Tag: racism

The fact that we as white people make fun of black people for naming their kids things like Shaniqua, which sounds lovely, I mean that shit sounds like some kind of rare and ethereally beautiful butterfly “the northern shaniqua” you can just picture a northern shaniqua fluttering its dainty gossamer wings, flitting from flower to flower.  I mean it just sounds pretty.

And then we go around naming our kids shit like Fletcher which sounds like a kind of abscess you get on your dick from late stage syphilis seems particularly fucked up to me.  Seriously say it out loud “fletcher”.  “that dude had a fletcher on his dick, I nearly puked when he took his pants off, it smelled horrible”.  It just sounds freaking gross.  We have zero room to make fun of anyone.  We’re ridiculously bad at this.

Like I’m aware of what each one means, and actually fellow white people why the fuck are you naming your kid “arrow maker” in the first place?  I mean I know we have our problems, but I thought we’d kiiiiiind of recognized the obsolescence of the long bow?  Have we not progressed since like… the 16th century?  Of course we fucking haven’t.

IDK man, I just DK, that shit seems fucked up.

Why Do People Think Racism Is Edgy?

You know what’s edgy?  Saying “That little black kid shouldn’t have been shot, you slimy pig bastard” 

Insulting the cops is edgy, that’ll get you shot.  Insulting POC’ll get you a show on comedy central.

Now I personally believe that the statement that results in people trying to shoot me is edgier than the one that results in me getting a television show… 

Why I didn’t call the police when I saw two black boys with guns next door

My husband’s instinct was to call law enforcement, but that didn’t seem like the solution. Especially after Tamir Rice

The fact that black kids can’t enjoy playing with BB guns without the possibility of being murdered is fucking awful. The BB gun is a classic childhood toy, it’s like not being able to ride a hobby horse without someone assuming you’re a fucking cavalry charge.  Like the “just don’t give them toy guns” solution A: doesn’t work, because cops think cellphones and lollipops are guns apparently and B: what kind of a fucking grinch are you to think that little kids should have to stop playing with their toys so that people don’t murder them?

Why I didn’t call the police when I saw two black boys with guns next door

Also Dear Fellow White People:

Let’s remember that the hyper-competent black woman who never gets a romance storyline and carries all the white people on her team, is not a progressively written character.  The trope exists to justify the centuries old bullshit of treating black women like unlovable beasts of burden while white women get to be treasured decorative objects to be protected (which is a better position, don’t lie, like it’s not ‘actual person’ good, but it’s a biiiig step up.)

Like she’s cool and she’s a badass, but she deserves to get to be vulnerable, and treasured and loved and not treated like an expendable resource rather than a lovable and valued human being.

Fun fact: White is a label that’s specifically about oppressing POC

So when you have “white pride” you’re expressing pride in the structure of oppression we’ve created.  No one cares if at some point you want to have Norwegian-descended pride day or whatever.

Like that is why you can’t have “white pride” but you can have like “Scottish-American pride” because that’s actually about your heritage and culture and not about a shitty label that encompasses a huge number of ethnicities that we use to oppress people who don’t fit under it.

Also for the majority of black Americans, they don’t get specifics on their black ancestry because our ancestors fucking kidnapped theirs and forcibly erased most of the language and culture they brought with them (though the amount that was saved, by black people, is amazing and wonderful and something to take immense pride in) so they don’t get to say “Mozambican-American” the way you say “Irish-American” because they had their fucking history stolen.

So being pissed at them for taking pride in the only heritage we left them with makes you an absolute fucking tool.

Question: As a white person, if I see a black person being menaced by a police officer

Is there anything I can do to help?  Like for example would it be helpful to pretend to know the person who is being harassed and say something along the lines of “Hey man, I was waiting for you so that we could start that book report” (or whatever depending on their age) so as to diffuse the situation, or if the age difference is great enough pretend that they’re you’re kid?

Because I know that having a white companion can protect people a little bit sometimes, or would that make the situation worse?

I’ve been googling this and I cannot find an answer.

I know that it’s usually helpful to butt in if you see a woman you don’t know looking uncomfortable when a guy is hitting on her, but I haven’t found anything on this situation.

Update: Suggestions include:

1. Asking the police officer for help, especially if you are a white lady or someone that passes for a white lady and can summon up some tears.

2. Record the police officer.