Okay. NOW, I'm pissed. This race thing no longer has anything to do with fiction or bears.
Someone (
countess_baltar) I have never met (who obviously didn't even bother to check my profile before s/he spouted off in my LJ) has posted something which is buried in the comments responding to my letter to my fellow whiteys here. Please do peruse it! Or don't. It's the same crap defensive white people the world over have been posting repeatedly. It might help you to understand my responses, but as I'll be quoting from his/her comment, perhaps you can keep up without burning your eyes.
Here's my response:
Well, hello, there, Complete Stranger who Obviously Knows Nothing About Me!
Your babbling about white poverty means nothing. Many of my ancestors lived on squirrels in the hills. But they were STILL WHITE. (Have you ever noticed, incidentally, how so many white people start arguing about race by talking about how poor their _parents_ were or their _grandparents?_ Seems like white privilege has helped them to have plenty to eat in _this_ generation.) Me? I was poor as a child and young adult. Me, myself, and I. I know what it's like to be hungry. I know what it's like to be desperate and scared. And you know what? THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH WHETHER OR NOT I AM WHITE OR WHETHER OR NOT I AM RACIST. Nothing.
Also, especially Irish folks point out how things were tough for our ancestors, while Black folks can mention incidents that happened this week.
You say:
And it wasn't just Cherokee. It was Choctaw and Chickasaw as well, but there was this group that the "whites" didn't want because they were too Native American, and the Native Americans didn't want them because they weren't Native American enough."
And this has anything to do with the discussion or with you because . . . ?
The blond, white Utah majority discriminated against me because I was too "dark" (i.e. looked Native American), and I was told flat out several times in Southern California "Don't bother applying. You wont get it because you're white.
Really? Who told you that you shouldn't bother applying because you were white? Applying for what? Was it other bitter white people like you making assumptions, or was it a hiring entity? Hmmm. If the white majority in Utah discriminated against you because you didn't look white, how does this help your later argument that racism is dead, further down?
Why the hell is it so important for LJ Fandom that I identify as a "white" person and feel guilty for having some sort of "privilege" in the U.S.?
Wow. I said nothing about feeling guilty. You made that up yourself, and if I were an armchair psychologist, I might say this is the crux of your confused and incoherent comment. You feel guilty, and you don't like the feeling. I want white people to simply be themselves. That's all. Be yourself. Acknowledge who you are and what that means. Don't minimize other people's suffering to make yourself feel better. And if you identify as bi-racial, why are you getting so goddamned defensive? My letter was to WHITE people.
Is there some sort of breakdown going on because with President Obama, the excuse of "eee-vil white privilege held me down" has become questionable if not invalid?
Ah, here we go! Racism has disappeared because ONE BLACK MAN got ahead. I don't know you at all, but I can tell already that you are even worse at math than I am.
There. That's who I am. The person everyone hates for bringing up in these debates even worse questions that people don't want to confront. Are you happy now?
No, of course not. The "correct" response would have been something like: "I'm white and I'm so ashamed of my culture."
What "worse questions" did you bring up that no one wants to confront? Your hallucination that racism is dead?
For you to say I want white people to be ashamed of their culture is ridiculously laughable. How about checking someone's profile before you write idiotic stuff like that?
I study Irish Gaelic and can sing several songs in Irish by heart. I play the bodhrán. I know and can demonstrate multiple ethnic dances from England, Scotland, Ireland, and Germany -- my ancestral homes. Did you even bother to look at my user icon on my original post about this? I am dressed up like a woman from 1630s Highland Scotland. I waulk wool and sing in Scottish Gaelic and learn old English songs on the recorder. I am proud, proud, PROUD of my culture, you dumbass.
If you'd ever read my journal before, which you obviously haven't, you'd know that I am always calling on white people to engage in their own cultures and celebrate them to ground themselves before they turn to other cultures.
I posted this as its own post in case some of my white friends don't get still why so many people of color are getting PISSED OFF in this debate. Because they are getting wild, incoherent responses like this that have nothing to do with anything except to say: "Your reality is a lie! You are not struggling! My grandma ate a skunk once!"
I respect your postition. I respect your response. I agree.