The boss got her first piece of genuine hate (e)mail this morning. About a year and a half ago, there was an incident back in Saskatchewan where a white farmer shot and killed a First Nations kid on his property (the kid and his friends had been drinking, may have been coming to steal, may have just been goofing around—it's very open to interpretation). The boss wrote an op-ed for one of the national papers about the initial reactions to the case. It was mostly well received (tho she did get a few "you don't know how hard it is for white people" emails), but in the wake of the trial's conclusion—the farmer got off; cynical as I am, I was surprised, because the evidence was open-and-shut manslaughter, but the all-white jury proved Saskatchewan is indeed the Alabama of the tundra—her piece has been circulating again as part of a general discussion about the case. So she got this rambling, semi-coherent email demanding she resign and that he was crowd-funding to make the dean fire her for being hateful and backward and ungrateful for all white people have done for her and her fellow savages. And I thought … "Vince?"
That verdict should've received Zimmerman-level outrage and media coverage, but I guess the Olympics are on or something. A disgraceful outcome.
I'm actually surprised by the amount of pushback against the verdict, from Trudeau and the federal justice minister to legal scholars to marches in most major cities. I won't go so far as to say I'm expectant of something better next time, but the high-profile response is better than in the past. I agree that there should be more outrage, but, well, white Canada does not like to entertain ideas that racism exists except amongst its whining victims.
I grew up in the town where the trial was held and told a student who thought the verdict was justified (he has a misapprehension about Canada recognizing castle defense arguments, as well as a confused belief that the kids were on trial) that for all I knew there were people on the jury who I went to school with. So I came of age in that mindset. It's not necessarily hating and fearing indigenous people but that they are not quite human, not quite deserving of sympathy or recognition. They aren't normal and so they are abstracted. Between that and the jury more easily identifying with the defendant—by race, region, perhaps occupation—I guess that was enough for them to decide that no matter what he'd done, he was an innocent who didn't need his life ruined by an encounter with those lesser creatures. As some have suggested, a simple thought experiment helps illuminate what was going on. If the jury had been all indigenous people and they convicted him of murder, his defenders would see race politics at work. That they deny it with the all-white jury that did exonerate him is telling—race is something that exists amongst non-whites and it's a mark of inferior status. I'll have to go back to that shithole town the day my mother passes and is buried, but after that I never want to set foot there again.
Re: No, No, Don't Worry. Racism is Pretty Much Over.
Re: No, No, Don't Worry. Racism is Pretty Much Over.
Posted: 17 Apr 2018, 6:53pm
by Dr. Medulla
The boss is texting me from some event about indigenous people in Ottawa. Of course it's two-thirds old white liberals in attendance.
Not The Boss (aka Me): White liberals are always looking for problems to solve. Sometimes the solutions they come up with is eugenics, sometimes it’s royal commissions. You never know what you’ll get!
The Boss: I'm listening to a group of people talk about matcha tea.
Not The Boss: That's so fucking white.
The Boss: It really really is.
The Boss: Really.
Re: No, No, Don't Worry. Racism is Pretty Much Over.
Posted: 17 Apr 2018, 11:08pm
by BostonBeaneater
Gotta feel a little bad for the poor asshole Starbucks paid $8 an hour to deal with this today.
Re: No, No, Don't Worry. Racism is Pretty Much Over.
Gotta feel a little bad for the poor asshole Starbucks paid $8 an hour to deal with this today.
OK no need to shout, do you want your coffee white or black?
Re: No, No, Don't Worry. Racism is Pretty Much Over.
Posted: 27 Apr 2018, 3:22pm
by BostonBeaneater
Re: No, No, Don't Worry. Racism is Pretty Much Over.
Posted: 02 May 2018, 4:01pm
by BostonBeaneater
pure gold
Re: No, No, Don't Worry. Racism is Pretty Much Over.
Posted: 04 May 2018, 4:36pm
by WestwayKid
I live in an average American suburb. My son plays in our community little league and I am one of the league directors. Most of the leagues use MLB teams and we've used the Cleveland Indians for years. This year, we had a father who complained. He asked if we could change the team name and when he did not get a satisfactory answer - he contacted one of our local news stories.
All of this happened without my knowledge. I work with kids in 1st and 2nd grade and we use minor league teams.
When the league found out about the news story - our commissioner called all of the board members (we have about 12) and asked for our opinion because he wanted to write a statement.
I told him I had never even thought about the fact that we used the Indians, but now that it had been brought up - I agreed with the dad that we should change the team name. I told him I felt it - and other Native American mascots - are offensive and this would be a great opportunity to lead by example and do the right thing. Getting new uniforms is not hard. We have more than enough money to cover the expense.
I was outvoted, however. I think the vote was 9 to 3 in favor of the statement that was released. The statement essentially said we're going to keep using the name because MLB uses the name and because it has never been an issue at the MLB level and then pretty much threw the dad under the bus by saying they hoped the actions of one person wouldn't ruin baseball for 400 excited kids.
I work in marketing/advertising and the "press release" is really poorly written. It does not address the issue and in fact - just doubles down (in my opinion) on a really bad position.
The truly said part is that the press release was posted on our Facebook page and the comments from the community (for the most part) were pretty depressing.
Anyway - growing up a white kid in the suburbs my experience with racism has been limited to the sidelines - and while this isn't a big deal compared to so much of the horrible stuff going on in the world - it really made me mad and disgusted. I actually called the dad who "complained" to let him know that not everyone supported the statement and we had a really good discussion. His viewpoint was far more complex than has been presented to the public.
