May I share a pet peeve with you? I can't stand the arrogance of some residents of urban centers and the coasts, who believe that prejudice is the domain of silly rubes in the South and flyover states. Check out the op-chart in today's New York Times that maps the rash of noose hanging incidents in the eastern United States. Sadly, hate can be found everywhere--from Newark to Jena. As a black woman who has lived everywhere from the big city to the burbs to the exurbs, I know this all too well. If we are to tackle racism in America, the first step is knowing that we are all susceptible to prejudiced beliefs, whether we live in New England or on the Delta.
Interesting side note for those of you who read my post What's Race Between Friends? here and on Racialicious: Mona, the friend whose insensitive racial remarks ended our relationship, was concerned about me moving from Chicago to Indiana around "all those right wing racists."
When discussing race, we would all do well to look in the mirror.
(Thanks to Racialicious for tipping me to this story.)
2 comments:
Luna here...since I only just discovered yr blog, and since I only have 7.5 minutes of leisure time per day. : )It'll take me a little while to catch up on some comments...but here we go. I grew up in Pennsylvania and live in New England. I've heard this before too. Even a hermit whose only contact with the world was the internet or newspaper could find stories in NY, Boston, LA, etc about racist incidents, attacks, swastikas painted here and there, etc. I've heard and seen plenty of evidence of bias and racism while living in NE. I thought about this most recently when a new friend, originally from the west coast, was explaining to me about why she'd moved from North Carolina. Part of the reason was: "Living in Portland, I thought racism didn't exist any more." Well-intentioned white people who say things like this don't seem to realize how disingenuous it sounds--even from a genuinely kind and intelligent person. Apparently, she saw more visible racism in NC. I couldn't argue with what she saw in NC, but I'm confident that there was racism in Oregon (despite the fact that I've never been there). At the time, I couldn't think of anything brilliant to say. ('Is too racism!!!' doesn't really cut it.) I guess the best response is somthing like: 'Well, I think there are probably regional differences in the way these things play out, but there's racism all over...'
Jeez, I think I need a few paragraph breaks in my comments...I'll sprinkle those in when I move on to comment about Mona.
Post a Comment