After reading your eloquent and well thought out piece on institutionalized racism. I have had to rethink my position on this issue and reevaluate if perhaps I am a racist and I am a person of color. I did not have the knee jerk reaction everyone else did. I thought the author should not have gone for the Patois she was reaching for and perhaps pulled out a French translator but to tell you the truth, I speak French and several other languages and Haitian French is not French from France. It is a slang and difficult for someone who speaks classical French to understand.
My initial response was that the author was uninformed, probably young, and had NO clue what a faux pas she had made. I felt that after she had been informed and apologized the issue should have been laid to rest. At least with her. If people want to continue their discourse on race relations and American Imperialism that is fine but to crucify someone in the forum of public opinion like is being done with this girl was wrong to me. Some of the hateful things and threats being tossed around are just not right. Not for her having written a racially skewed story. And I know it may seem that everyone that comes from a position of privilege abuses it but that is not true either. My family is wealthy and I have never used being Black or being wealthy to hurt anyone.
After having read your comment and the comments of others, I was directed here from LJ. I have come to see that perhaps I am Black but I was raised "White". I have been in a position of entitlement for my whole life. Private schools, all white neighborhoods, best education money could provide and I did not feel anything like what you and many others did when I read that story except that the dialect was killing me.
I have a unique worldview because my mother is White and my father is Black. My parents married when interracial marriage was illegal in most states. I have been put out of "White Only" establishments with my White mother who was dragging around her half breed child.
I have never felt hatred for either race or any race or group of people. I don't know what that must feel like. I cannot even imagine it. It was my experience that I was treated better in the White community because Black people condemned me for having lighter skin and straight hair, speaking English differently and living in a different neighborhood. That is kind of racism and classicism at the same time.
So, knowing that I hope you can see why I felt sympathetic towards this author. I don't know how I feel now. It is difficult because in my head I can see both positions so clearly and I agree with both. Not all of both but a lot of both sides. I think if my discussion and exposure to this issue had started here I might have a stronger leaning but where I started reading things were off the chain ugly. It was a stoning, crucifixion and a witch hunt, a crusade if you will and I felt compelled to defend the author in that situation.
Here I have seen and been educated to why people feel the way they do and why perhaps their reaction was so violent. Perhaps I am cut off from feeling racism as much because of my financial situation or I am jaded and accepting of the status quo. Or perhaps I am just accustomed to racism so I don't even react when I see it. I don't know. I do know that I learned a lot here and I am grateful for that. I will have to continue to seek answers and ask myself why I feel or don't feel the way I do. Thank you for contributing to my knowledge base. feel free to PM me on live journal to respond.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot
half_vulcan on Live journal I am not anon
Date: 2010-06-19 03:34 am (UTC)My initial response was that the author was uninformed, probably young, and had NO clue what a faux pas she had made. I felt that after she had been informed and apologized the issue should have been laid to rest. At least with her. If people want to continue their discourse on race relations and American Imperialism that is fine but to crucify someone in the forum of public opinion like is being done with this girl was wrong to me. Some of the hateful things and threats being tossed around are just not right. Not for her having written a racially skewed story. And I know it may seem that everyone that comes from a position of privilege abuses it but that is not true either. My family is wealthy and I have never used being Black or being wealthy to hurt anyone.
After having read your comment and the comments of others, I was directed here from LJ. I have come to see that perhaps I am Black but I was raised "White". I have been in a position of entitlement for my whole life. Private schools, all white neighborhoods, best education money could provide and I did not feel anything like what you and many others did when I read that story except that the dialect was killing me.
I have a unique worldview because my mother is White and my father is Black. My parents married when interracial marriage was illegal in most states. I have been put out of "White Only" establishments with my White mother who was dragging around her half breed child.
I have never felt hatred for either race or any race or group of people. I don't know what that must feel like. I cannot even imagine it. It was my experience that I was treated better in the White community because Black people condemned me for having lighter skin and straight hair, speaking English differently and living in a different neighborhood. That is kind of racism and classicism at the same time.
So, knowing that I hope you can see why I felt sympathetic towards this author. I don't know how I feel now. It is difficult because in my head I can see both positions so clearly and I agree with both. Not all of both but a lot of both sides. I think if my discussion and exposure to this issue had started here I might have a stronger leaning but where I started reading things were off the chain ugly. It was a stoning, crucifixion and a witch hunt, a crusade if you will and I felt compelled to defend the author in that situation.
Here I have seen and been educated to why people feel the way they do and why perhaps their reaction was so violent. Perhaps I am cut off from feeling racism as much because of my financial situation or I am jaded and accepting of the status quo. Or perhaps I am just accustomed to racism so I don't even react when I see it. I don't know. I do know that I learned a lot here and I am grateful for that. I will have to continue to seek answers and ask myself why I feel or don't feel the way I do. Thank you for contributing to my knowledge base. feel free to PM me on live journal to respond.