To make this clear - not my words.
Found this in a Dear Abby article (advice column). Normally I wouldn't read that kind of thing, but I was done with the funnies, and I like reading about other peoples' problems once in a while instead of turning to the front page to read about what will inevitably become mine.
The Dear Abby article:
Some chick in LA or Vegas or some big flash city like that was complaining about her boyfriend. Actually she didn't specify, it could have been her husband. Problem with this dude was that he was verbally abusing her. I wish I had the article, but it got thrown out. It said something along these lines (not the exact wording, but close):
"Whenever he gets mad, he uses a racial slur. And I'm not even black - I'm Hispanic!"
Point 1: I agree with Abby that this woman should dump his bigoted ass.
Point 2: "Not. Even. Black." Dude, I'm white and that pissed me off. Now, I may be taking this the wrong way. Assuming she was being called a nigger, her statement makes more sense and isn't so offensive to blacks. It could be that Abby edited out the word nigger (young readers, virgin ears, whatnot). Could be that this woman didn't even realize how she phrased this (if she's too dumb to get out of the relationship, we can't expect her to be aware of what she's saying). Could be that I'm seriously overreacting to this.
Or.
She could mean exactly what I and my roommate both thought when we read this - Hispanics are "better" than Blacks. In which case, I'm sorry Abby didn't call her on it. Because it looks to me that this woman thinks that Hispanics are not supposed to be racial targets. No, that is reserved for them thur no-good dangerous Niggers.
Even if I am overreacting to this particular phrase, I've noticed this. Different races have kind of established a pecking order. True bummer.
On a nearly related note, anyone seen the movie Crash? I liked it. Good thoughts.
Well, a lot of Hispanics/Latinos have some black ancestry or are black themselves. The word "nigger" was never used against these people; they were used against African Americans. There are/were other racial slurs for them, and they were in Spanish. A black person from Brazil, or Guatemala or Cuba, for example, although he/she has probably experienced racial discrimination, being called a 'nigger' doesn't mean the same thing to them. Or maybe it would. Maybe this person just has visible black ancestry but doesn't identify herself with her black ancestry.
My friend noticed something about "Crash": in this movie, all races and ethnicities were redeemed at the end, except for Asians.
Is it not a source of continued amazement to every well-read person in the USA that, despite 4 billion years of evolution, we still can't get past this whole racism thing? I've said it before: I'll say it again...
All these Christians, whether real or self-proclaimed, are looking for evil and evidence of it on this planet, possibly as a signifier that we are in the "End Days" It's out there folks! It is good old-fashioned American bigotry. And it resides in your hearts, your thoughts, and your gut reactions. It's at your dinner tables, it comes from the mouths of your parents, it's in the eyes of a million and a half cops. It flows like gravy over the mashed potatoes of our social structure.
Infrequently (when my wife allows it) I go for a quick beer in the biker controlled dive across the street. (Three weeks before I moved into my house, a man was shot to death in the parking lot...but that's another story.) The regulars there are blue collar, Irish and Italian, most of them party girls and power drinkers; folks whose highest aspirations were to obtain a union card, buy a rowhouse, and grow old with barstools up their asses.
Nearly all of them feel that "their town" is being ruined by "n*****s"
who have moved into the area on section 8 rent subsidies. In other words, the rent payments are guaranteed by the state government. But the attitude is the same story. "They get a break 'cos they're black"
Or, "where's MY free ride? I'd sure like to not have to worry about paying my rent" Or, "these people bring crime and drugs with them; they're lazy, on welfare, have a dozen kids with more on the way..." yada, yada, yada. All the while ignoring the fact that they themselves are badly educated, HS grads or less, and more domestically violent than any minority population could ever hope to be. The hate is fueled by ignorance and alcohol, and is as deeply ingrained as Berry's aneuyrism.
Gotta dash for now, more later today!
Happy Gnu Year!!!