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fabrisseCrikey. People are saying, quoting a remark by David Simon, that "there are now two Americas."
All I can think is, "Oh, honey, no." There have always been multiple Americas; it's just that white folks have always thought theirs was the only one that counted.
I watch demonstrations of white privilege every fucking day. I probably demonstrate my own privilege in ways that I don't fully comprehend because that's the problem of privilege: you don't always recognize it when you have it.
But. I'm more aware because I'm in the reverse situation from most people of color. I'm the only white person in my office. I'm one of fifteen or so in my 300+ person organization. When I tell my friends who work for the Federal government that I work for DC government, one of the first questions is about how do I feel about working with people that don't look like me. The questions are less direct than that, of course. None of us is a bigot. But aren't you worried that you live in a mix-raced neighborhood, go to that area of town, work with people who went to different types of schools... all of the subtle, and not so subtle codes.
I'm tired. I'm tired of the twenty-something white people going to Nats or Caps games who won't give up their seats on the Metro to an elderly black person or a pregnant black woman or a disabled black man. I know it's not general obliviousness, because they snap up and offer to white people with the same issues.
I'm tired of the rare white customer being so relieved to see me or requesting me when they get one of my colleagues in the rotation.
Baltimore's issues exist because we don't look at racism. We don't realize that Samuel L. Jackson, to give a famous example, was over 20 before segregation ended in the city where he was born. People remember segregation. AIDS policies were and still are geared more toward the gay community than toward the Black community, but AIDS for whatever reason spreads more quickly and more ways in Black communities. It's estimated that one in twenty people (5%) of the District's population is HIV positive. Some of this is due to poor education. Some of this is due to Congress not allowing needle exchange programs. We have a generation in this city reared by their grandparents because their parents died of AIDS.
Those of you in Boston remember busing. Imagine living with that fight every single fucking day and you'll have some idea of what being poor and black in Baltimore is like.
All I can think is, "Oh, honey, no." There have always been multiple Americas; it's just that white folks have always thought theirs was the only one that counted.
I watch demonstrations of white privilege every fucking day. I probably demonstrate my own privilege in ways that I don't fully comprehend because that's the problem of privilege: you don't always recognize it when you have it.
But. I'm more aware because I'm in the reverse situation from most people of color. I'm the only white person in my office. I'm one of fifteen or so in my 300+ person organization. When I tell my friends who work for the Federal government that I work for DC government, one of the first questions is about how do I feel about working with people that don't look like me. The questions are less direct than that, of course. None of us is a bigot. But aren't you worried that you live in a mix-raced neighborhood, go to that area of town, work with people who went to different types of schools... all of the subtle, and not so subtle codes.
I'm tired. I'm tired of the twenty-something white people going to Nats or Caps games who won't give up their seats on the Metro to an elderly black person or a pregnant black woman or a disabled black man. I know it's not general obliviousness, because they snap up and offer to white people with the same issues.
I'm tired of the rare white customer being so relieved to see me or requesting me when they get one of my colleagues in the rotation.
Baltimore's issues exist because we don't look at racism. We don't realize that Samuel L. Jackson, to give a famous example, was over 20 before segregation ended in the city where he was born. People remember segregation. AIDS policies were and still are geared more toward the gay community than toward the Black community, but AIDS for whatever reason spreads more quickly and more ways in Black communities. It's estimated that one in twenty people (5%) of the District's population is HIV positive. Some of this is due to poor education. Some of this is due to Congress not allowing needle exchange programs. We have a generation in this city reared by their grandparents because their parents died of AIDS.
Those of you in Boston remember busing. Imagine living with that fight every single fucking day and you'll have some idea of what being poor and black in Baltimore is like.
