Following some recent feedback - all constructive and I appreciate that - let's start here on a journey into race and some of the issues one encounters.
On the right hand side is a poll. I am keen to get a racial snapshot of my readers.
This is a first step on a broader plan. But this is the best place to start.
As people can be made up of more than one - multiple choice is available - and I look forward to seeing the results.
Hopefully this is a first step on a calm, objective, respectful and supportive journey into the topic.
Thank you all again.
Damien
xox
PS I have tried to be as comprehensive as possible without listing every country on earth. If I missed something, please do not be offended. But please kindly do add it in the comments section of this post :))
Showing posts with label Race. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Race. Show all posts
Sunday, 13 April 2014
Thursday, 10 April 2014
Tired Of Conversations Of Race......
...........not happening with anyone who IS NOT white.....
The ONLY conversation I seem to have with ppl that are not white is WHY I can not have a deep conversation.
I get told the whole WHITE PRIVILEGE issue means I can't understand.
Here's the thing........... that is like that old excuse of employers saying you can not have a job because you do not have the experience for the job ..... but without getting the job how do you get experience?
Without having the conversation, how do I gain the understanding?
I am tired of being told by people of colour that "white people just won't get it coz they don't suffer".
OK............... so you are basically telling me to sit down and shush.
The same thing that many white people have told / even now tell YOU to do.
How is this not a double standard and potentially reverse racism?
Seriously - I am confused that you have someone here who has never used race as a demarcation, but wishes to understand many of the particular instances of the racial debate. And you tell him "No - you can not understand".
And we are now on the second lap of the "I want to know ...... NO you will not understand."
You can not call out bigotry, but then deny someone the conversation.
Back in Melbourne in 2001, I was walking to my gym with my yarmulke on, and a young Serbian man in a car (He had the Serbian flag on his back window) pulled over and started yelling things at me. They included.
"You killed my people - I'm gonna kill your family!"
"You're murderers - all of you!"
"Wait till I get more of my mates - we're gonna come back and kill you slowly!"
"You're scum - you deserve to die"
He then put his foot down and sped off. The situation left me very unsettled and actually quite scared. Funny thing was, he ended up being at my gym and talking to a guy who I knew was Jewish. The difference between him and me is I was wearing my kippah, but he never did. He was invisible. I was not.
Now - I would have loved to sit down with that young man and hear WHY he felt the way he did. I would have liked to know if there had been any particular incident that had caused his reaction to a modern Jew just walking along, minding his own business.
I would love to sit down / e-chat with someone of colour about the issues that they face. I would like to understand their experiences. I don't want to just read about it. I want to hear the individual experience.
I would listen attentively, ask questions respectfully, and welcome the experience to hear how one person's life has been affected.
Without understanding each other's stories and experiences, we will continue to be ignorant of each other. We would continue to even be a little wary of each other? Nervous maybe? Even fearful?
It's like Equality. Unless society at large is assisted to LEARN about the same sex community, and our experiences and our lives, they will continue to be ignorant and our community and our desires.
Needless to say.................... the questions will not go away.
The desire to know and understand will not go away.
Blessings for you all
D
xox
The ONLY conversation I seem to have with ppl that are not white is WHY I can not have a deep conversation.
I get told the whole WHITE PRIVILEGE issue means I can't understand.
Here's the thing........... that is like that old excuse of employers saying you can not have a job because you do not have the experience for the job ..... but without getting the job how do you get experience?
Without having the conversation, how do I gain the understanding?
I am tired of being told by people of colour that "white people just won't get it coz they don't suffer".
OK............... so you are basically telling me to sit down and shush.
The same thing that many white people have told / even now tell YOU to do.
How is this not a double standard and potentially reverse racism?
Seriously - I am confused that you have someone here who has never used race as a demarcation, but wishes to understand many of the particular instances of the racial debate. And you tell him "No - you can not understand".
And we are now on the second lap of the "I want to know ...... NO you will not understand."
You can not call out bigotry, but then deny someone the conversation.
Back in Melbourne in 2001, I was walking to my gym with my yarmulke on, and a young Serbian man in a car (He had the Serbian flag on his back window) pulled over and started yelling things at me. They included.
"You killed my people - I'm gonna kill your family!"
"You're murderers - all of you!"
"Wait till I get more of my mates - we're gonna come back and kill you slowly!"
"You're scum - you deserve to die"
He then put his foot down and sped off. The situation left me very unsettled and actually quite scared. Funny thing was, he ended up being at my gym and talking to a guy who I knew was Jewish. The difference between him and me is I was wearing my kippah, but he never did. He was invisible. I was not.
Now - I would have loved to sit down with that young man and hear WHY he felt the way he did. I would have liked to know if there had been any particular incident that had caused his reaction to a modern Jew just walking along, minding his own business.
I would love to sit down / e-chat with someone of colour about the issues that they face. I would like to understand their experiences. I don't want to just read about it. I want to hear the individual experience.
I would listen attentively, ask questions respectfully, and welcome the experience to hear how one person's life has been affected.
Without understanding each other's stories and experiences, we will continue to be ignorant of each other. We would continue to even be a little wary of each other? Nervous maybe? Even fearful?
It's like Equality. Unless society at large is assisted to LEARN about the same sex community, and our experiences and our lives, they will continue to be ignorant and our community and our desires.
Needless to say.................... the questions will not go away.
The desire to know and understand will not go away.
Blessings for you all
D
xox
Tuesday, 25 March 2014
Nick Cannon White Face ... Not OK....
This is not acceptable.....
Neither is this........
Black Face
White Face
Yellow Eye
All are not acceptable ....
And if you think Nick Cannon should get a pass because he is a black man making fun of white people (the traditional transgressor) then you are quite the moron whose understanding of racial issues is clearly one sided...
Racism is Racism. White on Black. Black on White. Latino on Asian. Etc. Etc.
Meanwhile, I think Chelsea says it best ........... And I do not usually agree with this woman.....
Neither is this........
Black Face
White Face
Yellow Eye
All are not acceptable ....
And if you think Nick Cannon should get a pass because he is a black man making fun of white people (the traditional transgressor) then you are quite the moron whose understanding of racial issues is clearly one sided...
Racism is Racism. White on Black. Black on White. Latino on Asian. Etc. Etc.
Meanwhile, I think Chelsea says it best ........... And I do not usually agree with this woman.....
Wednesday, 19 June 2013
Gay Race....It's Black and White...
We should have a full and frank discussion about race....but we never will.
Want to know why?
Because no one wants to start it.... because..... they could be seen as racist.
Basically - we're all walking / blogging on eggshells. Well I am going to put my thoughts out there and let's see how much hate mail I get :) (PS I love hate mail/comments - keep that in mind:)
My 2 and a bit years in the USofA taught me that if you are white you are expected to NOT discuss race - especially regarding the black community. As "the man" you have no credibility to talk on issues of race as it is White People who who are the racial abusers.
Now - that is certainly the rule and not the exception in my experience. KKK. Knights of the Aryan Brotherhood. West Virginia White Pride. etc. etc. etc. Believe it or not, I can actually appreciate this as a Jew. My first month in Orlando (October 2002), I went out to Borders to buy some books and wore my Kippah (Jewish Skull-Cap). I actually heard a woman say to her friend "Oh my god he's Jewish!". I was later reminded by friends that "Yes Dorothy, you are still in the South. Even in cosmopolitan Orlando, Florida."
Another trend was very OBVIOUS poor service on most occasions when the server / shop assistant / cashier etc was a black person. Now I mentioned THIS and was told "Yeah. A lot of the black people around here don't like the white people But quite a few of the white people don't like the black people either." I made a joke along the lines of "Well no one must like the Asians around here". It was all of about 2 seconds until I realised that I was the only one chuckling. Ahem.
Anyways - I decided to see if this sort of racial experience of mine was the RULE or the EXCEPTION. As I was very fortunate to travel with Bubb when he went on work trips, I got to see many cities. Boston. Savannah. Miami. Ft Lauderdale. Omaha. Chicago. Atlanta. Denver. To name the most prominent. And a clear pattern emerged......
None.
No pattern. The black people in Atlanta and Savannah loved me. Surprisingly, my most uncomfortable moment in Savannah was when a white, middle aged, southern woman refused me service at her beauty salon when I requested a mani-pedi by responding "We don't......do...... the men." I found a diverse racial mix in Boston and it seemed pretty well mixed to my eyes. In Miami, there was an obvious Cubano and Everyone Else divide. But I didn't find that a NASTY divide, as more of a COMFORT divide. I dined at my hotel in Chicago next to a table of equal numbers of black and white men (gayelles actually) who seemed to get on like a house on fire.
And yet even today, if I ask any of the African American bloggers I know a question about their community and/or if I make an observation, it is often answered with a somewhat vague non-answer. In some cases, it's been answered with a chill in the air that had me reaching for my shawl.
Why?
I'm an intelligent, articulate man. I have genuine questions about the racial issues in my second homeland. So why can I not ask them honestly and openly and safely? Seriously people. I am asking.
There is a TONNE of stuff about Black America that I would like to ask and know about. Why? Because I'm curious about, and interested in, the world around me. I want to know why in "contemporary" America, there are still such issues. And why there clearly has been the emergence of reverse racism towards whites.
(Oh god how I hate using these terms - black...white.... makes us seem like floor tiles rather than people)
So I am asking YOU all out there. Why? Why is race still such an issue? Why did the black man at Walmart in Orlando practically spit on me. And yet, my middle aged black female barber at Super Cuts (Ms Judy) and I got on like a house on fire and she had NO racial issues with anyone. Actually, she found it all rather trying and stupid. She recalled verbally putting her daughter in place when she made a disparaging remark about Latinos.
So....this is the START of a series of blog posts here. I am certain that I will offend some, challenge others, enlighten some, and have some opening up. But isn't it high time we started TALKING about this rather than simply BITCHING about it.
Over to you guys
Shalom n Blessings
D
xox
Want to know why?
Because no one wants to start it.... because..... they could be seen as racist.
Basically - we're all walking / blogging on eggshells. Well I am going to put my thoughts out there and let's see how much hate mail I get :) (PS I love hate mail/comments - keep that in mind:)
My 2 and a bit years in the USofA taught me that if you are white you are expected to NOT discuss race - especially regarding the black community. As "the man" you have no credibility to talk on issues of race as it is White People who who are the racial abusers.
Now - that is certainly the rule and not the exception in my experience. KKK. Knights of the Aryan Brotherhood. West Virginia White Pride. etc. etc. etc. Believe it or not, I can actually appreciate this as a Jew. My first month in Orlando (October 2002), I went out to Borders to buy some books and wore my Kippah (Jewish Skull-Cap). I actually heard a woman say to her friend "Oh my god he's Jewish!". I was later reminded by friends that "Yes Dorothy, you are still in the South. Even in cosmopolitan Orlando, Florida."
Another trend was very OBVIOUS poor service on most occasions when the server / shop assistant / cashier etc was a black person. Now I mentioned THIS and was told "Yeah. A lot of the black people around here don't like the white people But quite a few of the white people don't like the black people either." I made a joke along the lines of "Well no one must like the Asians around here". It was all of about 2 seconds until I realised that I was the only one chuckling. Ahem.
Anyways - I decided to see if this sort of racial experience of mine was the RULE or the EXCEPTION. As I was very fortunate to travel with Bubb when he went on work trips, I got to see many cities. Boston. Savannah. Miami. Ft Lauderdale. Omaha. Chicago. Atlanta. Denver. To name the most prominent. And a clear pattern emerged......
None.
No pattern. The black people in Atlanta and Savannah loved me. Surprisingly, my most uncomfortable moment in Savannah was when a white, middle aged, southern woman refused me service at her beauty salon when I requested a mani-pedi by responding "We don't......do...... the men." I found a diverse racial mix in Boston and it seemed pretty well mixed to my eyes. In Miami, there was an obvious Cubano and Everyone Else divide. But I didn't find that a NASTY divide, as more of a COMFORT divide. I dined at my hotel in Chicago next to a table of equal numbers of black and white men (gayelles actually) who seemed to get on like a house on fire.
And yet even today, if I ask any of the African American bloggers I know a question about their community and/or if I make an observation, it is often answered with a somewhat vague non-answer. In some cases, it's been answered with a chill in the air that had me reaching for my shawl.
Why?
I'm an intelligent, articulate man. I have genuine questions about the racial issues in my second homeland. So why can I not ask them honestly and openly and safely? Seriously people. I am asking.
There is a TONNE of stuff about Black America that I would like to ask and know about. Why? Because I'm curious about, and interested in, the world around me. I want to know why in "contemporary" America, there are still such issues. And why there clearly has been the emergence of reverse racism towards whites.
(Oh god how I hate using these terms - black...white.... makes us seem like floor tiles rather than people)
So I am asking YOU all out there. Why? Why is race still such an issue? Why did the black man at Walmart in Orlando practically spit on me. And yet, my middle aged black female barber at Super Cuts (Ms Judy) and I got on like a house on fire and she had NO racial issues with anyone. Actually, she found it all rather trying and stupid. She recalled verbally putting her daughter in place when she made a disparaging remark about Latinos.
So....this is the START of a series of blog posts here. I am certain that I will offend some, challenge others, enlighten some, and have some opening up. But isn't it high time we started TALKING about this rather than simply BITCHING about it.
Over to you guys
Shalom n Blessings
D
xox
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