Baitball Blogger
Baitball Blogger's JournalAbout Biden's perspective regarding compromise...
Look, I don't think Biden is a racist, like in the classic Dixiecrat racist manner. But his words about compromise does cause concern to many minorities because it's foreshadowing of a pattern we would all like to see gone. In order to compromise, you have to give up something, and that something throughout the nineties (The Centrist Decade), and beyond, were issues that were of major concern to minorities.
We were bargaining chips for way too long, and frankly, in the white dominant world, our issues don't register as a priority.
This is a fact: the kind of things that concern us because we are people of color don't warrant consideration in the PERSONAL reality base of most white Americans. First thing to know about a poc is that we learn to develop situational awareness in order to avoid...trouble. This behavior is also known as healthy paranoia. It's exhausting sometimes the way we have to evaluate all the known factors, and include the expected patterns of racism and stereotypes BEFORE we share our opinions or make a decision. IT IS EXHAUSTING, but we learn to do this to avoid the common traps. And, yes, sometimes we're a step behind in our decision-making because we have to second guess everything we say and do. If we don't do this, one casual, impulsive moment might set off a racist who thinks we're being uppity and that galvanizes everyone around them. Metaphorically, it's like that scene in The Color Purple, when Oprah gets surrounded by the townspeople. It's discouraging to be right, and, yet, have to deal with that kind of reaction.
That brings us to the reaction from those who don't consider themselves racists, who add to this phenomenon. Their reaction is the most hurtful of all. We'll call them the "other white, non ethnic people."
This is what I can tell you about them. I have lived in a predominantly white culture society over the last few decades and minority issues do not come up in conversation, unless it's the usual stereotypical comments that get regurgitated because they have found some social acceptance. And I'm not talking about the obvious things that racist say that crosses the line of acceptable speech. I intentionally do not chose to be around racists and have cauterized those relationships over the years, so now I'm down to the "Other white, non ethnic people." And even among them, there are differences that I have found difficult to bridge because we have very different ways of living our best lives--even when we live under the same roof.
By comparison, racists know what they are doing is archaic and wrong. The one thing that can send them running to their backward caves is exposing their agenda of Making Whites Great Again. It simply is not accepted in its raw form. We can look them in the eye and they know that we're seeing them for who they really are. But it's harder to remove their advantage, when we have this other host of people who refuse to see it too. Essentially, they become complicit bystanders.
This is the part that is hurtful. I have observed among my other white, non ethnic friends and family members that they tend to doubt my ethnic p.o.v. because its not something that is part of their personal lives. This creates another obstacle to overcome. I have pointed out things to them that I felt were blatant and their response has been along the lines: "That's crazy, nobody thinks that way." And when I have been proven right, instead of accepting my observations, they just look away and you can almost see their brains going into Langolier mode, erasing the facts that disrupts their view of the world. Because, you see, accepting our point of view creates complications that just makes life harder in a world that favors the white dominant culture. "Too many rules! Too many rules" That's the kind of response you can get from a "Other white, non ethnic person" when you try to warn them about the situational awareness that you live by everyday. You see, they can walk freely, where you can't. They can show their curiosity in a way that would set off alarms if you did the same. So, they don't get the same societal electric shocks that will cause behavioral changes and so, they tend to dismiss our worries as just plain crazy, paranoia.
So, that's why minorities are uneasy about a white person who talks about compromise with the other side. We know that our issues are just academic factors to people who don't live our lives. And throwing us in as a bargaining chip isn't so hard to do for someone who has so many other personal benefits in the deals they make.
So, they may not be racists, but they are also not 100% committed to our cause.
"I do not care if you went to law school. You cannot threaten me!"
So, walking into the neighborhood on my dog walk, I saw a car parked in an odd place and took my iphone camera out, just in case. Saw a white haired man sitting in the driver seat, pointing his finger at the dashboard. But I never heard his voice because he became quiet as I walked by. Instead, I thought I heard a child's voice saying, "I do not care if you went to law school. You cannot threaten me!"
I don't think it was a child, however. Maybe a woman's voice garbled by the speaker phone because the conversation was very elevated in syntax.
Listen everyone, as long as I have lived in this community I have been aware that lawyers have dicked around and abused their professional ethics in order to keep us in line. I don't know who this woman was, or what was going on, but I sympathize with her. We need something far more effective to consumers than the Florida Bar to help us.
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Gender: Do not displayCurrent location: Seminole County, Florida
Member since: Sun Mar 18, 2012, 10:16 PM
Number of posts: 46,698
