Pass The Popcorn
This is a repost from 2014. PG was editing pictures from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”. Some of these images decorate this post. He had been working on a batch of pictures. It was time to blow through the remaining 200 images, and get them out of the way. Focus on what you are doing, and ignore the distractions.
Sometimes, the old fashioned interruptions intrude. At one point, the telephone rang. The recorded voice of Pat Boone (?) urged PG to vote for David Perdue in the coming election. Did you know that Obamacare is causing cutbacks in Social Security? Did you know that the Republicans think you are a total idiot for believing this nonsense?.
One status provoked 139 comments. PG ran out of popcorn. “White queers should really check themselves when you think it’s okay to show up to a party in blackface. Whether or not you think it’s artsy there is a history of racial oppression that goes with blackface. You’re not being cool, you look foolish, you should edit yourself and check your fucking privilege.”
Someone in New York had a Rocky Horror Show party. A person paid homage to the opening number, which features a pair of lips against a black background. This detail did not come out until 45 comments had hit the innertubes.
It was a lively discussion. PG is a known caucasian. He does not know what it is like to live as a POC. PG does suspect that some incidents do not merit high octane rhetoric. In this virtual town hall meeting, an party costume became a chance to opine about “the relationship between systemic racism and oppression.” So many big words, so little time.
“… epic insensitivity to the experiences People of Color face in our white supremacist society, which is totally uncool, and an example of implicit racism. The fact that Cher would not even consider that painting her face and body could be offensive is blatant proof of her privilege. … To dismiss someone’s comments and to challenge the fact that Cher’s look resembles blackface and could offend someone is the exactly a page from the playbook of white supremacy. The very act of saying this isn’t racist is you forcing your asinine opinion on people. … We can only move forward with open dialogue and not by dismissing people’s feelings.”. … “I mean for real. No shade let’s talk about trauma and white supremacy. … The reality that white supremacy is a constant trauma white folks can choose to pay attention to is real. The fact that “lifetime minority status” for people of color shortens the lifespan is fact. Any ou going to tell my home girl that she is out of line for developing community, decolonizing and coping strategies smash that system girl it’s tired and dying out anyways. I’ll be dat black supremacist for you any day of the week.”
“We can only move forward with open dialogue and not by dismissing people’s feelings.” Holy hypocrisy, Batman. Have you ever tried to offer a non-compliant opinion? Unless you are an emotional masochist, or have very thick skin, *stay in your lane*.
Eventually, PG ran out of steam, and went to sleep. The next morning saw the end of the pictures, while listening to Peggy Caserta talk about Jania Joplin. Miss Caserta wrote a book, Going Down With Janis The opening line: “I was stark naked, stoned out of my mind on heroin, and between my legs giving me head was Janis Joplin.”
UPDATE: This is a repost from October 28, 2014. This whimsical post serves as a time capsule to a simpler, more innocent time. Many of the traumas that have obsessed us in the last eight years … The Trump Presidency, COVID … would have been dismissed as bad fiction in 2014. Meanwhile, seven time zones away, the Euromaidan revolution was going on. It was little noticed in the United States, which was more interested in racist halloween costumes. Ukraine has had severe complications for the world, and might lead to nuclear disaster. Cher’s halloween costume will not be very important when the nuclear fallout falls, or any of the other looming disasters hit.
Quoting James Baldwin
James Arthur Baldwin has become a star on facebook, thirty five years after his death. People love to quote him, and post artsy pictures of his face. Over the past year I have seen three Baldwin memes that required action. Once you start to research, there is no telling what you are going to find.
“I can’t believe what you say because I see what you do.” This item is from a 1966 article that Mr. Baldwin wrote for The Nation. “One is in the impossible position of being unable to believe a word one’s countrymen say. “I can’t believe what you say,” the song goes, “because I see what you do”—and one is also under the necessity of escaping the jungle …”
“The song goes” is what the memes leave out. Ike Turner wrote the song. The Ikettes sing “I can’t believe…”, while Tina goes “agh, agh, agh, agh, agh, agh, agh, agh, agh.” Ike knew about being a no-good man. Tina looks a lot better in a short skirt than Mr. Baldwin did.
“I’d like to leave you with one more short quote from James Baldwin, “Whoever debases others is debasing himself.” This is from a June, 2020 video about racism. This quote is from Letter from a Region in My Mind, a 1962 essay in The New Yorker. “Letter…” clocks in at 22,114 words. Mr. Baldwin could crank out the word count.
“Letter…” covers a lot of ground. The “debase” quote comes in after Mr. Baldwin describes a visit to Elijah Muhammad, leader of the Nation of Islam. Soon, Mr. Baldwin starts talking about race in the United States. One quote stood out: “But white Americans do not believe in death, and this is why the darkness of my skin so intimidates them.”
“By this time, I was in a high school that was predominantly Jewish. This meant that I was surrounded by people who were, by definition, beyond any hope of salvation, who laughed at the tracts and leaflets I brought to school, and who pointed out that the Gospels had been written long after the death of Christ. … My best friend in high school was a Jew. He came to our house once, and afterward my father asked, as he asked about everyone, “Is he a Christian?”—by which he meant “Is he saved?” I really do not know whether my answer came out of innocence or venom, but I said, coldly, “No. He’s Jewish.” My father slammed me across the face with his great palm, and in that moment everything flooded back—all the hatred and all the fear, and the depth of a merciless resolve to kill my father rather than allow my father to kill me—and I knew that all those sermons and tears and all that repentance and rejoicing had changed nothing.”
“The place in which I’ll fit will not exist until I make it.” This quote proved more difficult to chase down. It does not appear in any of Mr. Baldwin’s work. The earliest mention appears to be behind The New Yorker paywall. “During his wanderings, Baldwin warned a friend who had urged him to settle down that “the place in which I’ll fit will not exist until I make it.” There is no link to a source.
The New Yorker article is cited by Lithub, which is then cited by New Transcendentalist. “These Timely James Baldwin Quotes … ,” from Bustle, credits the quote to “a 1957 letter to Sol Stein.”
Sol Stein “attended DeWitt Clinton High School, where he served on the Magpie literary magazine with Richard Avedon and James Baldwin.” We don’t know if Mr. Stein was the one who made David Baldwin slap his step-son. A paywalled article, about the correspondence between Mr. Stein and “Jimmy,” does not mention the “place in which I’ll fit” quote.
The WaPo article did have a mind-blowing quote. “In the introduction to the book, Baldwin would ponder his influences: “When one begins looking for influences, one finds them by the score. … the King James Bible, the rhetoric of the store-front church, something ironic and violent and perpetually understated in Negro speech…” I saw this quote in 1976, in a college textbook. At the time, I thought this was an amazing quote. It stayed in my mind until the next life changing detail came along, not to be thought of again for forty six years.
Chamblee54 has written about Mr. Baldwin before. Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library.” UPDATE: @QuoteResearch Replying to @chamblee54 @HilalIsler @lithub It appeared in a 1957 letter from James Baldwin and Sol Stein reprinted in “Native Sons” (2004) edited by Sol Stein. I am planning to create a QI article on this topic @QuoteResearch “Please get over the notion, Sol, that there’s some place I’ll fit when I’ve made some ‘real peace’ with myself : the place in which I’ll fit will not exist until I make it. You know and I know that the ‘peace’ of most people is nothing but torpor” … James Baldwin to Sol Stein UPDATE: I was writing a story about Flannery O’Connor. I wanted to quote this post, but could not find the link. Neither google nor duckduckgo would show me this post. I had to go to the chamblee54 archive, and scroll through October 2022 until I found the post.
Pre-K Anti-Racism
This is a repost from 2020. The facebook meme interrupted the cheerful October apathy. The meme was about an article, My 2-Year-Old Doesn’t Seem to Care About Being Anti-Racist. The colorful graphic did not have a link to the story, so PG googled the title. Soon, there were lots of options for Pre-K social justice education. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
The headline story was on Slate. The format is the anxious letter to an advice columnist. The subtitle was “Have we screwed up somehow?”
“Dear Care and Feeding, My husband and I (we’re white) have a 2-year-old daughter and are doing our very best to be anti-racist parents. We’re making sure she has lots of multiracial dolls, only consumes books and TV shows with diverse characters, has no problematic Halloween costumes, and so on. But when we try to discuss issues like structural racism, intersectionality, or White fragility, she doesn’t seem at all interested. She often walks away, asks for a cookie, or even falls asleep! Have we screwed up somehow? Has society’s disdain for the perspectives of marginalized people already infected her? How do we get her to appreciate the urgency of the conversation around deconstructing white supremacy? — Anti-Racist Mom.”
This is where the free story ends. “The rest of this article is only for Slate Plus members. Sign up to get more Care and Feeding every week. For just $35 for your first year, you’ll also get…”
Some of the results are boring. Anti-Racism for Kids … Is most notable for this observation: “ ‘I don’t know that I’d sit down with a 3-year-old and say, ‘Let’s talk about racism,’ says Dr. Schonfeld.”
6 easy ways … hits on a persistent theme in woke literature. “As humans, we are hard-wired to identify with members of our own community, which is why we will never live in a post-racial society. So-called color-blindness as a parenting strategy amounts to complicity in the problem.” Somehow, being color blind is seen as a bad thing. Whatever.
The dependably woke Washington Post populates their paywall with What white parents get wrong about raising antiracist kids … “One of the biggest misconceptions white parents have is that their children don’t notice race unless it is pointed out to them. The underlying assumption is that children only become racist if they are taught to be. In fact, research clearly shows the opposite: Kids develop racial prejudice unless their parents or teachers directly engage with them about it.”
In her book Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race,” “Spelman College psychologist Beverly Tatum writes that “cultural racism — the cultural images and messages that affirm the assumed superiority of Whites and the assumed inferiority of people of color — is like a smog in the air. Sometimes it is so thick it is visible, other times it is less apparent, but always, day in and day out, we are breathing it in.”
“So kids breathe this racially charged air — and if their parents and teachers don’t help to explain to them what race means (and what it doesn’t), kids start to create their own narratives. They often infer that racial hierarchies exist because of innate differences between people of different races and so start to believe that whites are privileged because they are inherently better and smarter.”
Some of this material is by “experts.” There are probably people who disagree with these observations, and a lot of exceptions to the rules. PG knows next to nothing about raising children, and is a bad person to have opinions here. Still, PG shakes his head at this: “Looking for a way to talk about race with your preschooler? Try baking. Crack open a white egg and then a brown egg, and show your kid how they’re the same inside. Or you can present your child with two gifts—one wrapped in ribbons and glitter, another in crinkled newspaper. Fill the sparkly one with dirt and the other with a shiny bracelet. Then get the conversation going: ‘Can you really judge what’s inside by the outside?'”
Or this. “White- centeredness is not the reality of [the white child’s] world, but he is under the illusion that it is. It is thus impossible for him to deal accurately or adequately with the universe of human and social relationships.” If you were to substitute black for white here, someone would call you racist. And they would be correct. Sweeping generalization, based on skin color, usually are.
The last result on page one is an NPR interview with children’s author Renee Watson, and Ibram X. Kendi. “I want to go back to “Hair Love.” I think it’s important to bring in books that allow readers to see black people living their everyday lives. We don’t want to teach children that black pain and struggle is the only part of black life. But I also think it’s important to just let young people see that black people live lives. And they do their hair. And they play outside. And they have fun and that that is an important part of the conversation, too.”
Subtle Ways To Deal With R*****
This is a repost from 2020. Facebook has a feature called “watch.” It is a symbol at the top of the page, which is sometimes advertised with a red marker. If you click on the symbol, you are encouraged to watch videos. This is not always a good move.
The Subtle Way to F**k with Racists – James Davis, with the uncensored f word, was the top video saturday. PG considers the r word to be hate speech, and complained about the video. The evil empire soon replied that the video did not qualify as unsuitable.
The Subtle Way … is a comedy routine. It starts off with some commentary on riots. It is not until 2:26 that we get to the “Subtle Way.” Since copyright protection is real, this will be paraphrased.
After the rioters are finished looting, the comedian goes to the vehicles of “racist people.” He peels the sticker off the license plate. He is not going to (expletive) property, he is going to (expletive) you. You are going to go to the DMV, because Black Lives Matter. After you get back from the DMV, your vehicle gets keyed. The audience laughs repeatedly. They are not worried about their vehicles.
Having “your shit” keyed is not subtle. This is probably someone the performer has never met. The comedian does not say how he knows they are racist. Even if this is a “racist people,” that does not justify malicious damage to property. This is what Facebook is encouraging.
The next “Subtle Way” involves breaking and entering. The comedian is going to break into the house of the policeman. They will break in, take “they best wine,” and put it in the freezer. When the officers wife goes to get the wine, there will be an unpleasant surprise. Meanwhile, the comedian is going to hide in the bushes outside, and yell “N***a.” Facebook, and Comedy Central Stand-Up, think this is a good idea. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
A Volleyball Controversy
I didn’t pay attention to the latest n-word controversy. Somebody screaming the magic word, at a women’s volleyball match in Utah, did not strike me as important. Why would a North Carolina school send a non-revenue producing team to Utah? Duke spent some major bucks on this match, at a time of rising college costs. That money could be better spent elsewhere.
A few days later, YouTube directed me to a video by Brandon Tatum. Officer Tatum posited the thought that Rachel Richardson … the star of this latest drama … was a liar. This sent me down a rabbit hole, which I am slowly emerging from.
The narrative is well known by now. Andre’ Hutchens put together a thread, which details/documents many of the scenes in this drama. The short version: Rachel Richardson says that she heard someone shouting the magic word. BYU, the home team, sent four ushers into the student section, and had a policeman stand in front of the crowd. None of these people heard the magic word.
After the match, a young man went up to the Duke players, and said something. The Duke team said this was the person who was shouting the magic word. The accused n-word shouter was escorted off the premises, and banned from attending BYU events in the future.
At some point after the match, Miss Richardson made some phone calls. She called her father, who has told his story many times. Somebody … we don’t know if it is father or daughter … called Lesa Pamplin, Miss Richardson’s godmother. In this story, we will call her the devilmother.
“My Goddaughter is the only Black starter for Dukes volleyball team, While playing yesterday, she was called a n****r every time she served. She was threatened by a white male that told her to watch her back going to the team bus. A police officer had to be put by their bench.”
The tweet by devilmother got a lot of national attention. Why did a tweet from a Texas politician get this much attention? Who knows. What is certain is that devilmother does not like white people … she thinks it is clever to say “whypipoe.”
Why did this need to be a national scandal anyway? Lets say it was true. You find the culprit, punish him, and finish playing your match. It does not need to be a toxic sensation. A Utah volleyball fan shouting the magic word is not going to affect economic security, police brutality, or equitable access to housing and education. All it is going to do is get people upset.
“She was threatened by a white male that told her to watch her back going to the team bus.” This part of the drama which has received little scrutiny. The “white male” claimed that he knew some BYU players, and confused the Duke team for the BYU team. Who did he approach? Was it she white or black? What exactly did he say? How did “the Duke team” identify the “white male” as the person shouting the magic word? This part of the story does not add up.
Deseret News obtained a copy of the police report. “BYU Police Det. Sgt. Richard Laursen stood throughout the fourth set next to the man now indefinitely banned from BYU events after Duke players said he used racist language, according to a police report Laursen filed that night. … The officer said the man did not use any negative language toward the Duke players during the fourth set. Laursen also said he didn’t hear any racist language used by any fan during that set, when Duke player Rachel Richardson said the racist slurs intensified. … That’s when he met the young man … the man asked why the officer was there and if there was a problem. … “I told him I was there listening for inappropriate comments toward the Duke players and the fan told me that he hadn’t heard any inappropriate comments. He said he told the players that they shouldn’t hit the ball into the net, but that was the only comment he made to the Duke players.” … The fan, who Laursen said was wearing a dark yellow or almost tan shirt and jeans, said he was friends with four of the BYU players. “He seemed to be more interested in talking to me than cheering for BYU. It was evident based on the individual’s comments, stuttered speech and mannerisms that he has special needs. … he may have (A)sperger syndrome or could have autism. The individual was articulate, but socially awkward. The individual kept scrolling through his phone and didn’t seem too involved in the game.” … “I was told the Duke players and coaches were very upset with what happened during the game and that the racial comments toward the Duke players was still happening during the fourth set that that (sic) I didn’t do anything about the comments being made,” … “I told the (BYU) Athletic staff that I never heard one racial comment being made.”
So the story goes. It is already fading from view. Soon, there will be another “teaching moment.” If you google Rachet Rachel Richardson, you see @mikefreemanNFL doubling down, in an ad hominem spectacular. Corporate media players, eager to report the original accusation, have been silent during the “Jussie phase” of this story. While it is easy to criticize right wing media on most issues, they are getting this story right. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Recreational Polemic
PG was spending a productive sunday morning. He created a map to the Living Walls grafitti festival. He was in a good mood. Even this link on facebook did not bring our slack blogger down.
Out of a masochistic sense of fairness, PG took a look at the link after he finished the map. “That’s Racist Against White People!” A Discussion on Power and Privilege is the usual headache producing polemic. Here is the third paragraph.
“These are White folks who are claiming that the Obamacare tax on tanning beds is “racist” against White people. These are White folks who are claiming that affirmative action is racist against them. These are the White folks who honestly believe they suffer more racism than people of Color.”
Lets take a look at those three links. In the first, Republican Congressman Ted Yoho complained to John Boehner about what is sometimes called the “Snooki tax”. The second link, about affirmative action, is linked to a feminist blog. The money quote “Ask any White person how they feel about Affirmative Action, and you’re almost guaranteed to hear that it is “racist against White people” and that it is “unfair” or “reverse discrimination” and that they oppose it.” This article is used as a source for the comment “These are White folks who are claiming that affirmative action is racist against them.” Is it prejudice to say “ask any white person”?
The last one, about PWOC thinking they suffer more discrimination than POC, is linked to an article in a British tabloid newspaper. Somebody did a study once, and that was one of the results. The study also showed “Blacks also perceived that racism against themselves had steeply declined from 9.7 in the 1950s to 6.1 in the 90s.”
One of the main points in the Everyday Feminism post was that the word racist is often misused. PG will not argue against that. The article was posted two days before a curious tweet by Chris Brown. “N**** done 6 months community service wit police and the DA racist ass crying to the judge that I didn’t do it. Fuck the SYSTEM! “
The entertainer, who is a POC, got in trouble for publicly beating up his girlfriend. He has had problems with his community service requirement. The amusing thing about this tweet is that the “DA racist ass” is a POC.
This is a repost. Very few things needed to be changed. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. These images are Union soldiers from the War Between the States. The primary justification for that gruesome conflict was the abolition of slavery.
Inspiration Porn
There is a lovely TED talk in the weekly email. The title is “I’m not your inspiration, thank you very much.” The speaker, Stella Young, delivers the message while sitting in a wheelchair.
The concept here is that *disabled* people are people. They are not here to inspire you. They are not intended to show you how bad your life could be, so you should appreciate what you have.
Ms. Young has a talent for words. She says some things much better than this slack blogger. TED talks include a transcript, aka the lazy bloggers friend. Laziness is not considered a disability.
…these images, there are lots of them out there, they are what we call inspiration porn. And I use the term porn deliberately, because they objectify one group of people for the benefit of another group of people. So in this case, we’re objectifying disabled people for the benefit of nondisabled people. … I’ve lost count of the number of times that I’ve been approached by strangers wanting to tell me that they think I’m brave or inspirational, and this was long before my work had any kind of public profile. They were just kind of congratulating me for managing to get up in the morning and remember my own name. And it is objectifying. These images, those images objectify disabled people for the benefit of nondisabled people. They are there so that you can look at them and think that things aren’t so bad for you, to put your worries into perspective. …
I really think that this lie that we’ve been sold about disability is the greatest injustice. It makes life hard for us. And that quote, “The only disability in life is a bad attitude,” the reason that that’s bullshit is because it’s just not true, because of the social model of disability. No amount of smiling at a flight of stairs has ever made it turn into a ramp. Never. (Laughter) (Applause) Smiling at a television screen isn’t going to make closed captions appear for people who are deaf. No amount of standing in the middle of a bookshop and radiating a positive attitude is going to turn all those books into braille. It’s just not going to happen.”
EMIT (Educate Motivate Inspire Tripe) is in your inbox everyday. Yesterday, this tweet sent PG down the rabbit hole. @chescaleigh “There’s a nasty rumor about racism, and it needs to die. Thankfully @the1janitor is here to help (via @Upworthy)” There was a link to Here’s What Morgan Freeman Had To Say About Racism, And Here’s A Guy Explaining What He Got Wrong.
The intro to the video said, among other things, “Every black person is going to have a different opinion/experience/perspective when it comes to racism.” This sentence got PG in a twitter exchange.
@chamblee54 @chescaleigh @the1janitor @Upworthy the intro said every black person has a different take on racism. so does every white person
@chescaleigh @chamblee54 didn’t deny that. but a white person’s perspective on racism lacks experiencing racism. so that’s a very different convo
@chamblee54 @chescaleigh i agree and disagree ~ white ppl experience prejudice ~ the semantics get in the way of understanding other people
@chescaleigh @chamblee54 white ppl experience prejudice not racism. They’re both shitty but not the same. Sounds like u need to read the link I posted
@chamblee54 @chescaleigh have glanced over article ~ re:#2, have been the only pwoc ~ i could go point by point, and might later on blog ~ thx 4 reply
PG saw the Upworthy video. A young man said that people need to talk about racism. He said nothing about listening. A poster for the University of Alabama football team was in the background. The exploitation of young black men, by college athletics, was not mentioned.
The article @chescaleigh linked to was 18 Things White People Should Know/Do Before Discussing Racism. It is poorly written, and full of logical fallacies. Here is item 3. “3. Oprah’s success does not mean the end of racism. The singular success of a Black man or woman (i.e. Oprah, or Tiger Woods, or President Obama) is never a valid argument against the existence of racism. By this logic, the success of Frederick Douglas or Amanda America Dickson during the 19th century would be grounds for disproving slavery.”
There was one last tweet. It was deleted a little while after being sent. Sometimes, it is best to use discretion. @chamblee54 @chescaleigh I read “18 things…” it was not very helpful.
Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”. UPDATE: Here is the reply post, The Problem with 18 things. UPDATE: Stella Young died December 7, 2014.
James Baldwin And The Word
In the spring of 1963, KQED filmed a show, “Take this hammer”, about James Baldwin. The snippet in the video above seems to have been the last three minutes of the show. Here is a transcript. Mr. Baldwin discusses a six letter insult. The n-word is more about the speaker, than the spoken of. A 2010 blogger had this to say.
“I’ve often felt that people’s projections of me are oftentimes just that – their projections. However, Baldwin’s ending sums up a solution to this perfectly: “But you still think, I gather, that the n****r is necessary. Well he’s unnecessary to me – he must be necessary to you. Well, I’m going to give your problem back to you…you’re the n****r, baby…not me.”
It is now 2022. (All discussions of race must mention the year.) The TV show was fifty nine years ago. A few things have changed. To many white people, overt expressions of racism are seen as bad manners. The n-word is taboo in polite company. The overall attitudes may not have changed, but most white people are careful how they say things.
This is a repost. Pictures are from The Library of Congress. These men are Union soldiers, from the War Between the States.
A few weeks ago, this blog published a feature, James Baldwin And The Six Letter Word. At the center was selection of James Baldwin talking about the n word. There was a transcript available, which makes today’s exercise a lot easier.
Mr. Baldwin was discussing this nasty word, and offered an insight into who the user of this nasty word was really talking about. Now, there is another nasty word being casually tossed about these days. This other nasty word is racist. What would happen if you took Mr. Baldwin’s talk, and substituted racist for nasty? It is an interesting way to look at things. What follows is not a perfect fit, and may be offensive to some. A few times, it is very close to the truth.
Who is the racist? Well i know this…and anybody who has tried to live knows this. What you say about somebody else (you know) anybody else, reveals you. What I think of you as being is dictated by my own necessities, my own psychology, my own uhm fears…and desires. I’m not describing you when I talk about you…I’m describing me.
Now, here in this country we got somebody called a racist. It doesn’t in such terms, I beg you to remark, exist in any other country in the world. We have invented the racist. I didn’t invent him, white people invented him. I’ve always known, I had to know by the time I was seventeen years old, what you were describing was not me and what you were afraid of was not me. It had to be something else. You had invented it so it had to be something you were afraid of and you invested me with it.
Now if that’s so, no matter what you’ve done to me I can say to you this, and I mean it…I know you can’t do any more and I’ve got nothing to lose…and I know and I have always known you know and really always..…I have always known that I am not a racist…but if I am not the racist…and if it is true that your invention reveals you…then who is the racist?
I am not the victim here. I know one thing from another. I know that I was born, am gonna suffer and gonna die. And the only way that you can get through life is to know the worst things about it. I know that a person is more important than anything else. Anything else.
I’ve learned this because I’ve had to learn it. But you still think, I gather, that the racist is necessary. Well he’s not necessary to me, so he must be necessary to you. So I give you your problem back. You’re the racist baby, it isn’t me.
Racially Motivated
A post on chamblee54 examined the local custom of changing street names. Towards the end, there was this sentence: “Some of these changes are racially motivated, while others are not. Some make sense, while most do not.” If you were to say this out loud, chances are good that someone would interrupt you, and say “Why don’t you say racist?” This is a repost.
The AP style guide took up this issue earlier this year. Here is what they say: @APStylebook “Do not use racially charged or similar terms as euphemisms for racist or racism when the latter terms are truly applicable.” @APStylebook “The terms racism and racist can be used in broad references or in quotations to describe the hatred of a race, or assertion of the superiority of one race over others. Our new race-related coverage entry on Stylebook Online offers details on when and how to use the terms.” You have to pay for the Stylebook online. God is in the details, and hiding behind a paywall.
@AnApeInKhakis “Remove nuance from journalism. If water’s not frozen, it’s boiling.” @beautypill “Yes, for example “You’re missing the point” and “You should go fuck yourself” both apply here, but critical differences in tone guide which one I should use to address your tweet.”
@Zigmanfreud “Yeah, the HUGE problem with this AP stylebook decision is that the people making the judgment call on what is “racist or racism” are so liberal & so PC that anything short of a white person apologizing for being born white (especially if they are a conservative man) would qualify”
@EvanDonovan “Yes, but when are they truly acceptable? Increasingly, newsrooms want attribution when that word is used. “Xxxxx has been under fire since making controversial comments last week. Yyyyy called those comments racist….”
This quotefest could go on all day. If you want to explore the racially/racist rabbit hole, go to an internet near you. More to the point, is changing a street name racially motivated, or racist? This statement applied to multiple street name changes. Often, race was not an apparent factor. We don’t know when the changes took place, or what government body made the changes.
Is this institutional oppression, or just government nonsense? Changing the street name is typical of the petty, separate-water-fountains nature of Jim Crow. Is the water boiling, or is it not frozen? At some point, the writer needs to think for them self. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
He Lied
There is a discussion at Bloggingheadstv about the recent events in Baltimore MD. The featured speakers, Glenn Loury and John McWhorter, have been heard from before. This is a thought provoking discussion. If you are multi tasking, you might not get much done. The temptation to stop and take notes will be great. This is a repost.
At BHTV, you can create a sound bite, known as a dinglelink, when something gets your attention. This chat produced three dinglelinks. These serve to illustrate the points that are going to be made. There are other things that could be said, but most people have a limited attention span.
At 23:19, the men are discussing one of the witnesses to the Micheal Brown shooting. Dr. Loury starts to talk loud, and says “he lied.” This is a problem.
During the Ferguson fiasco, America was hit over the head with a lot of talk, often at top volume. There was the spectacle of a crowd of people walking into a funeral with their hands in the air. A great deal of the shouting was based on lies. If you question these lies, you can expect to be called a racist. The little boy said he saw a wolf.
If you think Dr. Loury gets worked up in the first clip, wait until he talks about the #Baltimoreuprising. Dr. Loury does not like the expression. He might have a point. The disturbance was a reaction from a population in pain. It was not the first step in a revolution.
One of the popular memes of this “conversation about race” is complaining about “media double standards.” Complaints about profit motivated media are popular with both liberals and conservatives. In the Baltimore banter, videos of white people misbehaving after sporting events are shown, and the stern voiced commenter wonders why the media does not treat these people as harshly as the Baltimore crowd.
With the #Baltimoreuprising hashtag, this media commentary goes up a notch. When drunken white sports fans act out, it is a riot. When poor urban people loot stores, it is the #Baltimoreuprising. There is no telling where this will end up.
The last clip shows Dr. McWhorter asking if poor people are going to demand, of their neighborhoods, “no more thugs.” It is apparent that Dr. McWhorter does not read the same people on facebook that others do. The word “thug” is now considered a racist slur. Instead of attacking the problem, twitter nation is attacking the word that describes the problem. Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
Fat Or Racist
@jimchines Could we just stop with the use of “fat” as an insult already? You’re trying to hit the person you’re insulting, but you’re hurting a lot of other people in the process. Grow the hell up. @jimchines Yeah, Shakespeare also made his share of fat jokes/insults too, unfortunately. Do better. Get creative, and scrub that particular tired, lazy insult from your repertoire.
@chamblee54 What about the use of anything as an insult. I would start with racist.
@jimchines Racism is something we can choose to support, or we can choose to push back against. Too many people simply choose to ignore it. Which means accepting it. Don’t want to be described as racist? Stop doing/supporting/accepting racist shit. Seems simple enough to me. @jimchines Usually when I see people saying “racist” is an insult, all they’re trying to do is shut down criticism and silence conversation about race and racism. It’s tiresome.
@chamblee54 “Don’t want to be described as racist? Stop doing/supporting/accepting racist shit.” That is a lie. Even if you do quit being racist, how will your haters know? That lie is used to justify prejudice. Out of respect for our mental health, this thread should end now.
@jimchines Consider it ended. But in the future, perhaps don’t stir up conversations you’re unable or unwilling to have.
@chamblee54 Point taken. That was not my intention, however. Unfortunately, that is how it turned out. Fat compares to racist, in the third party conception that it is something the insultee has control over. In the case of fat, the change is measurable and apparent.
As twitterspats go, this was mercifully brief. One could go on about the relative merits of using fat, or racist, as weapons of verbal destruction. Both epithets usually have elements of bullying, and hypocrisy, in their use. Many language custodians, who would be appalled by fat, feel virtuous in calling someone racist. It would be better to retire both insults. That probably is not going to happen.
What makes this episode noteworthy is the connection between @jimchines and @chamblee54. There is a third party, who we will call @duh. This is not his name, but does incorporate his initials.
@chamblee54 and @duh quit communicating in 2008, after quarreling at @duh’s LiveJournal. @chamblee54 developed a distaste for online combat, and has tried, with varying degrees of success, to stay out of trouble. @duh, otoh, seems to glory in digital feuds. If a person goes to his facebook feed, they will see many examples of this.
One of these disputes included @jimchines. If you have a lot of free time, you can read about it. (one two three four) The beginning, and end, of one @jimchines post says a great deal. “Well, this has been quite the week. … My thanks to everyone for their patience while I worked through this.”
What makes yesterday’s episode ironic is that @duh is an aggressive pro-black pundit. He will call someone RACIST at the slightest provocation. To see the target of white-shaming defend the use of racist is quite the spectacle.
FWIW, @chamblee54, who sports an old man”s pot-belly, has only seen face pictures of @jimchines. @duh is flamboyantly skinny. @chamblee54 has never met either gentleman irl. Judgements about waistlines, or racial attitudes, are not appropriate.
While finishing this, a tweet turned up. @melaninbarbie “being fat matters. The violence that young fat Black girls experience contributed to her death and if you don’t understand why, y’all need to start cracking open some fucking books on fatphobia.” Pictures are from The Library of Congress. The men are Union soldiers, from the War Between the States. This is a repost.
Are Hispanic/Latino People White?
While writing about homicide statistics and police killings, PG noted a quirk in the US government statistics. Hispanic/Latino people were listed as an ethnicity, rather than a race. The individual categories of White/Black/etc. included Hispanic/Latino people, where appropriate. This applies to US Census Bureau population statistics, as well as FBI crime statistics.
One quickly learns that there is no hard and fast rule about what racial category Hispanic/Latino people fall into. It appears to be a self determined choice. Many Hispanic/Latino people see themselves as Hispanic/Latino, and not White or Black, no matter what the Census Bureau says. There are indications that more Hispanic/Latino people chose White on the Census form in 2010, than in 2000. The numbers for 2020 are not yet available.
This is not an option for most African Americans, or for many European Americans. PG is Caucasian, with a Scottish last name. His racial identity has never been in doubt. This classification as White is not a source of pride or shame. It simply is who PG is. Most non-Hispanic Caucasians in the United States have a similar experience.
The Census questions are presented with the Hispanic question first, and the race question second. “NOTE: Please answer BOTH Question 5 about Hispanic origin and Question 6 about race. For this census, Hispanic origins are not races.”
You have to dig a bit to get the Hispanic/Latino race breakdown. You learn that Hispanic/Latino people see themselves, at least with the census bureau, as:
White – 53%
Black – 02.5%
Native American – 01.4%
Asian – 0.4%
Some other race – 36.7%
Two or more races – 06%
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. This is a repost.
Chamblee54 
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