Shuffling is not just a method of arranging playing cards.
I plan to survive law school this way. I don't want to stand out. I've been doing an awful job blending in, but I don't want to stand out.
I have a very nice group of friends. We all come from different places, not necessarily ethnicity-wise, but significantly enough that it creates a small variety of perspectives.
We start talking about Allen. One of our group, an openly gay white male elected political official, begins talking about how the past incidences of Allen's racism infuriate him more than Allen's most recent "macaque" uttering. You'd think that white Americans would stop throwing the word "macaque" around now that there is reason to understand it is a pejorative -- but ignorance is bliss. Anyway, he mentions how he thinks it is significant. I mention a point that someone pointed out to me and I understand now -- proving past incidences will not make it concretely evident where his perspectives on race lie today. Three students could come up today and say he's a racist; twelve students could enter tomorrow and say he's not. It's all gossip. Hearsay.
Not as fucking evident as the man saying a pejorative himself on camera.
And I brought this fact up in no uncertain terms. How can we spend valuable time bumbling around searching for proof of Allen's racist sentiments when we have a VIDEOTAPE of him in his natural campaigning element making a racially insensitive remark to one of his rival's campaign aides? How is this videotape not real evidence? Why does a tongue-in-cheek apology atone for Allen's behavior? Why is it that white people always clamor for this elusive "proof" of racism but when someone presents bona fide proof, exceptions are gathered to sweep them all under the table?
I said all of this in rapid fire succession and with more venom than I probably have ever used in mixed company in my life. Meanwhile, I received blank stares and gaping mouths from most of my company. I then avowed to my friend that I needed to just keep my mouth shut. She uttered some disappointment because she realized that if she as a white female said what I did, the discussion would not have ended entirely.
I have a very nice group of friends. We all come from different places, not necessarily ethnicity-wise, but significantly enough that it creates a small variety of perspectives.
We start talking about Allen. One of our group, an openly gay white male elected political official, begins talking about how the past incidences of Allen's racism infuriate him more than Allen's most recent "macaque" uttering. You'd think that white Americans would stop throwing the word "macaque" around now that there is reason to understand it is a pejorative -- but ignorance is bliss. Anyway, he mentions how he thinks it is significant. I mention a point that someone pointed out to me and I understand now -- proving past incidences will not make it concretely evident where his perspectives on race lie today. Three students could come up today and say he's a racist; twelve students could enter tomorrow and say he's not. It's all gossip. Hearsay.
Not as fucking evident as the man saying a pejorative himself on camera.
And I brought this fact up in no uncertain terms. How can we spend valuable time bumbling around searching for proof of Allen's racist sentiments when we have a VIDEOTAPE of him in his natural campaigning element making a racially insensitive remark to one of his rival's campaign aides? How is this videotape not real evidence? Why does a tongue-in-cheek apology atone for Allen's behavior? Why is it that white people always clamor for this elusive "proof" of racism but when someone presents bona fide proof, exceptions are gathered to sweep them all under the table?
I said all of this in rapid fire succession and with more venom than I probably have ever used in mixed company in my life. Meanwhile, I received blank stares and gaping mouths from most of my company. I then avowed to my friend that I needed to just keep my mouth shut. She uttered some disappointment because she realized that if she as a white female said what I did, the discussion would not have ended entirely.
posted by Sylvia at 6:48 PM
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