Yes, I am a: cracker, honkey, gringa, whitey, blondie, guera, rubia, almost albino, master-oppressor race, aryan-looking woman. My native English is the slow rural English from the upper Midwest, which seems to inspire more jokes about the movie "Fargo" that I would ever care to admit to. What should this tell you? I should be racist, sit down with a can of "the beast" (as we call it) and tell some racist joke.-Perhaps not, Wisconsinites have been known to be pretty open and accepting. At least if I think of "Men of Honor".
Either way, a rural white upbringing can easily be stained with racism. I begin to question whether I am racist, because I would never be able to put myself under that critical light.
Someone noted to me that the audience of a show I played in was extremely white. In context, it makes sense. She had just visited an exhibition celebrating some of the cultures of Africa.
-As a side note, someone will consider that extremely disrespectful because I am generalizing a continent. Think about it, it happens to everyone. You are white, though your ancestry could be from a multitude of countries with completely different traditions. My family celebrates Polish traditions, but we are just white. Latinos are Latinos, though they could be Colombian, Peruvian, Mexican, Panamanian etc. Asians are just Asians most of the time, though they to hail from a vast number of countries whether it be Mongolia or Malaysia. We as humans are just too lazy to learn geography.-
Returning to the story: I cannot convey the same tone of disdain, that seemed to imply that I keep myself walled up in cracker-land.
Am I racist for staying in the land of honkeys? I'm probably racist for using so many derogatory terms, but if I'm racist I would deserve the terms. I didn't expose myself to new cultures.
I also didn't stare at people like tropical fish in a fishbowl.
Often times I see this and I notice it in myself (though it tends to make me rather nauseated), that we look at people and their culture while saying "oh how neat" or "how interesting" without seeing them as real people. They are creatures that do funny things like dance a certain way: they probably don't live like we do. This is an extreme example, but the general idea is my goal. After a certain point of studying a culture or immersing oneself in it when things don't seem strange or you don't feel a need to question is when you start seeing the person rather than the funny creature. The best example I can think of is when on Ecuadorian public transit it doesn't seem strange that the driver puts the pedal to the metal, even on steep curves, while the three Jesus pictures taped to the inside of the bus look down on the passengers. This was a turning point for me.
I've been the tropical fish in the fishbowl. I've had seen hordes of children who sit and stare with their mouths dropping nearly to the floor, because of the tall whitey. It's funnier when they think I don't understand Spanish. I do my best to laugh, but it still irritates me. I'm a person, not an animal in a zoo to at which to gawk.
In an exhibition you are meant to stare, are you meant to understand and accept? It might be implied. Then again you could just be staring at a pretty fish or so you thought.
Who's to say who is racist? I didn't even take the first step. Is it really even a first step or a zoo?
I couldn't tell you, perhaps we both deserve a large scarlet "R" on our chests to show the world our racist sides.
Comments (4)
I agree with your post, no matter what we say, we are all still a little racist inside.
To recognize that we're all from something different.. I wouldn't consider that to be racist. To consciously treat someone negatively *because* of their race - racist.
All races will have people that effect how people view their race as a collective. We're a little racist because all races will have stupid people in them. I work in a mall that is surrounded by a heavy Latino and Black influence, so I get a whole spectrum of different personalities when people come through. I've found that they all have chill people and just ignorant people. A lot of them are kind of iffy, but I work in a video game store located in spitting distance of Reading, ya mean. I wouldn't call it being racist, I'd call it disliking laziness, ignorance, and blatant stupidity in everybody.