Racist!! :mad: :mad: :mad:
See how easy it it to play race when it means nothing? Thanks, Shodan. There will always be a T-Bone on the grill for you.
Now all we need (well, all I need, anyway) is a list of some shut-'m-up-quick&good-retorts to these kind of accusations.
I’ll go first, but I hope someone can do better then these:
But hey, at least I’m a *white * racist !
No. Nobody would get the joke.
:incredulous:: What! You’re *black * ?!
“That’s the best you can do? Pitiful.”
Reminds me of the ep of the West Wing where the HUD secretary labelled made a statement to a committe chairman, and he asked if she was calling him a racist, to which she replied “If the shoe fits.”
Bartlet: If the shoe fits? Is that the best she could do?
Leo: Of her many transgressions, Mr. President, let’s not worry about she resorted to cliches.
That may often be the case, but in my own experience I have found that accusations of racism also come from those who have repeatedly been actual victims of racism – lowered expectations, suspicion of shoplifting, reactions of fear in a parking lot, etc.
When I was flying back from France last week, a white woman was seated next to a window. Next to her was a black man. The woman asked to be moved to another seat. She said that she didn’t want to sit next to a window. If I had have been the black gentleman, I would have assumed that she wanted to move away because of my race. My granddaughter said that she would not have made that assumption at all. (I am a white woman who taught in predominately black schools from 1969-1989. My granddaughter attends a private school. Her oldest friend is racially mixed. I am hoping that time and circumstances have changed as much as she thinks it has.)
One of the frustrations that I have run into at SDMB is that there are those who think that because I can sympathize with the plight of Palestinians in general that I am anti-Semitic.
(I get the reverse accusation from an acquaintance who is part Arab and who thinks that I am pro-Israeli because I don’t tolerate his anti-Semitic comments.)
Racism!!!
Bolding mine.
Maybe it’s just because I was raised in Kansas, but I have never, EVER heard that phrase used to refer to genitals. It’s a female Native American Indian, and even though the dictionary I checked online says it’s disparaging, that’s not what I was taught in gradeschool. Definition Can anyone confirm that this is indeed a slang referance to genitals, what gender’s? Where is it used? Thanks.
I never heard of this until a few years ago either. My dad was visiting his best childhood friend whom he hadn’t seen in a few years and he had since wed an American Indian woman. My dad referred to her as a squaw (as part of a compliment) and she ran out of the room crying. His friend then told him if he ever used that term to refer to his wife again they would come to blows. My dad would kick this guy’s ass no problem but it hurt his feelings that he said that. I don’t think they’ve talked since then.
Pretty fucked up way to treat a lifelong friend over an honest mistake if you ask me.
I’ve had some good results with “Hey, fuck you - you motherfucker”
(It gets the message across without any hint of racism)
I’m of the no-crust sort of white bread folks. I live in (and was raised in) a predominatlly hispanic community, so, to me, it should be pretty obvious that I’m not racist (most of my friends are hispanic/mexican). If I was racist, I’d have been run out of town a long time ago. Fact is, I’m the minority.
Still, I have this conversation at least monthly, sometimes more:
“Are you cutting me off because I’m Mexican?”
My standard reply is:
“No. Are you drunk because I’m White?”
They never see what I’m getting at, but that’s not all that unexpected because, after all, they are drunk.
Mmhh…that’s a good one, when you can get it across naturally and convincingly.
I myself would be unsure whether such language is respectful, because it fits the adressee (“Hey, I’m from the 'hood too!”), or unrespectful, because the speaker assumes it fits the adressee when it doesn’t.
Yes, I’m overanalysing these things far too much. That’s why I’m such easy prey to these kind of accusations.
How’s this one?
**Satyricons ** (the OP)'s girl: “That white chick just thought she should go in front of us, because we’re black”.
The OP: “Don’t go pulling this racist crap on me just because I’m white. I didn’t choose my own skincolor any more then you did”
**Dan Norder’s ** pupil: “You’re picking on me 'cause I’m black”
Dan: “You’re just saying that because I’m white-skinned. If you keep that up, I’ll report you for racism, not just for pissing on someones bed, as I’m doing now.”
That’s a good one!
true story of a paranoid “victim” of racism:
A large university, 1975. I (white male) am walking up a staircase, in the middle between the handrails. Black male is walking down the stairs, also approx in the middle.I casually step to my left to pass him. He steps left, and stops in his tracks,(2 steps above me) blocking my way. I move to the right,–he moves to the right, continuing to block my way. He yells at me “what ‘chu doin’? Dont you know it’s disrespectful to pass a black man on the left”?
I am shocked,-- and physically intimidated by a guy who is much larger than me, and standing looming over me from 2 steps higher, so I keep my mouth shut, let him pass on the right, and get the hell away from me.
How can a guy be so insecure that he sees every passerby who doesn’t even make eye contact with him as a racist threat?
Chappachula, this guy was a student as well, wasn’t he? The more I read this thread, the more I think this black paranoia is an age thing, not a racial thing.
Racism and sexism are real and bad things, yes. But the paranoid examples in this thread are clearly directed at people behaving decently. Come to think of it, that is probably why, exactly, they are chosen, because they are safe. Would the black girl in the OP have made her accusation if **Satyricon ** had been a big agressive looking guy, instead of an obviously polite woman alone in her car?
Take my own youth, for example. When I was 17, I felt I was beyond basing my identity on my outfits and the music I was into. Being the typical idealistic teenager I was, I needed something more political them material. So, following my mothers example, I became a radical feminist. My “feminism” allowed me to try on pride and victimhood to see if they became me, much like clothes in a fitting room. I remember slapping guys on the wrist who made honest-but-clumsy passes at me (“Maastricht, you have a beautiful figure”. “Pig!”), and writing angry letters-to-the editor if an article insulted (read disagreed with) feminism. :o
My Moroccan nephew, aged 20 went through a similar stage last year about his Arabic and Islamic background. Fortunately, he outgrew it rapidly.
Come to think of it, an ex of mine still hadn’t outgrown his leftist “all the bosses and politicians are screwing with ya”- identity at 40, and that was a large part of why he’s my ex. :rolleyes:
I think **chappachula’s ** black fellow student, and **Satyricons ** girl in the parking lot, went through a similar youthful phase.
So next time someone flings something like this at me, I won’t take it any more personally then I would a two-year-olds stubborn “No!”. And if I have the time and the patience, I might try to educate them, using a line like **Sami41’s ** “Are you drunk because I’m white?” or “You’re only saying that because I’m white and you want to impress your girlfriends. Grow up”.
My point was that it doesn’t refer to genitals, even though some overly sensitive people cooked that up at some point and raise a holy ruckus about it.
If you want the Straight Dope, Cecil wrote about it already
The semicolon at the end messes the link up. I corrected it in the quote above, if anyone is interested.
Since I, for one, also heard that “squaw” meant the female pudenda.
Regards,
Shodan
It’s because you’re black. 
Ya know, in a written format like this message board, sometimes people say the exact same thing, but one person’s choice of words resonates with one individual and another’s choice resonates with a different one. I seriously doubt that any personal offense was intended.
Whoever said uptight bullshit activism never hurt anyone? See my post (#49) on the first page.
Squaw may not mean cunt, but from now on I’ll remember that Suzan Harjo is one. :mad:
I wasn’t offended, I was just peeved that my “don’t make a big deal out of it point” was repeated and ironically destroyed by being perverted into a "big deal’, and then applauded for it!
By making a big deal out of the incidents discussed, people are actually validating these people by turning a meaningless insult into a National Issue with sides to be debated. Instead of dismissing them for what they are - impotent and frustrated barbs that just happen to involve race - they’re elevating it into The Conundrum of False Accusations of Racism. People need to realize that they can be insulted by strangers without it being an example of a failing society.