I've experienced that phenomenon several times before. In New York in one job I had, the lady who had recently graduated from college couldn't believe that I had grown up in Texas and was asking what it was like to grow up and live in a place where racism was so out in the open and prevalent. I told her that I saw that, but mentioned that it was possibly worse in NYC because most folks that were racist had no idea they were racist. They would always say, "I'm not racist, but..." After the but came some racist statements. Another co-worker was a black girl who went to a prep school in CT. She said all of the people there were very liberal and supported her rights politically, but they had literally never seen a person of color. They asked her all kinds of questions about her skin, and hair, and other things. She tried to be understandable. Her husband was white and when they got married and were buying a home in NYC, the realtors said that certain places wouldn't sell to them because of her race. They would always find other excuses to use. I started working as a paid volunteer for HUD investigating the discrimination in real estate both for purchase and rentals. It was crazy. I'm often reminded of the lyrics from the song Rednecks. Here's a sample. The song was from the 70s. But it's still applicable.
I 1st heard that song on a Malcolm Gladwell podcast and it really hit home. Randy Newman was a wise man and got into trouble because most thought he was disparaging Rednecks.
I did read the whole article and even leaving out the comments on Paw Patrol I think it is troubling. I agree the idolization of LE isn’t good but going after anything that might happen to show LE in a good light is troubling. For example criticizing the Wire.
Well he was disparaging rednecks too, but he was mostly pointing out the hypocrisy. I mean saying 'We're rednecks we don't know our ass from a hole in the ground" is certainly disparaging.
Who is doing this? It's using random people to push a narrative, anybody thinks The Wire was showing LE in a good light does not deserve to be listened to.
For EddiewasSnubbed if you feel biased as a Texan by Northerners try being a nonwhite Texan. I’ve had people in outside of Texas ask me how I dealt with all the racism in Texas and asked if I was glad to get out of Texas. I’ve dealt with as much racism outside of Texas as I ever did in.
It's really difficult to speak from a somewhat centrist point of view, and get people to pay any attention to what you have to say these days. Kudos to the OP.
Why are you worried about what she thinks anyway? By your own admission, she's a 50 year old spoiled little rich white girl. She is a child. You wouldn't take any other child seriously so don't take her seriously. I imagine it's tough to navigate these types of conversations at work when you disagree with popular sentiment. Probably best to avoid them if they don't serve a work related purpose. She sounds like a nice but naive lady so don't hold anything against her.
I saw a blog that asked what's the answer? I responded by saying that we need to start with a serious effort to weed out bad cops. Well this guy jumped down my throat. I could picture him almost foaming at the mouth. I can understand that he is upset with the current state of affairs in our country as I am too but this guy was just over the top. It is this sort of highly charged emotion that is rampant in our communities and personally I am somewhat alarmed. I just hope this whole thing simmers down to a dull roar soon.
****... the racism in the Midwest is FAR FAR worse than any I have seen in Texas. Go to Ohio for a weekend and you can lose count of how many times you hear racial slurs or see overt racism towards black people and Hispanics. There are still places in Illinois where they have signs telling “******* to keep on driving”.... want to know the most racist people I have done business with? Religious farmers... all over the Midwest.
I did not link the article. I had to go back and read the article and I did miss some things but the entire thing is built on a premise that most people are not participating in, it's based on random think pieces and individual acts. I love a good think piece but this article is stretching and the title is huge click bait. The article is all over the place, this part is especially wrong. The “good cop” trope is a standard of both police procedurals" Has the author watched a police procedural since the 90"s most have cops being some kind of anti hero. I really can not understand what the author point is she uses a joke to say we should actually be going after paw patrol because the good cop stereotype is bad? Virtue signalling at its worst.
I am good friends with a guy from Ohio and that's the1st place I thought of when this thread started. Oddly enough they were one of the 1st states who had a lot of interracial relationships at least around the cincy area.
The problem is I'm not worried about what she thinks. So, putting myself in another's shoes, I can only imagine a random stranger expressing a deep rooted sentiment that is racist towards someone that can't do anything about it. It's no wonder that often comes to blows. Can't blame the person for literally swinging back. But what I think it does teach me, is not to hate on someone for swinging back. Moreso, to have immense respect for someone for turning the other cheek to the ignorant person. Not necessarily equating that to my situation here, more trying to live vicariously through it, in some weird, perverted way.
When people think of racist Texas. They not thinking of Houston, Austin, San An And all they know of Dallas is J.R. They think everywhere not there..like Vidor Cut N Shoot.... etc Rocket River.