I walk down the street, I drive in my car, I go to work and I never, ever accuse a Black person of swimming in a pool, or of breaking into a house, or of raping a member of my family, or robbing a bank. It doesn’t seem that hard to me.
There are a bunch of reasons for this:
1) Swimming in a pool isn’t illegal.
2) There are no laws against being Black
3) No one (of any color) has raped a member of my family that I know of. If they have or had, their color of their skin is not the important thing. The fact that they were assaulted is.
4) I’ve never seen a bank robbery in real life. Again, if I’m at a bank robbery, the color of the person with the gun is the least of my concerns. Being dead, losing money — those things would be concerns.
The same goes for brown, yellow, or red skinned-people. The same goes for people of different sexual orientations, different genders, different states of mind, and physical abilities. I don’t get why this is hard for people!
This in no way is to suggest I’m a saint. I have stupid thoughts on occasion, but I keep them to myself! Just as there are guys who “can’t keep it in their pants”, it seems like there are more and more people who just can’t keep their idiocy in their own minds. In addition to thinking racist,sexist, misogynistic, homophobic, ableist things, they now feel free to say them. Furthermore, they now seem to be lining up to act on those thoughts. Really?! Is it that hard?!
People are allowed by law to walk down the same streets, swim in the same pool, shop in the same stores, go to the same schools, cook the same food, lead the same lives as you do! If they’re not doing anything wrong, leave them the hell alone! If they’re minding their own business, mind yours!
I try to tell people all the time that the person with the problem needs to learn to cope or learn another way to cope. If it bothers you that Black people exist, go somewhere where they don’t! If you don’t like people using the public pool that they have a right to be in, go to another pool! If you don’t like people shopping in “your” store, shop somewhere else. You’ve got the problem. If you don’t like gay people, don’t go to gay bars to harass them. If you don’t like abortion, don’t have one! (By the way, if you don’t like White people, don’t go where they go just to pick a fight. Go because you belong there. If you don’t like heterosexuals, for whatever reasons, don’t hang out with them. If you don’t like people of a certain religion, don’t do business with them, certainly don’t go to their Place of Worship and harass them.) Honestly, have some boundaries, people! Get lives of your own, instead of worrying about what other people are doing! Just stop.
That said, the whole generalizing thing is just a bad idea. If you worry about Muslim terrorists, but you’re on a bus with a friend of Timothy McVeigh, you’re worried about the wrong people! If you think Black folks with guns are scarier than White folks with one, you’re wasting your anxiety on frivolous things. If you’re worried about 200 members of MS-13, and you take it out on children, or asylum seekers, or even just Mexicans, you’re beating up the wrong people! And in your misdirected anger or fear, you’re wasting money, time, and, most of all, people’s lives (including your own!)
Solve actual problems, not made up ones! If you can’t do that, you are the one with the problem, as will as the one who is the problem. Figure it out people! Really, it’s not that hard!
(Did I get some of this wrong? Probably. It’s a rant. If it hurts you, tell me and I’ll apologize. Or correct me. I’m cool with that, at least for awhile. Then let me think about it.)
Resisting with Peace,
John
Peace,
Because It Matters 