Likewise, I live in a pretty racially mixed neighboorhood, and I’ve never been called a racist, either.
I’m pushing 40, Onomatopoeia, and it was more pseudotriton ruber ruber’s insulting tone and manifest condenscion that I objected to. You raise a valid issue in the section I deleted; I shan’t discuss it in this thread because it would be a further hijack.
Hint: Onomatopoeia is doing it. You are not. I see no further reason to engage in discourse with you.
Whew! You had me going for a moment. I mean, they let black people into Disney World back then? 
[ Moderating ]
KNOCK IT OFF.
Personal remarks belong in the Pit, not here. None of these statements technically violate the letter of the rules, here, but none of them carry forward the discussion and all of them contribute to the probable derailing of this thread.
[ /Moderating ]
ETA: (And I’m sure I’ve missed a couple, so do not think that these are the only comments that I consider better suited to the Pit.)
Yeah - I live (and have lived basically forever) in Oakland, not exactly what any reasonable person could consider a “white bread” community, and the only time I ever remember being called a racist was by an obviously insane homeless women who denounced the entire retail establishment in which I was working at the time as the same. I really have to wonder if those of you claiming white people are having charges of racism leveled against them on a fairly regular basis are exaggerating (or paranoid). I just don’t see it in my daily interactions.
If we’re going all anecdotal, I’ll do you one better. I’m 33, a Hispanic woman, and I’ve never had cause to call someone a racist, although I have experienced racism.
I joke about it, but at the time it was confusing and frightening and I was paralyzed by it. I was barely into my teens, and while now I find most people to be accepting of individuals, and understand that whatever racially tinged stereotypes they hold to come from a place of fear where people feel that resources are limited and that certain groups which are defined by that particular characteristic stand a better chance of gaining access to those resources than they do. In these instances, I try to appeal to shared qualities rather than divisive ones, and it’s served me well.
I don’t feel sorry for myself, I love my culture, and I love this country, but I don’t think that people that complain about reverse racism truly understand the generation-spanning hatred of you as an individual due to something you have absolutely no control over, the way it makes people write you off as something less than human, the derision and humiliation and impotence of it, the fear for your life, for your family, your future. If they did, they would understand that inaction can sometimes be as bad as action.
We are where we are today in America because minorities stood up and said “no more,”, sure, but also because white America stood up with them and advocated on their behalf. We are not our brother’s keeper, but to think that you have no responsibility for your fellow man when he is being denigrated is just not the attitude I want to see in a President. I truly hope McCain and Palin realize that their silence speaks volumes on this one, and do what’s necessary and right to set the record straight.
Never mind.
Let’s see:
There was the ‘tar baby’ incident. He was not using it to describe a black person. He later apologized.
He fought to keep the Confederate Battle Flag flying over SC capitol. He later apologized for it.
He fought against the MLK holiday. He later apologized for it.
He called Asians ‘gooks’. He later apologized for it.
McCain endorsed and campaigned for George Wallace, Jr a man who spoke regularly at Klan meetings. I don’t think he’s apologized for that yet.
McCain has paid over $100,000 to white supremist Richard Quinn. He hasn’t apologized for this because I don’t think he wants people to know.
He’s a flip-flopper on his own racism. Or he’s a racist when it suits him.
I really hope someone else saw what you edited away.
I was trying to be funny (at your expense). I wasn’t very funny. I apologize.
I’m also sorry I started this entire hijack. You have every right to hold whatever policitcal views you hold. You’re also a pleasant and funny guy, and I admire you, whatever you think of me.
That and the R’s have used the Southern Strategy for years. The Southern Strategy is racist. Authorized Republican spokespeople have admitted using the Southern Strategy and that it is racist. Neither Palin nor McCain have in any way disavowed the Southern Strategy, nor refused any “benefit” that it reaped. Their “he’s not one of us” strategy seems to include an implicit charge of Obama being (should I say it?): the same color as Richard Pryor.
If you work in Security (like I do), or live in Minnesota, it seems that a fair number of black people are quite happy to scream “Racism!” every time they’re busted for bad behavior. Including co-workers.
I had a co-worker who would sleep, watch TV or even leave campus while working Security for a small, ultra-liberal white guilt college. The only way he kept his job was to keep management terrified of his claims of racism. Which was bullshit. The guy was just a bad worker and completely delusional about his abilities, claiming he was the best officer on campus and more than qualified to be our supervisor. But our administration was terrified of being accused of racism in any form by african-americans, so the guy was off-limits to discipline.
Another guy on staff was instantly hostile to all white males over the age of 30. We were all racists, period. Of course, the same guy did no work other than drive the van around all night, refused to put the flag up in the morning and even got the flag taken off our uniforms because he refused to wear it. Because of course, the United States is a racist country. :rolleyes:
Instead, interestingly enough, the guy who put the flag up on a regular basis was from Ivory Coast. He was also a great guy and a hard worker.
In case you haven’t noticed, it pays very well to do this for some people. Thomas Sowell, Juan Williams, Clarence Thomas. It also pays well for the white tools.
The two people you mention = “a fair number of black people”?
How many citations are required to satisfy you, oh great master? :rolleyes:
How many is “a fair number”?
I have no idea what the fuck you’re talking about.
Oh yes. I count Alan Keyes as one of that cadre of crazies and apologists for their massahs.
I don’t think you’re going to find overt examples of racism in a presidential campaign in this day and age. It’s not like McCain is going to get up to the podium and say “My fellow Americans, we cannot allow this nigger to sleep in the Lincoln bedroom. Please join my campaign”. Obviously he has to be subtle.
I personally don’t think McCain or Palin are secret members of the klan or that there is any risk of McCain slipping up and calling Obama ‘boy’ at the next debate. But I do think they are aware that some of the enthusiam of their supporters is rooted in their fear of the idea of a biracial president. Imo Palin’s statement about Obama “palling around with terrorists” was a subtle “shout out” to those repubs who claim he is a Muslim terrorist. I realize she was talking about a white terrorist, but she left it vague imo intentionally. And same thing with the “he’s not like us” comment. David Gergen was on the Colbert Report last night and described an incident at a McCain rally where supporters loudly made the ‘kill him’ comments about Obama…then he went on to say some of the supporters made racist comments to a black camera man who was there. I haven’t seen the tape of it, but David Gergen believed that McCain heard the comments and ignored them, which he found appalling.
You want cites? Here are cites:
Abdul Al-Hazred, The Necronomicon, Chapter 4, Verse 12: “Most cursed of all, most dreadfully lost to all sanity and the Mercy of Allah, most obscene of all eldritch horrors, too horrid even for mighty Yog-Sothoth, repulsive even to great Cthulhu, is the monstrous Idiot who makes useless and unnecessary demands for cites.”
Wood Jr., Ed, Plan 9 from Outer Space, Scene 54, inside the flying saucer. Yoxtroth speaks: “Your stupid minds! Your stupid, stupid minds! Such primitives as you cannot possibly understand my demand for cites! Look what you’ve done to my angora sweater!”
The Junior Woodchuck Handbook, Chapter 83: “The Perfect Red Herring: How to Derail a Debate with Demands for Unnecessary Cites,” p. 1018
Berg, Dave, Mad Magazine, No. 84, June 1959, “Mad’s Dave Berg Looks at Jerks who make Pointless Demands for Cites,” p. 22
The Last Dangerous Visions, Ellison, Harlan, ed., “Introduction,” p. xv, Delusional Press, 2003: “And that’s how Roddenberry fucked up THE GREATEST SCIENCE FICTION SCREENPLAY EVER WRITTEN, and still hasn’t apologized after thirty years! And you Trekkies think he shouldn’t have to apologize to me just because he’s dead!!! At the very least Universal should re-assemble the original cast and re-shoot it EXACTLY THE WAY I WROTE IT because we’re talking about ART AND LITERATURE here, godammit. So what if fans, editors and critics call me a hypocrite and a little tin god because I misled dozens of writers and publishers to produce a science fiction anthology six times longer than War and Peace and missed the deadline by twenty seven years? What else can we expect from crypto-Nazi scumbags who voted for Nixon, Reagan and Bush?!?? You want cites?!?? I don’t NEED no stinkin’ cites!!!”
The Constitution of the United States of America, Amendment 43: “The great Need to be free and unmolested by impertinent, rude, and imbecilic Louts of low Character who make superfluous and pestilent Demands for Cites, being of crucial Importance to any great Nation, the Right of the People to beat such rude and silly Persons stoutly about the Head and Shoulders with Umbrellas, Canes, dead Cats or any other such suitable Weapons, to pelt them soundly with rotten Fruits and Vegetables, or to wave their Genitalia in the general Direction of such ill-mannered Miscreants, shall not be infringed.”
An oldie but a goodie …