November 10, 2005
One of the Things I Noticed in Biloxi....
One of the things I noticed in Biloxi last month was every time a white person said something that began "I've got nothing against blacks...", or "I'm not prejudiced of course...", or "I'm no racist...", they invariably finished the sentence with something that sounded racist, at least covertly. For example:
"... I just don't get along with people with attitude problems." And it's just coincidence that these people are black.
"... but this is a bad part of town, with lots of crime and drugs." Why, precisely, do you need deny your racism in order to say that?
"... but a lot of these people in East Biloxi are sitting around waiting for a handout." Apart from the covert equation of "black" with "welfare bum", perhaps this isn't quite the right thing to say to someone who has just finished clearing from the side of your house for free the fallen tree that a contractor would have charged you $2000 to remove.
Posted by abostick at November 10, 2005 01:57 PMI've been noticing and wondering about that all my life (the parts spent in the Deep South and the parts spent elsewhere).
I've concluded that such people know damned well they're about to utter something they should be ashamed of, and they're trying to assure themselves, as much as their listeners, that they aren't really Bad People.
Posted by: Pat Kight at November 10, 2005 03:34 PMOh, I don't think these are concious comments.
I think they represent a kind of uncomfortable politeness.
There is an aroma of something being wrong, but the person can't yet find the steps in identifing it.
Check out what Paul Gorski says here about racism, in terms of understanding a benefit, and who gets that benefit...
http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/resources/paradigmshifts_race.html
Surfing in late via the Sideshow.
Also remember that in East Biloxi, blacks aren't/weren't the only minority. There is the large Vietnamese population as well.
Posted by: Tom - Daai Tou Laam at November 21, 2005 05:20 PMReminds me of this.
"Do you know how every racist joke in the world starts?"
Posted by: Trinker at November 21, 2005 09:31 PMWhoops, used an inappropriate bit of ascii.
The punchline was:
{ glance nervously around the room }
Posted by: Trinker at November 21, 2005 09:33 PM
