Mid century white women speak on what happened in that classroom in South Carolina

"That poor cop. he's going to have flashbacks and PTSD about brutalizing that black girl.  Why did she have to provoke him?"

"I'm sure that girl had it coming.  If TV has taught us anything, it's that sassy black females need to be put in their place or else they'll be taking over record companies and cracking wise all the time."

"My children would never ever be so rude.  They'd respond immediately to any white authority figure who wanted information from them.  I instilled good manners in my kids, I'm not like those black parents who are out working two or three jobs all the time.  I'm home with my kids, that's what makes the difference."

"I don't care what the kid did or didn't say.  No human being should be treated the way she was treated."

"She's a typical liberal Democrat.  She gets abused and now she's playing the victim card.  What about all those kids in the classroom who wanted to learn but instead got treated to a inter gender wrestling match?  Those kids are the real victims not her."

"I'm astounded they let black kids and white kids go to the same schools in South Carolina.  Did Strom Thurmond's life's work mean nothing?  Is Nixon's 'southern strategy' dead in South Carolina?  I swear, Lee Atwater must be rolling over in his grave."

"Her mother just died.  How would you react if your mother just died and they still forced you to go to school?  And seriously, if this happened to my kid, I'd be outraged, but you know what?  It's never going to happen to my kid because my kid is white.  So yes, once again this is about race.  If you don't think it's all about race, then you have no fucking clue.  This white cop, who was probably hopped up on steroids, who has a history of being a thug towards people of color, brutalized this girl because she's black and because she's much weaker than he is.  He thought he could get away with it, and if there had not been a kid with a cell phone there to film it, he would have.  I don't give a shit if she jumped on his back and called his momma a rusty trombone sucking Cleveland steamer eating disciple of Dirty Sanchez, she did not deserve what he did to her.  He needs to be charged with assault.  Period."

Today in racism

• A white teacher in a school in Alabama of all places went to a party dressed in black face, he was supposed to be Kanye West.  When he got caught and the news went viral on the internet, and once again thank you internet for exposing another racist, his wife yanked the photo of him down off the web and he issued an apology saying that he's sorry if he offended people and that he's 'never seen color in his life.'  But here's the thing, if he never saw color his whole life, then how did he know to put on black face and why is he apologizing?  He's either lying about seeing color or he's... fuck it, that's it, he's lying.  
• To the police, black women must be the most powerful women, most frightening people on the planet.  Texas cops killed Sandra Bland, another cop had to body slam a teenage girl at a pool party to the ground to get her to obey him, and a 'roid rage cop in SC tossed a girl around a classroom like she was a rag doll.    I'm sure Angela Davis and Afeni Shakur are somehow to blame.
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Then there's this racism classic from a book called Protestant Panorama.  What the condescending caption doesn't tell you is that Protestants used their Bible to deny black people their civil and legal rights for well over a century.  And since their Bible didn't condemn slavery, and it in fact condones it, they used it as justification for keeping black folks in chains for hundreds of years.

I'm sure there's more racism out there this week, after all it's only Tuesday.  

It's time to play 'Racist or not Racist'!

Ready?  Okay!  

Here's our first contestant Midge Gompers.  Midge, the TV show Blackish, is it racist or not racist?

"It's racist because there isn't a TV show called White-ish." 

Nope, you're wrong.  It's not racist and your logic is appalling.

Our next contestant is Sally Doololly.  Sally, is it racist not to have a 'white history' month seeing as how we have a 'black history' month?

"Yes, it's racist."

Wrong.  Now pack your bags and go clean some toilets in poor neighborhoods in the Bronx and Harlem.

 Next up is Gunilla Solipsism.  Gunilla, affirmative action, racist or not racist?

"Not racist.  It's a measure put in place to combat years of institutionalized racism."

Correct! 

Next, we have Edith Headcheese.  Edith, the name of the NFL team in Washington DC, racist or not racist?

"Racist, although if you like that team that doesn't mean you're  racist."

Correct!

 Amy Yobb, you're up next!  Amy, pointing out racism and white privilege, racist or not racist?

"Racist.  Why can't we just be quiet about all that stuff and use that time and energy to pray to Jesus to come back and snatch us all to his hairy bosom?  And you know what else?  Let's just give the police the benefit of the doubt.  You don't know what it's like out there for them what with all those criminals and black fellas and gay Muslim terrorists.  Just be quiet and obey the law until Jesus comes and takes my hymen...wait, did I just say that part about my hymen out loud?"

You're wrong.  So very wrong.

Our final contestant is Paula Simmons.  Paula...

"Hang on, is this the part where I say something off topic like 'I like pie' or some other inane bullshit 'joke'?  Because if it is then you can go fuck yourself.  I have opinions too, I'm a smart well informed woman, I'm not some mouthpiece for your lame ass attempts at humor."

And Paula is disqualified by reason of insanity and obviously has no sense of humor.  And she probably doesn't like pie.

I can't breathe

Think about it

It's always white males who are stuffed full of white privilege who demand that everyone stop being so sensitive. I suspect it's because racism, sexism, and the dislike of anything that isn't 'the norm' (US/European centric white maleness), is so ingrained and accepted in our society that many of us just don't see it or simply don't care.

And I speak as a white male who is the beneficiary of centuries of white privilege. But even though I unquestionably benefited from it, that doesn't mean I want others to conform to what I want. I can see a lot of racism and sexism, and I can do things to not be a part of it. Telling people to 'buck up' and to 'stop being so sensitive' is exactly like Joan Rivers shrieking a horrible fat joke at some over wight person and then telling them to grow up or shut up and lose some weight if they don't like it.

As a matter of fact, people DO NOT need to stop being so sensitive, white males need to realize they don't run everything any more and they need stop being raging assholes.

Here's a way to tell if you're a horrible person

If you hate it that some films advertise the fact that they have an all black cast because you think you'd be called a racist if you said a film had an all white cast, then you're a horrible person.

If you think reverse racism exists and that you, a white person, are the target of it, then you're a horrible person.

If you think the above two things and you still try to deny you're a racist, then you're a horrible person.

Sometimes people do the right thing

The news story about the football coach kicking all his players off his team and making them do community work to earn a spot back on the team reminded me of the fact that sometimes people aren't giant assholes all the time.  It also reminded me of an incident that took place in the twilight of my sales career.

The guy, his name was John, who managed a tire shop I used to sell maintenance products to in a small SW VA town was decent guy.  He knew I had a job to do and he didn't waste my time by stringing me along, if he didn't need anything he'd tell me so up front but he'd also make a point of looking for extra stuff he thought he might need when he was in the mood to buy.  We had a good relationship because we respected one another and we didn't waste each other's time.

My routine when I stopped at his store was I'd say hello to him and go talk to his employees to see if they needed anything and then I'd come back to let John know what they said and I'd show him new products then as well.  One day when I stopped in one of his regular guys wasn't there so I asked another guy where he was.  He told me the other guy had been fired.  I asked why and he told me that a few days prior to my visit a black female customer had called to schedule an alignment on her car but she could only get there at 4:30 in the afternoon and the shop closed at 5.  When the woman was a few minutes late the guy who would be fired soon said, "That nigger bitch had better get here quick or else she can fuck off.  I got stuff to do at home."  John overheard what his employee said and he asked him to repeat it.  The employee repeated what he said and he thought nothing of it because most guys in the tire business in SW VA are horrible misogynists and racists.  But the asshole hadn't counted on John doing the right thing.  John, they told me, walked over to his racist employee and told him to pack his tools up and to get off the property because he was fired.  They told me the guy laughed and told John he was being real funny until he realized that John wasn't joking.  My guy told me that he apologized and when John told him it was too late, he started crying and begging for his job back.  John refused and told him that the there was no place in that company for a person who would use that word to describe a black person.

I could not help but smile when they told me all that.  It was a rare occurrence in that business to see someone do the right thing and stand up to racism.  It restored my faith in humanity for a bit.

Not guilty doesn't mean innocent

The fact remains that the police told that racist killer Zimmerman to stay in his vehicle and not to pursue Trayvon Martin.  And he disobeyed them, got out, chased Martin down, and gunned him down in cold blood. 

That doesn't make him innocent.  That makes him a murderer who got lucky to have gotten a shitty prosecutor who couldn't put together a strong case.  It also makes him the beneficiary of a twisted law that protects killers who use handguns to murder with. 

Negroes being negroes (1960 edition)

This racist illustration comes from the 1960 edition of the Golden Encyclopedia for kids. Field worker to entertainer to scientist, that's some pretty big professional leaps. Next thing you know a negro might end up as an ineffectual president, anything can happen you know.

Miss Plaid 1955 has a question for you

"There once was a dark skinned man who had a questionable birth record, a father who wasn't around, and who was hated by the religious leaders of his day. I forgot his name though. Was it Jesus or Barack Obama?"

The parade of racism continues

This picture and caption is from a 1930's social studies textbook:
Since they weren't like us, i.e. white and filled with the Protestant work ethic, then they were lazy and savage. And since they didn't want to work when it was the hottest part of the day, their colonizing overlords had to have an overseer to make sure they worked hard to produce goods for white folks.

Racist much?

Click on this map from the 1930's to make it bigger and then look at the little drawing they did for Alabama. And then check out the one they did for Mexico. Also, back then they must have hoped that Baja, Mexico was going to become part of the USA.

Two for Tuesday

Here's two offensive photos with their original captions from the Sept. 1946 issue of National Geographic.

Bullshit

This is utter and complete bullshit.  And it makes me ashamed to be living in this country.  No offense Bubs, but fuck the NYPD.