Whoopi and Sherri rock "The View" this morning

[BanzaiBonnie]

Elizabeth is such a typical white girl. She said sarrcastically, "excuse me while I take my WHITE goggles off". Whoopi and Sherri told her she can't. Hassel-whatever her name is, is clueless.

Me, I'm white too, but I know I don't know, and can't know what it feels like to be black in this country.


The rocking part of this exchange is that this conversation is happening at all. Even if it is on The View.

[ensho]

1. kick

nt

[Warpy]

2. That's one of the few places you'll hear it in the media, too

And yeah, I'm a po faced suburban cracker, too. I see the casual racism that exists every time a clerk tries to wait on me ahead of a customer of color who was there first. I know it's the type of white privilege that most white folks just take for granted and never notice.

I know the type of fury that it provokes, too, since I've had the experience of going to an auto parts place and not been waited on until every man who came through the door had been and I was the last customer in the store.

But there's no way I could possibly know how much of it there is or all the forms it takes. I have to shut up and listen to them tell me about it.

[ensho]

3. kick

nt

[juajen]

4. I have seen this happen also. But, when it does, I calmly say, "He or she

was before me." and the clerk or waitress or whatever attends to business correctly. We all have to stand up and fight injustice where it lives. That is why progress has been made today. Perhaps not enough, but I do my share as often as I can. I hate racism and elitism.

[Warpy]

7. I'm exactly the same.

My back might be in spasm and my feet are probably killing me the way they always do, but I'm never in enough of a hurry to be that rude to another human being.

[pacalo]

5. I live in the the Deep South, but I've never experienced either.

I couldn't fathom myself in an auto parts store waiting until every male customer was waited on before speaking up.

If ever I get on the Obama train, I doubt that I will ever try to relate to his color through self-loathing by referring to myself as a "po-faced suburban cracker", just because the man of the hour is a different color than I. My conscience is clear when it comes to my treatment of people, regardless of their color or stature.

Sorry, but I don't like to see anyone putting themselves down in order to relate to another human being.

[Warpy]

6. Oh, I spoke up all right

when I told them in no uncertain terms what kind of a sale they'd just lost and why.

I also never went back. I drove 25 miles to the next big town to get what I needed.

Also, I am terribly sorry you missed my sarcasm. Perhaps your charge regarding my self loathing is projection. Again, I am very sorry.

[pacalo]

8. The auto parts store story is one example of how wrong stereotyping of the South can be.

In my experience, it's always been first come, first serve, regardless of gender or color.

And we're very friendly down here, too. I work in a ladies' boutique & one of my recent clients, who had relocated to a northeastern state due to Katrina but was visiting family & friends in our area, seemed amazed by the service (conversation) she was receiving. She said that if she had attempted small conversation with a salesperson up north, she'd get a frozen stare, that she missed living in the South.