Not all white people are racist. Not all black people are thugs. Not all Hispanic people are illegal. Not all Puerto Rican's like Marc Anthony. But there are enough of all of the above to make this country a hot pot about to boil over.
When I started this blogizzle, I had no idea what it's purpose would be. I'm kind of a silly girl and this became the place I can examine even sillier things I observe in the world. Cause, the world is a silly place people. It truly is.
However, this week I wasn't laughing very much. The tragedy of the Trayon Martin case exposed that even in a silly world, there are really serious issues that nobody really talks about because Kim Kardashian, Lindsey Lohan and Amanda Bynes pretty much dominate our social consciousness.
I'm not above any of it... My previous blogs have consisted of mainly pop-culture references and my opinion on the water-cooler topics of any given week in the media. This week you couldn't find anything NOT related to last Saturday's verdict in the killing of 17 year old Trayvon Martin.--UNLESS, you were Puerto Rican and discovered that half of America doesn't know that Puerto Rican's are American citizens... Even the ones born in Brooklyn, NY.
So for all of you that couldn't wait to get past LAST week in racism (AKA the Paula Deen story), be very careful what you wish for. Whereas last week we had a seemingly sweet old lady admit under oath that she said the "n" word and her butter filled world collapsed around her as a result. She just couldn't understand why she was being attacked and the black community was outraged. FoodNetwork dropped her and Matt Lauer made her cry, which is not unusual for any woman unfortunate enough to find herself in Matt Lauer's presence. Unsurprisingly, butter sales went through the roof in support for her, as white people across America couldn't believe that people are coming down on this lady but not the hip-hop community who uses that word in their lyrics. Yeah, last week was pretty awesome if you were anyone, but Paula Deen.
I don't even know where to start this week, to be honest. I'm lucky enough to have friends of all races, religions, sexual orientations and even species (shout out to John McClaine and Riley Pup)... Almost all my friends were pissed at either the verdict, or the reaction to the verdict.... I will say this, the dogs didn't give a shit. Dogs are just smart.
To me, the most fascinating reaction came from some of my white friends.... Some of them were shocked at the verdict because they felt it was unjust. Some of them felt that the "race card" was pulled in this case unjustly. My favorite of the white people reactions are the ones that couldn't wrap their heads around why black people made such a big deal about this case, especially since George Zimmerman couldn't be racist because of his half-hispanic heritage.
For my confused white friends allow me to clarify the latter point first...Hispanics just might be the most racist people in the world. (See later commentary in this blogizzle regarding reaction to Marc Anthony's quest to be recognized as an American). Hispanics can be racist against whites, against blacks and Asians... But you will find that most Hispanics who are racist are most racist against other Hispanics.
Here's another eye opener this week.. The term "White-Hispanic" suddenly became relevant to white people. Hispanics always knew about it... Hell, even blacks knew about it... But white people knew nothing about White-Hispanics. In fact, white people absolutely refuse to accept that George Zimmerman IS white. Anthropologically, there are 3 races...Black, white and mongolian. If George Zimmerman was filling out a census form his race would be White (Hispanic).
I can't tell you how confused people are about race in this country... So I have prepared a graphic to assist in understanding the perplexing world of race and ethnicity.
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| *Please note: Kim Kardashian can also be classified as Asian due to her Armenian heritage, but I got lazy... I could have easily classified Salma Hayek and Jackie Chan under Super Human. |
The fact of the matter is GEORGE ZIMMERMAN IS WHITE! He is also hispanic and he is fully capable of racism as is anyone. So if you're wondering how this became a race war between white people and black people given that it was a Mexican who bumped off a 17 year old kid, the bottom line it takes two sides to continue a war of ignorance. While I understand why some folks in the black community could see why this was a case of racial profiling, for the life of me I can't understand why some white people feel the need to disregard the probability that it could have been a racially motivated murder. It blows my mind.
Basically this week I observed the following:
1) Nothing makes a racist white person angrier than being called a racist...Cause slavery ended almost 150 years ago and black people should have nothing to complain about anymore in the mind of a racist white person.
2) Nothing makes a racist black person angrier than white people who profile...Cause only white people do the profiling in the mind of a racist black person.
3) Nothing makes a racist Puerto Rican angrier than being called a Mexican.
4) Nothing makes a racist Mexican angrier than hearing a Puerto Rican speak spanish. (Okay that one while true, is an observation I made at age 10... but I felt wrong leaving them out of the mix.)
5) Nothing makes a racist Asian give a fuck about all of the above.
6) Nothing makes anyone appear more racist than trying not to make issues that are clearly about race, not about THEIR race.
After this week, I don't think anyone who is objective can look at race relations in this country in the same light and not see that we have a problem beyond the "media." We still CHOOSE to believe what we want to believe about each other based on history, statistics, stereotypes and look to reinforce our beliefs whenever possible. We also tend to look away when there's evidence that completely dismantles our beliefs.
The "Like" button on Facebook as become a barometer for me in figuring out if my world is the same as the people I call "friends." On Monday, the following image came across my newsfeed on FB and again on Twitter:
To date, over 205,052 of America's most lazy and stupid people have "liked" this photo... Admittedly, when first I read it, my heart broke. I was also ashamed that I knew nothing about this case. So I used the Google and there was the first in many realizations about race in this country. This comparison would be terrible if it was true. IF IT WAS TRUE! Other than the kid being white and murdered in Charleston, Marley Lion was a victim of 4 idiotic black men who attempted to rob Marley Lion. They did this ON VIDEO where there was no question of the guilt of the offenders and they were immediately pursued, arrested and convicted.
For days, my feed has been flooded with this and a few other really, really lying ass meme's about white victims of black murderers who you never heard of because of the "media" and Al Sharpton don't give a shit about white people being slaughtered by blacks. Every time, I have seen one I have Googled the story and EVERY TIME the story has NOTHING to do with the things that are making not-racists crazy about this case. For every lying, misleading and FALSELY EQUIVALENT you meme you draw or "like" you only highlight how truly locked up in your own bullshit that you can't fucking "google" to make sure the message your endorsing correctly reflects your values.
If this Marley Lion meme was true... I would have "liked" the fuck out of it. But it's not and it really just pissed me off that anyone I would know and love would "like" something on blind faith that it had to be true because "that's how black people and the media are." Well just for shits and grins let's conduct an experiment:
How many of these victims of violent crimes and missing persons can you recognize without using the Google machine to figure out who they are and the circumstances of their deaths?
How many of these victims of violent crimes and missing persons can you recognize without using the Google machine to figure out who they are and the circumstances of their deaths?
Review this list and search your memory for how often you heard these names in the national media, then tell me again how the Al Sharpton lead media blew the Trayvon Martin case out of proportion.
Now racist white people aren't the only ones in a tizzy this week...Though, they did shine like no other.
On Tuesday, Major League Baseball decided it would be a good idea to have Marc Anthony sing "God Bless America." I mean, he has a nice enough voice. He's significantly less annoying than his ex-wife and seems an affable enough guy... Unless you are a racist. Racist white people hit the Twitter button faster than a Kardashian on a rich black dude to immediately to decry a Mexican singing a song that is quintessentially American.
The problem with this line of thinking is, of course, that Marc Anthony was born and raised in the US... He is of Puerto Rican decent, which is displeasing on it's own to the average white racist, but even if he was "from the island" it would not nullify his status American citizen... Much to the chagrin of the racist white American's... And racist other Hispanic races who HAAAAAATE the fact that Puerto Rican's have it "so easy" here. Nonetheless, this was another controversy that with a little knowledge of American history and Google could have been avoided.
Enter the Puerto Rican racists... I'm definitely not going to name names, but as a Puerto Rican I can tell you that I have encountered Puerto Rican racists my entire life. I'm even related to some of them....Some disliked blacks, some disliked whites, some disliked Mexicans, some disliked Jews...The fact of the matter is, that while a good chunk of the outrage about the Marc Anthony came out of true pride and nationalism and were respectfully outraged at the actual targets of the attacks... For the racist, the outrage came from being lumped in with the "illegal immigrants," specifically, Mexicans.
I'm sure someone at some point did a study as to why the Mexican/Puerto Rican conflict exists. I never understood it... A friend of mixed ethnicity once observed that it is perhaps no different than how light-skinned and dark-skinned African Americans have the same disconnect. She went on to explain that perhaps it was born of the impression that one has an easier time being accepted by whites. Funny how "acceptance" means instinctively that those that don't share those same qualities are therefore "rejected."
There are other nuances in Hispanic vs Hispanic racism... Those born here vs those born "there." Those who speak Spanish fluently vs those that don't speak Spanish at all or worse, speak "Spanglish." And just like in the African American community light-skinned vs dark skinned. It's all so complicated for someone who isn't a racist to fully comprehend how the mind of a racist can keep up with such nonsense. But racists find a way.
Which brings me to this week in black racism... For all the focus and outrage on George Zimmerman there was little focus this week on the many, many young black men that have hid in the shadows of innocents like Trayvon Martin. Brilliant young minds have been taken from us because of drugs sold to young black people BY young black people. We have beautiful and bright young girls like Haydiya Pendelton, struck down before they could explore their potential. Murders in Chicago are at record highs the past couple of years, not because of the George Zimmerman's of the world. Somebody has to start giving a shit about what's happening in the African American communities and the media needs to start focusing on the people building that community instead of the random idiots that are tearing it apart. We need someone to fight passionately to keep schools open and keeping guns out of the hands of teenagers. Which would then take the power and "reasonable doubt" out of the hands of the six jurors who felt that being afraid of a teenage boy armed with skittles and an Arizona tea is pretty good grounds to shoot.
In Chicago of the 229 homicides this year 80% of the victims were black with 18% of the rest of the homicide victims being Hispanic and 2% being of other race/ethnicity...And NOBODY cares. George Zimmerman didn't kill all those people. But man you wouldn't know it by opening a paper this week.
With that said, I tend to see clearly why people saw that this case was racially motivated. If you look at it objectively it's easy to see the WHY. Had George Zimmerman been black, nobody in any community anywhere would have cared. I also tend to believe (based on the backlash Marc Anthony received from racist white folks) IF Trayvon was white, the racist white folks would have been up in arms about illegal immigration and his face would have been all over the local media and it would have been Obama's fault... But nobody else would have cared.
I'm lucky to have so many diverse friends, however I think the next time a case like this comes up, I may have to take a social media vacation.
Now racist white people aren't the only ones in a tizzy this week...Though, they did shine like no other.
On Tuesday, Major League Baseball decided it would be a good idea to have Marc Anthony sing "God Bless America." I mean, he has a nice enough voice. He's significantly less annoying than his ex-wife and seems an affable enough guy... Unless you are a racist. Racist white people hit the Twitter button faster than a Kardashian on a rich black dude to immediately to decry a Mexican singing a song that is quintessentially American.
The problem with this line of thinking is, of course, that Marc Anthony was born and raised in the US... He is of Puerto Rican decent, which is displeasing on it's own to the average white racist, but even if he was "from the island" it would not nullify his status American citizen... Much to the chagrin of the racist white American's... And racist other Hispanic races who HAAAAAATE the fact that Puerto Rican's have it "so easy" here. Nonetheless, this was another controversy that with a little knowledge of American history and Google could have been avoided.
Enter the Puerto Rican racists... I'm definitely not going to name names, but as a Puerto Rican I can tell you that I have encountered Puerto Rican racists my entire life. I'm even related to some of them....Some disliked blacks, some disliked whites, some disliked Mexicans, some disliked Jews...The fact of the matter is, that while a good chunk of the outrage about the Marc Anthony came out of true pride and nationalism and were respectfully outraged at the actual targets of the attacks... For the racist, the outrage came from being lumped in with the "illegal immigrants," specifically, Mexicans.
I'm sure someone at some point did a study as to why the Mexican/Puerto Rican conflict exists. I never understood it... A friend of mixed ethnicity once observed that it is perhaps no different than how light-skinned and dark-skinned African Americans have the same disconnect. She went on to explain that perhaps it was born of the impression that one has an easier time being accepted by whites. Funny how "acceptance" means instinctively that those that don't share those same qualities are therefore "rejected."
There are other nuances in Hispanic vs Hispanic racism... Those born here vs those born "there." Those who speak Spanish fluently vs those that don't speak Spanish at all or worse, speak "Spanglish." And just like in the African American community light-skinned vs dark skinned. It's all so complicated for someone who isn't a racist to fully comprehend how the mind of a racist can keep up with such nonsense. But racists find a way.
Which brings me to this week in black racism... For all the focus and outrage on George Zimmerman there was little focus this week on the many, many young black men that have hid in the shadows of innocents like Trayvon Martin. Brilliant young minds have been taken from us because of drugs sold to young black people BY young black people. We have beautiful and bright young girls like Haydiya Pendelton, struck down before they could explore their potential. Murders in Chicago are at record highs the past couple of years, not because of the George Zimmerman's of the world. Somebody has to start giving a shit about what's happening in the African American communities and the media needs to start focusing on the people building that community instead of the random idiots that are tearing it apart. We need someone to fight passionately to keep schools open and keeping guns out of the hands of teenagers. Which would then take the power and "reasonable doubt" out of the hands of the six jurors who felt that being afraid of a teenage boy armed with skittles and an Arizona tea is pretty good grounds to shoot.
In Chicago of the 229 homicides this year 80% of the victims were black with 18% of the rest of the homicide victims being Hispanic and 2% being of other race/ethnicity...And NOBODY cares. George Zimmerman didn't kill all those people. But man you wouldn't know it by opening a paper this week.
With that said, I tend to see clearly why people saw that this case was racially motivated. If you look at it objectively it's easy to see the WHY. Had George Zimmerman been black, nobody in any community anywhere would have cared. I also tend to believe (based on the backlash Marc Anthony received from racist white folks) IF Trayvon was white, the racist white folks would have been up in arms about illegal immigration and his face would have been all over the local media and it would have been Obama's fault... But nobody else would have cared.
I'm lucky to have so many diverse friends, however I think the next time a case like this comes up, I may have to take a social media vacation.
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