develop different ways of speaking. Many of the phrases that are common today began as slang in ethnic populations. As time goes on, these phrases become accepted as standard english. (Some see this use of “other culture’s expressions” as cultural appropriation. PG is neutral in that debate.)
The rules for written english are slower to change. At what point do we criticize the grammar of others? It can be a useful rhetorical tactic, along with -splaning what the person really meant. Or do we just accept that some people are not privileged enough to use good grammar? (There is a certain condescension in excusing the bad grammar of others because of their background. “Oh, they can’t help not knowing that, because they is a poor oppressed POC.”)
In the list of grammar nazi privileges, MF quotes Kurt Vonnegut. PG likes to research quotes, and found a reddit page about the passage. The full quote (MF only used one sentence.) “First rule: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you’ve been to college. And I realize some of you may be having trouble deciding whether I am kidding or not. So from now on I will tell you when I’m kidding.” And yes, Kurt Vonnegut does use semicolons in his work.
Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”. “Photographs taken at a horse show in Atlanta, Georgia, 1937.” UPDATE: There was an twitter exchange with the person who tweeted about the article: Knowing the difference between there and their is not oppression. ~ Not everyone has the luxury.
Monroe Drive or Boulevard
It is an Atlanta cliche. Boulevard turns into Monroe Drive because one was black, and the other white. The white people did not want to live on a street with the same name as the black neighborhood. You hear this all the time, with very little explanation. It is plausible. At one time, Ponce de Leon Avenue was a dividing line between the white, and black, neighborhoods. There are, however, a few questions about this name change business.
In the space between I-85 and Dekalb County, there are four streets that change names when they cross Ponce De Leon Avenue. These are Juniper/Courtland, Charles Allen/Parkway, Monroe/Boulevard, and Briarcliff/Moreland. Several streets cross Ponce without changing names, including Spring Street, Peachtree Street, Piedmont Avenue, and North Highland Avenue.
Four thoroughfares are affected by the Ponce rebranding. Juniper/Courtland is mostly commercial, at least south of Ponce. Briarcliff/Moreland is mostly white until you get to the railroad tracks south of Little Five Points. When Moreland Avenue goes under the MARTA line, the neighborhood is Reynoldstown….which was not named for Burt Reynolds.
Charles Allen/Parkway does change from white to black at Ponce. The street name then changes to Jackson Street, the original name, at Highland Avenue. Monroe/Boulevard also goes from white to black at Ponce. However, when you cross the railroad tracks, Boulevard goes through Cabbagetown, a white neighborhood. Boulevard residents change color several times before the road dead ends at the Federal Prison. Oakland Cemetery, and Zoo Atlanta, do not play a role in this drama.
If this litany of street names is boring, it is all right to skip over the text. The pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
Roads change names all over the metro area, for a variety of reasons. In the area between Ponce De Leon Avenue and I 20, there are roads that change at railroad tracks (North Highland/Highland, Krog/Estoria.) Others change at Highland Avenue (Parkway/Jackson, Glen Iris/Randolph) or Decatur Street (Hilliard/Grant, Bell/Hill.) Some of these changes are racially motivated, while others are not. Some make sense, while most do not.
No one seems to know when this Monroe/Boulevard thing happened. An 1892 “Bird’s eye view” shows Boulevard sailing off into the horizon, past a racetrack in today’s Piedmont Park. A 1911 map shows Boulevard starting near “L.P. Grant Park,” and sailing past Ponce up to Piedmont Park. A 1940 map shows Boulevard going past Park Drive, only to turn into Monroe Drive at Montgomery Ferry Road. Finally, a 1969 map of “Negro Residential Areas” shows Monroe Drive changing into Boulevard at Ponce De Leon Avenue, like it is today. Boulevard is a stand alone street name at all times.
If anyone knows about this name change business, please leave a comment. It would be interesting to know when these changes were made, and what government agency made them. Google has not been helpful, except for pointing the way to several map collections.
#PiedmontParkHanging Part Two
Last week, an apparent suicide was found in Piedmont Park. Soon, the twitter people were in an uproar. Rumors were spreading at the speed of light. People said that it was a lynching, and that the KKK held a rally in the park the day before. Others said the klan was handing out flyers.
At first, the corporate media was quiet. WSB TV tweeted we do not report suicides. There are sound reasons for this. Copycat suicides… a depressed person deciding to take their life, after hearing about another person taking this step … is a problem. There is also the decent consideration of privacy. If a person is in such a bad way that they want to take their life, the corporate media should allow them a measure of peace. There are other stories to report.
The name of the young man has been released. Apparently, there were health issues, and a family that did not accept him. The medical examiner reports evidence indicating a suicide, with no sign of foul play. The FBI agrees with the APD… this was not a lynching.
One of the more striking rumors was that the park was a known meet-up spot for the infamous hate group. This referred to the KKK. Most Atlanta residents find the idea of KKK rallies in the park to be absurd. And yet, people swallowed these rumors without a shred of supporting evidence. If someone says so on twitter, then it must be true.
Maybe the young man can find peace now. It is a shame that his tragic death has become the center of a circus. The gossip mongers can find another tragedy to exploit. Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
#PiedmontParkHanging
The police report said that a body was found in Piedmont Park at 4:57 am, June 7, 2016. A black man, age 25-35, was hanging in a tree near the Charles Allen Drive entrance.”There were no discernible signs of a struggle or foul play. The scene was consistent with a suicide.” There would be an autopsy, and further investigation. A twitterstorm soon erupted.
@tattedpoc The KKK was in this spot yesterday & they want us to believe a black man hung himself on a tree #PiedmontParkHanging
@chamblee54 how do you know the KKK was on Charles Allen Drive yesterday?
@tattedpoc they had their lil racist rally or gathering there JUST yesterday
@chamblee54 do you have any evidence to support this claim? How many people were there? Were any counter protesters there? What park was it?
@tattedpoc @chamblee54 nigga how tf am I to know? Do you see my black ass attending KKK rallies to count the attendance?
The KKK story shifted to having klansmen in the park handing out flyers. This happened on Wednesday, a day with severe thunderstorms in the Atlanta area. No one seems to have a solid source for these reports. One person tweeted a flyer from Virginia, and claimed to have found it in their neighborhood. One twitter exchange got ridiculous. This is a heavily edited version, with most of the tweets left out. When you find yourself in a hole, you should stop digging.
@chamblee54 Where is the evidence of the KKK handing out flyers in Piedmont Park Wednesday?
@FCsportz eyewitness accounts. No pics or video have been released.
@FCsportz @DoritoDinker @chamblee54 @Flyswatter I’ve read multiple articles on the matter, Folks said they saw them. That’s called an “eyewitness”.
@chamblee54 Do you have a link to any of those articles?
@FCsportz they are all over the Internet, it’s a simple google search.
@chamblee54 In other words you do not have a link
@_Hey_Arthur_ lololol OMG! Dude is using Twitter as his source. This is too much
@FCsportz “Account: a report or description of an event or experience.”These can be real or fake
@FCsportz whether they are lying or not is not my problem.
Piedmont Park has an interesting niche in Atlanta life. Many simply call it “the park,” and assume you know what they mean. The park is synonymous with queer life. Piedmont Park is said to be air conditioned… there is a blower behind every bush. To hear that the Klan is *recruiting* in the park is poignant. The jokes will write themselves.
@hiraethwndrlst a man was LYNCHED in a popular KKK meeting ground and its ruled suicide with little investigation.
@DarrinPenn How are you going to rule a suicide when the man was found hanging from a tree in a popular KKK meeting place
@BlvckConscious The man whose death was ruled a “suicide” was found hanging from a tree in an area with a high influence of KKK members #PiedmontParkHanging
@alisonklemp Maybe the #piedmontparkhanging was a suicide. And maybe before he climbed the tree he lit a cross on fire, you know, to help him see better.
@GimmeeTitties If he wanted to commit suicide he wouldn’t have hung himself from a tree , he would’ve just reached for his ID #PiedmontParkHanging
@WiFiWisdom #PiedmontParkHanging I live on the same street as the park and its Klan Central.
Maybe the death of the young man was foul play. Maybe the klan was handing out flyers in the park, on a rainy Wednesday night. Stranger things have happened. What is interesting is how quickly, and easily, the rumors are believed. It is also problematic. Americans are having serious problems getting along with each other. When outlandish rumors are automatically believed, and those who doubt these rumors labelled racist, it just makes it that much tougher to work on the serious racial problems that do exist in our society.
Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”. The spell check suggestion for piedmontparkhanging is paperhanging. UPDATE: More information about the young man has been released. It is almost certainly a suicide.
91 Word Sentence About White Supremacy
There was a tasteful meme on the facebook thingie today. It was about BHO, who may go down in history as the Meme President. The block of JPG text began When a faithfully married black president who was the son of a single mother…
Some people quote the first sentence in a situation like this. In this rant, the first sentence has 91 words. It has more grammar mistakes than a sportscaster seminar. It boils down to: when A is considered B by C who D. And what does D do next? Those 91 words are an insult to the Queen’s English. (91 is the product of 7, a lucky number, multiplied by 13, an unlucky number.)
There are eight more words at the end. “This is white supremacy folks. Plain and simple.” A comma might help in the sentence. Does he mean that the two players in the 91 word sentence are “white supremacy folks.”? Or is the author calling the attitude described “white supremacy”.? In any event, “Plain and simple” is not a complete sentence, nor does it describe the 91 word sentence.
This is a case where the medium is as important to the story as the message. When looking for information about the meme, PG typed “When a faithfully married black president who was the son of a single mother” into the wonder window. The algorithm replied: “Did you mean: When a faithful married black president who was the son of a single mother.”
The first reply was from the dependable PuffHo, This Is Not White Supremacy. It made some good points. A few spots down the google page, we see THIS IS NOT WHITE SUPREMACY. That is the original posting of the commentary. PuffHo aggregated it, without paying the original author.
So mush much for the medium. Lets look at the message. BHO, as you may know, is mixed race. The “single mother” of the piece was white. To our racially obsessed culture, this means black. America has had nine years to get over the ethnicity of BHO. It has failed miserably. To some, any criticism of the man is racist. Maybe you mindlessly defend anything BHO does, and say that the critics are members of the KKK. Or maybe you are upset because a dark skinned man is in the White House. BHO can do nothing right, because he has dark skin.
Either way, the people who see the skin, and not the man, are doing America a disservice. After January 20, 2017, we will find some other mindless excuse to trash our leaders. This is how politics works. You say whatever you can think of that is negative about the opposition. You gloss over the negativity of your own side. After a while, a lot of people don’t believe a word that either side is saying. When everyone is shouting, nobody is heard. This is politics. The generalizations are plain, and the minds are so, so, so simple.
There is an attitude among some that “racism” is a metaphysical evil. The R monster must be defeated. Collateral damage is not a problem. If you are going to make an omelet, you need to break eggs. When PG hears talk like this, he feels like an egg.
One problem is that everyone has their own idea of what “racism” is. They are correct, and you are mistaken. To some, it is systemic institutional oppression. To others, it is cultural appropriation and microaggressions. (spell check suggestion: nonaggression) Some cynics say that “racism” is anything that rubs you the wrong way. If you disagree, you need to check your privilege.
PG saw a video last week, A Rant Against an Anti-Millennial Rant. “And we use words like “racist” to describe someone who thinks that the word “bae” isn’t real because it didn’t originate from a white, Eurocentric vernacular.” These are strange times.
If you are getting itchy, this is almost over. If you like, you can skip over the rest, and look at the pictures. They are from The Library of Congress. Image #06663: “Fifth International Pageant of Pulchritude and Eleventh Annual Bathing Girl Revue, Galveston, Texas, August 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 1930”
The last quote in this paste-a-thon is from RebelYid. “I could point out the fallacy of selecting the best qualities of Obama, while selecting the worst qualities of Trump, or the framing of the statement to reach a preordained conclusion about racism. This is how irrefutable facts can lead to erroneous conclusions. Such rants are great for confirming the views of those already so inclined and worthless for convincing anybody else. Facebook and Twitter thrives on political comments with no depth. By insisting on making it about racism, you blind yourself to the greater problem …”
All White Jury
The British story had an inflammatory headline: US supreme court voids Georgia man’s death sentence over racial bias on jury “The US supreme court on Monday delivered a stinging rebuke to the southern state of Georgia for having concocted an all-white jury to send a black man to death row, ruling that prosecutors intentionally skewed the process by striking out all prospective black jurors in an act of blatant racial discrimination.” Here is the SCOTUS ruling.
A Rome GA newspaper had a story on the case, Race is key to Timothy Tyrone Foster appeal before U.S. Supreme Court. “Queen White lived by herself in Rome. She’d retired after teaching over 30 years and had been a fourth-grade teacher at Johnson Elementary School. By all accounts she was loved by her friends, former co-workers and students. (SCOTUS notes “Timothy Tyrone Foster, an eighteen-year-old African-American, was charged in 1986 with killing Queen Madge White, an elderly white woman, in Rome, Georgia.”)
On Aug. 27, 1986, at approximately 8:30 p.m. a friend took White to choir practice and brought her back to her Highland Circle home near the Coosa Valley Fairgrounds.White talked to her sister on the telephone around 9 p.m. Her sister stopped by early the next morning, discovered White’s house had been ransacked and found her body lying on the floor of her bedroom.According to court records, she was covered up to her chin by a blanket, and her face was covered in talcum powder. Her jaw was broken, and she had a severe gash on the top of her head. Before she had been strangled to death, White had been molested with a salad-dressing bottle.
Police had suspects, and Foster — who lived nearby — was one of them. But they had no evidence linking him to the crime. Nearly a month later Foster was arrested after threatening his live-in companion on Green & Gold Boulevard. She responded to his threats by turning him in. White’s possessions were recovered from their home and from Foster’s two sisters. Foster confessed to the killing shortly after his arrest.
The community was outraged over the brutal circumstances of the murder, and several lawyers refused to represent Foster. “Obviously (Foster) was an African-American and (White) was a beloved member of our community,” (Mr. Foster’s lawyer Bob) Finnell said. “She was a lovely person.”
Apparently, Mr. Foster had a tough life. There was some dispute about whether he was mentally ill, or “retarded.” “A defense psychiatrist testified that Foster was so intoxicated from the ingestion of alcohol, marijuana and cocaine that he did not know the difference between right and wrong at the time of the crime.”
“Part of the Foster’s defense against the death penalty was to show the dire circumstances of his life — an environmental defense — essentially “look at where this kid came from,” Finnell said. His lawyers spoke with Foster’s father and asked him to take the stand to talk about Foster’s life. He said he wouldn’t do it. “He told me ‘We smoke our dope, we laugh and I can always make another kid,’” Finnell said. “You wonder how could somebody say that about his child. It was chilling.”
In death penalty cases, jury selection issues frequently come up in appeals. These have a way of being “inside baseball,” and can cause brain damage to casual observers. In Mr. Foster’s case, apparently four Black people were struck from the jury. The Georgia courts ruled that the reasons given for striking the black jurors were valid. SCOTUS disagrees.
In today’s ruling, much is made of a note the prosecutors used. In this note, the race of prospective jurors was noted. The Georgia court ruled: “4. The trial court did not err by denying Foster’s post-trial motion to review in camera the state’s jury-selection notes. An attorney’s work product is generally non-discoverable. A defendant’s right to exculpatory evidence under Brady v. Maryland, 373 U. S. 83 (83 SC 1194, 10 LE2d 215) (1963), is not involved here, and non-exculpatory information in an attorney’s work product does not become discoverable simply because the opposing attorneys might find it strategically useful.” Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
American Distrust
In dog bites man news, there was a post about Bernie Sanders on facebook. A well meaning lady made a comment, with a link to When Racism Trumps Socialism. The feature was a collection of tweets. PG got through a few, until he saw “The GOP has no qualm w/hugging its proudly bigoted, predominately White base, but Democrats decide to have an identity crisis every 2 yrs. ~ We can’t seem to agree on whether we want to fight the bigots or the banks first. ” PG remembered that there was some paint he could watch dry.
A few hours later, the well meaning lady had posted another comment. Included in the comment was a quote. : “If you aren’t starting from the basic premise that deep seated American distrust of government is rooted in racism, you’re doing it wrong.” There was a deeply edited reply.
Luther Mckinnon “”If you aren’t starting from the basic premise that deep seated American distrust of government is rooted in racism, you’re doing it wrong.” The Vietnam war. The outsourcing of jobs. The petty corruption. There is a lot of times the government has abused the trust of the governed that are not related to race.
Well Meaning Lady Luther: Respectfully, I think it’s naive to think systemic racism didn’t/doesn’t play into each of your examples.
Luther Mckinnon I am in the middle of a lengthy reply. If I feel it is worth my peace of mind to complete, I will put it on my blog.
Here is the incomplete reply: “When someone starts a reply with the word “respectfully” I know I am not going to like what follows. I can talk at great length about the obsession with other people’s racial attitudes (OPRA) that our culture has today. Yes, so called systemic racism may play a part in those three items, which I pulled out more or less randomly. There are a lot of other areas where the government has abused the trust of the governed. But the current dialog on race is not really about systemic racism. It is about what foolish thing some celebrity said. Or something that your neighbor says that rubs you the wrong way. This is what people mean when they say racism.”
There was a saying during the era when communism was an ongoing operation. People would say there is a communist under every bed. Today, this is true about racism. Some people think there is a racist under every bed. To some, all of the problems in today’s society can be traced back to racism.
Rhetoric has a way of evolving in a discussion. First, the distrust of government is “rooted” in racism, whatever that means. When the well meaning lady is called out on this, it becomes “play into.” In both statements, a cause and effect relationship is alleged, without a whole lot of evidence.
Lets focus for a minute on Vietnam. From her profile picture, Well Meaning Lady appears to be thirty something. This means she is probably the daughter, or grand daughter, of people who were old enough to be aware of the tragedy that was Vietnam. She probably does not have first hand knowledge of the lies told by the American government throughout that hideous conflict. A generation of patriotic Americans were disillusioned by the wretched conduct of that war.
Was the hatred of that war “rooted in racism”? Not exactly. Some said that the slaughter of Asian women and children was racist, and to a certain degree that is true. However, the racist nature of that war… and of most of the wars since then … is not the primary reason why Americans turned against it. The war was hated because the young men of America … our fathers, uncles, sons, and brothers … were being conscripted into the army, and sent to die. The reason our men … black, white, yellow, brown and red … were fed into the meat grinder was the lies of our government. And to make money for the military industrial complex… the petty corruption mentioned above. That is the reason why many Americans turned on its government, not racism.
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
The Lemonade Recipe
As you may have heard, Beyoncé released a new album/video collection. People are talking. Some say it is a work of genius. Piers Morgan liked the less political Beyoncé. Others say that Mr. Morgan’s caucasian opinion is not welcome.
Lemonade is seen by many as an expression of life, and death, in 2016 African America. This is reinforced by opinion pieces like Dear White People Who Write Things: Here’s How To Write About Beyonce’s Lemonade. Some wonder if Lemonade is not an attempt to cash in on some powerful emotions in African America. It is obvious that the work is corporate product, designed to make money. You can express important thoughts, and make money at the same time.
According to Beyoncé’s “creative director,” a white man named Todd Tourso, the performer took an active role in the creation of the product. “Beyoncé’ was really just the fearless leader the entire time. Throughout this process, daily she would shoot for 10 hours, then do a 2 hour show, then go to the studio until 4 or 5 in the morning, then wake up at 7am and do it again. And on top of this schedule she’s completely involved in every creative decision along the way and completely happy and excited and fun the entire time. It was just a really inspiring and contagious energy to be around.”
“According to docs obtained from Louisiana Entertainment, the estimated budget for Lemonade was $1.35 million.” That figure seems a bit low. In any event, that money had to come from somewhere. Beyoncé did not rob her piggy bank to get the production capital. Whoever put that money up is expecting a return on investment.
Another detail that comes up is the number of writers. “According to the liner notes released in the digital booklet, 72 writers collaborated to write Lemonade.” That is a bit misleading. John Bonham, the drummer for Led Zeppelin who died in 1980, got a credit for some sampled material.
72 writers is a lot of paid talent collaborating on a project. It gives support to those who say that Lemonade is corporate product. And, in keeping with the tenor of the times, Vanity Fair chimes in: “To criticize Beyoncé for collaborating in the production of her art is ignorant. It’s probably racist, too, but I’ll let the haters look into their own hearts to determine whether that’s true.”
Maybe the best thing to do is just enjoy, or ignore, Lemonade. Either way, Beyoncé is dancing all the way to the bank. Picture today are from The Library of Congress.
Dr. King And Mr. King
PG stumbled onto a blog post about a speech. It was delivered August 28, 1963, by Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. You have probably heard the money quote many times, but how many have heard the entire 881 words. PG had not, and decided to take a look.
The speech is really a sermon. It is delivered with the cadence, and rhetorical flourishes, of the church. Dr. King was a minister. The Jesus worship church is a huge player in African America. The fact that slaves were introduced to this religion by their owners seems to be forgotten.
The term used is Negro. This was the polite word in 1963. The custom of saying Black started in the late sixties, at least partially inspired by James Brown. Negro began to be seen as an insult, along with the infamous N-word … which is really just a lazy way of saying Negro.
As the speech is working up to the climax, there is a line “But not only there; let freedom ring from the Stone Mountain of Georgia!” Today, Stone Mountain is a middle class black community. DeKalb County is mostly black, and the political leadership is African American. This was a long way from happening in 1963.
Twelve weeks after Dr. King gave his speech, President John Kennedy was killed. Part of the reaction to this tragedy was the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The next year saw the Voting Rights Act, and escalation of the war in Vietnam. It seemed that for every step forward, there was a half step back. People lost patience with non violence. America did not implode, but somehow survived. It is now fifty three years later.
The other day PG stumbled onto a blog post, about a speech given by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This address was deemed “the singularly most-important speech on race in the history of this country.”
PG admires Dr. King. He is also suspicious of superlatives. There were some comments made by Rodney Glen King III. The comments by Mr King were briefer, and tougher to live up to.
While thinking of things to write about, PG realized that he had never seen the actual quote by Mr. King. It is embedded above. When you see this video, you might realize that Mr. King has been misquoted. The popular version has him saying “Can’t we all just get along.” He did not say just.
Mr. King was known to America as Rodney King. His friends called him Glen. His comments, at 7:01, May 1, 1992, went like this: ““People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along? Can we get along? Can we stop making it, making it horrible for the older people and the kids? . . . Please, we can get along here. We all can get along. I mean, we’re all stuck here for a while. Let’s try to work it out. Let’s try to beat it. Let’s try to beat it.”
The circumstances of the two comments could not be more different. Dr. King was giving the sermon of his life. There was an enormous crowd, both in person and on TV. His comments were scripted, rehearsed, and delivered with the style that he was famous for.
Mr. King, by contrast, had just seen the officers who beat him acquitted. Cities from coast to coast were in violent upheaval. Mr. King was speaking to reporters without benefit of a speech writer. What he said might be more important. This double repost has pictures from The Library of Congress.
Oppressed
There was a link to some racial polemic today, White People Explain Why They Feel Oppressed. The feature talks about a group of people, known as both “white people” and “some white people.” If you read anything about racism, this will be familiar material.
“Modern white Americans are one of the most powerful groups of people to ever exist on this planet and yet those very people—or, if you’re white, you people—staunchly believe that the primary victims of modern racism are whites. We see this in poll after poll. A recent one by the Public Religion Research Institute found 52 percent of whites agreed, “Today discrimination against whites has become as big a problem as discrimination against blacks and other minorities.” … Why is it that some white people feel like they are the primary victims of racism?”
This is an interesting bit of logic. A slim majority, in one study, says the discrimination against whites is as big a problem as discrimination against blacks. In the next paragraph, whites are “the primary victims of racism”. Not only that, this statement is assumed to be the truth. We bypass the determination of truth, and go directly to wondering about the reason.
The 52 percent figure is found on pages 45 and 46 of the study. Other demographics involved are age and religion. In fact, “37% of religiously unaffiliated Americans believe that discrimination against white Americans has become as big a problem as discrimination against other groups.” Maybe the question should not be about white people, but about Christians.
The rest of the article is full of semantics and rhetoric. It makes statements like “It’s definitely easier to blame a person of color than it is to try to understand how faceless global economic forces have screwed you over.” You could easily substitute white person, for person of color, and get the same result. People are going to look for someone, usually “the other,” to blame.
The Vice article was written by Touré Neblett, whose byline typically only has his first name. He has stuck his keyboard in his mouth before. “Neblett tweeted out an article calling for slavery reparations and endorsing its arguments. One of his followers shot back that “My family survived a concentration camp, came to the US w/ nothing, LEGALLY, and made it work.” But Neblett responded by chalking their survival up to “the power of whiteness.”
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Some pictures are of the Tuskegee Airmen.
Institutional Racism
It is blackberry winter in Brookhaven. PG is editing pictures from The Library of Congress, some of which will illustrate this repost. While fussing over group portraits from a Navy vessel, PG is listening to The Glenn Show. Today’s episode features the host, Glenn Loury, and frequent guest John McWhorter. Both men are professors at Ivy League institutions. They are also African Americans. Their conversations are usually entertaining, and provide fodder for slack blogger content.
The first part of the chat involves politicians who say, in effect, “my opponent is not black enough.” An incident involving Barack Obama was discussed. In some of his early elections, the opponent charged that BHO was too closely connected to the big money elite.
Duh. You don’t get elected to public office without having wealthy friends. They want a return on their investment. This has been a problem for the *naive* people who thought they were voting for hope and change. BHO did not raise a billion dollars without making shady promises.
Most politicians face the “authentic enough” issue. When running in the party primary, they try to appear blacker than Spike Lee, or more conservative than Herbert Hoover. When the general election arrives, the need to reach less radical voters arises. Many politicians see the need to back away from what they were saying a few weeks earlier. Saints do not win elections.
After a while, Doctors Loury and McWhorter moved onto the issue of gentrification. Dr. McWhorter wrote a Time magazine piece, “Spike Lee’s Racism Isn’t Cute: ‘M—–f—– Hipster’ Is the New ‘Honkey” Regarding this article, there is a lovely quote from Dr. McWhorter. The quote says to always remember that racism is institutional.
Hissy fits about racism like to have it both ways. They will tell you that racism is *really* about institutional systems that oppress POC. Ok, fine. Exactly what does a tweet, quoting a joke taken out of context, have to do with institutional systems of oppression?
POC
PG saw a tweet that he agreed with. His reasons for agreement were probably different from the reasons of the tweeter, Black Girl Dangerous. In any event, this is something that PG has wanted to opine about for a while. It will be a good excuse to write text. Something needs to go between the pictures, from The Library of Congress. Permission to quote the tweets has been requested. If this permission is granted, the tweets will be included. This is a repost.
The tweets were about the expression POC. For those who are new here, POC stands for person/people of color. It is a preferred expression for people who are not of european origin, and use a language other than english. People of color is similar to colored people. The latter expression is considered offensive in 2014.
The fine print for @BlackGirlDanger says “Amplifying the voices of queer and trans* people of color. We don’t respond to clueless white tweets.” BGD responded to the comment by @chamblee54. The gravatar image for c54 has a paper bag over his melanin challenged face. Maybe the comment was clueful. In any event, a reply was made.
As for POC, it lumps too many different groups of people, with too many different experiences, together. It doesn’t say very much. Some POC are oppressed. Some POC are privileged. Many people who claim POC status have experienced little of the oppression that many African Americans face.
This is not the first time the BGD has written about this. There was a post recently, 4 Ways to Push Back Against Your Privilege. Part four is about people who think it is cool to say they are POC, when they haven’t really had the experience. The post is copyrighted. You are encouraged to use the link and see for yourself what BGD has to say.
In June of 2012, a firestorm broke out in Atlanta about a drag queen named Sharon Needles. The linked post tells a bit of the story. PG made a comment. He was criticized by a person, who used the expression “those of us who are people of color” in the diatribe.
PG has heard that this person is of Indian origin. The amount of wealth, education, and privilege possessed by them is not known. They are clearly not of African origin, and might be caucasian. It is unlikely that they has experienced the oppression faced by many African Americans. Why does they make angry statements, with the phrase “those of us who are people of color”?
Chamblee54 
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