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I wasn't going to write anything about it, but the Pacific Northwest certainly rivals the South (where I grew up and which, arguably, gets a whole lot more flak for its unsavory racists than other parts of the country) in evidence of racism and white supremacy. Yeah, I know the whole Pacific Northwest is one of the least diverse areas of the country, and I know that racism in overt and covert forms exists everywhere, in every part of the country, but as the white part of an interracial couple, I'm being educated in ways that I, in my privilege, have been -- let's be honest -- blind to for most of my adult life.
The Bird Photographer and I saw the evidence nearly everywhere we went, and given the general tenor of the times we live in -- well -- we didn't mess around when we saw it. We walked out of a steak house/diner/truck stop and toward our car one evening, passed a small group of older folks standing together at their pickup truck. One of the men was opening what looked like birthday presents, and they spoke openly of Trump, how much they agreed with him, how much they liked him. I know this because I walked right by them and rolled my eyes in my mind, and then I noticed that on the top of the present that the man was opening at the moment was a rolled up Confederate Flag.
I hear a lot of people crying out and writing how fucked we all are! and how this is so unbelievable! and I'm as stressed as the next privileged white liberal person, but let's face the facts. This great country -- and it is great in many ways -- has an ugly core, a rotten core, and the only way to get rid of it is to uncover and face that rotten core, to acknowledge that truth and to speak, own and face the truth relentlessly, no matter how uncomfortable it makes many of us. I think that might mean acknowledging and facing our own darkness, but it also might mean erasing swastikas chalked onto bucolic pathways or speaking up and often, even to those standing in a parking lot with an old, ugly flag. It means opening our eyes to see and using our ears to listen. I wish I'd done both, but I did neither, and I regret that.
“The American Negro has the great advantage of having never believed the collection of myths to which white Americans cling: that their ancestors were all freedom-loving heroes, that they were born in the greatest country the world has ever seen, or that Americans are invincible in battle and wise in peace, that Americans have always dealt honorably with Mexicans and Indians and all other neighbors or inferiors, that American men are the world's most direct and virile, that American women are pure. Negroes know far more about white Americans than that; it can almost be said, in fact, that they know about white Americans what parents—or, anyway, mothers—know about their children, and that they very often regard white Americans that way. And perhaps this attitude, held in spite of what they know and have endured, helps to explain why Negroes, on the whole, and until lately, have allowed themselves to feel so little hatred. The tendency has really been, insofar as this was possible, to dismiss white people as the slightly mad victims of their own brainwashing.”
James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time
#resist
In Canada where I live there is systemic racism, most especially against indigenous people. We have our own rot and i have my own internalized racism. And yet my advice to Americans remains the same
ReplyDeleteOne word: Run.
Run where? Away? It sounds tempting, but I'm staying and resisting as long as I can.
DeleteI guess yes, away to another country. I don't see how this can be turned around. The hatred snd ignorance and violence how can that dissipate when it is fueled by your president. I admire in a way those who stay that is for sure. some of course have no choice.
DeleteRead this: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/13/trump-era-hope-activism-organise-protest?CMP=share_btn_fb
DeleteRe. your commenter above, I don't think running is the answer. (And that's coming from someone who lives overseas!) Every country in the world faces issues of racism and hatred. I'm even seeing it here in Cambodia, where I'm visiting at the moment -- I was talking to a Cambodian yesterday who was complaining about Vietnamese immigrants! It's EVERYWHERE. It's human nature. I'm not saying we shouldn't resist it -- God knows we should -- but we should also be aware these problems go beyond our borders.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, I agree that Trump has made the expression of hatred easier, and for that (among many other reasons) he has got to go. One of a leader's jobs is to set the bar, to help people rise above their baser instincts for the good of society overall.
Very interesting Baldwin quote. I'm sure we do live in our own fog of whiteness.
Absolutely racism is everywhere. But Trump has opened up the box, as it were, and is not only encouraging it but welcoming it. Embracing it. So now there are zero controls on it. And yes Trump must go but he won't. Or he will and his replacement wine worse
DeleteAnd the white supremacism is only what we see, the tip of the iceberg. What goes on beneath by those puppeting Trump is even worse.there is no saviour president coming to help control the baser instincts. I realize that leaving is not a viable option for many and that protest and rising up is our responsibility, our hope. But there is so much worse to come and Trump is going nowhere for now.
I just finished listening to a book by Nancy Peacock called "The Life and Times of Persimmon Wilson" and it sort of covered a great deal of the gamut of racism and how white people have treated people of color here in America. It is written from the perspective of a slave who, after the Civil War, was captured by the Comanche and then allowed to assimilate into their tribe. The woman he was in love with for most of his life was a very light-skinned black woman who was forced into a faux marriage by their slave owner and was passed off as white against her will. Many, many interesting points and if we think that we have come a long way from the days when it was seen as perfectly okay to own human beings and to force native people off their own land we are kidding ourselves. And I agree with Steve that Trump has made it far more acceptable in the eyes of many to express blatant racism and hatred and fear of "the other".
ReplyDeleteI'll shut up now.
Oh Lord. Yes. I see NO diversity here and it makes me very uncomfortable. And yesterday I came upon a murder of old men sitting at a book store talking shit... What can you say to people like this? You aren't going to change their minds. I know what you're feeling. I remember being with my male cousin whose skin is black walking into a bar and feeling those hateful eyes on us. I too am starting to think of running but Steve makes a good point. Where do you run? Racism is everywhere.
ReplyDeleteI went out with a black man for a period of time. It was strange seeing the world through his eyes. We were golfing one day and I asked him if it was hard being the only black person there. I can't remember his answer now but I can imagine it is difficult. I was in Chicago years ago, in a neighborhood where I was the only white person. That felt strange too. I think it requires effort on the part of human beings to put ourselves in the shoes of others.
ReplyDeleteMy in-laws are rampant racists but I don't keep quiet anymore. They don't like immigrants, both being immigrants who came here after WW11 because Europe had been blown apart. They say that people should stay in their own countries. I told them to imagine how bad it must be in their own country for them to risk their own lives and the lives of their children to leave. That made the stop and think for a moment.
I think we are lazy for the most part. People prefer people who like themselves because it requires less effort. They can make assumptions that may or may not be correct but it's easy. They look like me. They must be like me. If someone looks different or acts different, this will require effort. The effort of talking to someone, of being uncomfortable, of being vulnerable, of having their beliefs and assumptions tested and found wanting. And there is always fear too. Fear of the different. Except we're all really the same deep down, even Trump; a man who is so afraid of death that he will go to any lengths to ensure that he lives on somehow. He thinks power and money will either stop death or ensure his name lives on but he will be just as dead as the rest of us in the end. We all die.
I think you're right, all of us have to speak up. None of us can be lazy and just sit back. Trump has tapped into the fear and laziness of some Americans and has made it okay for them to continue being scared, lazy people, too afraid to open their eyes and their minds.
I may have gotten a little long winded:)
ReplyDeleteNo, thank you for your thoughtful comment. A lot of what you said is not just "right" but really important, especially when you referred to the laziness and fear of the American people. People mistake "privilege" for being something material, and it's not.
DeleteThat James Baldwin could zero in on a thing, couldn't he? I appreciate your opened eyes, because part of what is needed now is white allies, people who understand that black and brown people aren't just being paranoid. Sh*t is real. I confess I wondered how you and the Bird Photographer were navigating that part of the country. That swastika so casually etched on a wooded path made my blood run cold. I worry for my son and his girlfriend. I want them to stay in this big east coast city always. I hate that the world is this way.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm really glad you wrote about it.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth thank you. Racism is rampant here and now it is more open than ever. People always tend to think the PNW is a liberal paradise but it is rife with NRA supporters trump acolytes haters religious fanatics. Huge American flags stream from giant trucks driven aggressively by self righteous young men and women elderly men and women using hate language openly churches bedecked by flags men with their children in restaurants having casual conversations about the terrifying immigrants infiltrating their streets language that mimics that of the American president. Same goes for Oregon. Even Portlandia. We are in a crisis state. It has been a long time since I’ve kept my head down and gone about in ignorance. I speak up but it is getting scarier each day to do so. Love, Rebecca
ReplyDeleteI think we are past the tipping point. But, I have always been a pessimist so maybe don’t listen to me.
ReplyDeleteAlas, after traveling the World extensively, Racism in various forms is indeed everywhere and Steve was right, it takes effort for many people to rise above their baser instincts. I see privilege differently, I think it has been a privilege to be a person of mixed ancestry and have an extended Family of various Races. It had made us, as a blended Family, more harmonious with all peoples and less inclined to have this Purist attitude that I just always noticed was more prevalent among those people who were just of one dominant ancestry. Of coarse, that said, there was less acceptance of us as a 'blend' of 'races', and some races were more accepting than others towards those of us of mixed race. I don't like at all what I see in America, is reminds me of scarier times in the Past where integration was not prevalent at all and many people were forced to be segregated involuntarily. I see a lot more voluntary segregation going on nowadays, in many ways it's indicative of how strong human nature seems to be about being around mostly those exactly LIKE you and the comfort level that brings to some. That chilling chalking would have made my blood run Cold and I would not have Trusted the population of an area that has too much of that kind of thing blatantly displayed! Note to Self: Avoid the PNW as I have always avoided the South... not becoz it's there, its everywhere, but becoz it's so much more acceptable apparently and that just makes me more nervous in unfamiliar surroundings where I don't really 'know' the people or what they're capable of.
ReplyDeleteI used to think of myslf as theoretically anti-racism. (Delusional. I may have grown up with almost no black people but my childhood was rampant with xenophobia. And the Germany of my parents was the birth place of the worst kind of racism.)
ReplyDeleteBut still, I read James Baldwin as a teenager and *knew* all about MLK and civil rights, if only at a fascinating educational distance.
In my 30th year, we moved to a small African country and I vividly remember that first morning when we arrived and I found myself surrounded by black people. There I was, self-proclaimed feminist, unionist, anti-apartheid activist with an overblown and pompous agenda surprised by the fact that – yes indeed – all people appeared to be black. I admit that I was afraid, I thought everybody was watching and waiting for my first mistake. Of course, totally unfounded fears.
At times I would see this white hand holding onto the handrail in a packed bus and realising with a jolt that I was staring at my own hand. For a split second, always, the fear would return. But nobody was the slightest bit interested in me. This of course, was a generous society, a proud and independent African country. They looked at me with pity and mild derision when I put my foot in. The white people never brought them much luck but many reeasons to laugh at.
So obv. my fear came from a deeper place inside my mind, all that knowledge of racism and white supremacy shit. It is still there. I wonder if others have it, too.