It's Sunday! It's eighty degrees out! I'm going to take a walk in the park!
MAN the park is beautiful! I was only going to be out for an hour, but I think I'll extend this walk a little further!
Oh wow, I walked a little further than I realized! Ah well, if I keep going, I'm sure I'll find my way out. Ah, yes, that way!
Oh look, a cute little girl on her bike. She just said hello to me! I am a normal human being, so I suppose I'll say hi back!
That must the little girl's fathe-why is he staring at me like I just raped his cat
I
Wat
If looks could kill I would literally be six feet under right this second.
HAHA MAN, the way this dude's looking at me, it's almost like he's about to call the cops on me as soon as I turn the corner!
Five minutes after I turn the corner
OH HELLO OFFICER, WHAT A NOT SURPRISE. You got a call about "suspicious activity"? You're "checking it out"? Well sir, I couldn't tell you what you're looking for, but I can't be sassy about it, because this neighborhood is empty and you have a gun! :D
Oh, me? I'm going home! I'd tell you that I'm just going for a walk, but you wouldn't like that answer! I know, because this same shit has HAPPENED TO ME BEFORE.
Guess what guys: fuck this city! Fuck having to work ten times as hard as anyone else for an equal amount of respect! Fuck the way everyone looks at me when I answer a question in class, fuck everyone who asks me if I got into this University because of my skin color, fuuuuck everyone who tells me that racism would go away if we stopped talking about it, and fuck going to the park!
Let's be honest, though. You're like the fourth black guy to visit Boulder, let alone live there. I saw a black guy in Boulder at Lollapalooza '93. Turns out he was the lead singer of Fishbone, and the reason he was out amongst us was they stiffed him on beer in the green room. On the one hand, it'll get better. Being young and black is way more suspect than being not-young and black. On the other hand, it'll never get equal. My neighbor has a Ph.D in world music. Programmed for Laurie Anderson, perhaps the whitest musician since James Galway. He often admires my car (a garden-variety Dodge Stealth) and talks about the Ferrari he used to have. Why'd he get rid of it? He "got sick of being pulled over all the time." And we've got two goddamn NBA teams and an entertainment industry. That said, have you tried harder to blend in with the majority-accepted black culture?
Wait. Hold up. This has actually happened to you? What the fuck. I mean, what the fuck to that entire post....fuck everyone who asks me if I got into this University because of my skin color...
BUT DIDN'T YOU KNOW, BE!? There's no way I could be here because of my own merit! I'm just filling a quota! I mean, the only other way I could get in is because my white parents are alumni, right? I mean, my dad got his two masters at DU, so I guess I was this close.
The hilarious thing is I know a white writer with a Jewish first name and a Jewish last name who is Jewish from a long line of Jewish scholars who got a job through a minority clause in Hollywood because - - wait for it - He's Native American. How so? Well, you see... He was born in Hawaii. And nobody bothered to check beyond that.
This is why I will not apply to fellowships aimed at anybody other than the general population for grad school unless I'm really, really desperate. It is not unheard of for a lot of non-white/Asian/Indian people and a handful of women (it's pretty much unheard of in the biological sciences since we're now 50 percent - actually now more than 50 percent, might need to kick in a little for men - of PhD recipients per year. Now we just need to achieve parity at the faculty level) to get this sort of harassment and accusation that they supposedly only got in because they were non-white/Asian/Indian or female.
I think this is not a racist reaction but rather a hidden cost of having those programs to begin with. When we use different acceptance criteria for women or minorities, it comes with a racist/sexist assumption that they need extra help or special treatment. In a real sense that undermines the legitimate work and contributions they make later. It's tough to have it both ways because if there are different admission criteria for minority groups, then it is correct to say that some got in only because they were non-white/Asian/Indian or female. If there are not different admission criteria, that distinction no longer exists. I have heard the arguments for affirmative action too, however, and they are good. I don't know the best way to fix it though.
At least you've got a history of the most talented, INCOMPARABLE strength and beauty in music.
beautiful. I just wish it didn't have to be so.
This was the most vanilla track I could find, the lyrics reminded me of the post.. you should check out the classic "Strange Fruit" and "Black is the Color of my True Love's Hair."
I love Strange Fruit, and it sadness and hopelessness breaks my heart. I don't have any experience with "Black is the Colour of my True Love's Hair." though, so I'll have to look it up.
Can we coin a term for this? 'Boulder liberal'? Liberal about everything BUT people who are not white or don't make a six-figure salary and who are apparently on the exclusionary side when it comes to access to higher education? It's still better than 'conservative'.
It reminds me of that one movement of gay Nazis I read about on the internet (I can't remember who they are) who was basically white supremacist and misogynist but for LGBT rights. Not only are they as fucking stupid as their straight counterparts, but they're basically the gay equivalent of black KKK members. EDIT: An SPLC article about them
From Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliberalism#Corrupted_neoliberalism
Not all members of a society may have equal access to the law or to information, even when everyone is theoretically equal under the law, as in a liberal democracy. This is because access to the law and information is not free as liberals (such as Hayek) assume, but have associated costs. Therefore, in this context, it is sound to say that the wealthy have greater rights than the poor. In some cases, the poor may have practically no rights at all if their income falls below the levels necessary to access the law and unbiased sources of information, while the very wealthy may have the ability to choose which rights and responsibilities they bear if they can move themselves and their property internationally, resulting in social stratification, also known as class. This alleged tendency to create and strengthen class has resulted in some (most famously David Harvey[70]) claiming that neoliberalism is a class project, designed to impose class on society through liberalism.
Let me guess you are Norwegian? Like Sherlock Holmes I got that on context clues alone.
America is a Racist country built on a bedrock of white supremist doctrine. Or like Sister Condelezza said a country born with a birth defect. But there is one privilege a black man has that white folks lack. The knowledge that you are better qualified than your white peers.
A sobering reminder of how much growing up the world has left to do. And we're (the US) is still light years ahead over many other countries where people are still persecuted for their skin colour, sexuality, or beliefs.
On the bright side, things at least seem to be on a positive trajectory. Not more than 100 years ago, the U.S. had much much much worse levels of discrimination of various types. It's gonna take some time til we reach Star Trek-levels of maturity, and unfortunately, there are never any shortcuts.
Stopped for the crime of existing while black, I see. This EDIT: PROBABLY DOESN'T HAPPEN AS MUCH(that was a bit of underhanded white person assumption there) never happens at my university, mostly because it's one of the most racially diverse in the United States. It's refreshing. There's actually more black and Hispanic honors students in my university's biology department than I can count on one hand! (It's depressing to say that just because of how few there still are. On the other hand, the graduating honors student reception at my school did in fact have more black and Hispanic graduates attending than I could count on two hands twice over, so that was nice.)
Ugh I'm sorry! What can we do to help this situation? I know that I don't really understand it because it hasn't happened to me but it makes me angry to hear how often it happens. I live in Boston which has terrible racial integration, the neighborhoods are completely split and even the train lines seem segregated. We have a long way to go.
Same thing happened to me a couple months ago. Got stopped by the cops in the middle of the day while taking a stroll through my own neighborhood, due to a report of "suspicious activity".
Sorry for you. Thanks for sharing, sometimes we all need reminding of these things. On a related note, saw this shamefulness in my local paper today : Teachers' bias against Maori pupils revealed in study