Why Can't We All Just Be Human?

[R. S. Martin]

Except if you've got black skin it's okay to rant and rave about the evils imposed on your ancestors by the white-skinned peoples of the earth and you don't have to be sensitive to any descendents of these white-skinned masters within ear-shot either. In fact, it's quite proper to use intentionally raised voice to discuss your gripes with fellow descendents of abused peoples. The white descendents deserve to suffer the prejudice by virtue of being white. It's their fault--if they hadn't gone and been born white they wouldn't be treated this way but they had the presumptuousness to go and be born of white parents so they deserve all they get.

 

I dunno, but in my mind there's something seriously wrong with that picture. Can't we all just be people? I've had to put up with ostracization from my own family all my life for asking all the wrong questions so finally I bucked tradition and took refuge in academia. Now I meet this righteous African queen (forgive my language but if you'd heard her talk you'd dig up a few words, too). She comes up from Jamaica or somewhere down south and preaches to me about how much better people are back where she came from--they just accept everyone for who they are whereas up here everyone is put into nationalities and races and asked where they're from.

 

I think, "Go back where you came from if the old country is so much better. I don't have to listen to this. These are my people. I was BORN here!"

 

She brags how she can always quit a bad job and go on welfare if she doesn't like her work. As though we who were born here owe it to ungrateful immigrants to keep them alive. I took social work courses and learned the agony and hard work our people went through, how people starved and died from preventable causes for lack of finances until the government finally instituted basic welfare policy for people who were born here. Now we get this women up from some place down south who puts down our (apparently) corrupt society and steals our welfare cheques. And claims a perfect right to do so because of what my ancestors did to her ancestors. (So far as I know the Mennonites did not ever own slaves but she refuses to accept that as fact.)

 

That conversation happened over a year ago. I'd tried working with her because she seemed to need help with her studies but I could not work with a person with that attitude toward a system that had helped me so much. Then a week ago we had another clash. I was forced to work in the same room as her. It was after office hours; school personnel had left for the day. It was her, myself, and an East Asian student in the room. She had this loud conversation with the Asian denigrating the Europeans.

 

Finally, I joined the conversation and pointed out how it made me feel--that three races were represented and that two were seen as good and one as bad. The Asian assured me that the African did not say that and I accepted that. The African loudly said to the Asian about me, "She can interpret it that way if she wants to. If that is how she wants to interpret it she can!" I returned to my work but found myself unable to concentrate and making serious mistakes. All I was doing was scanning a book from the library that I was not allowed to take off-campus.

 

I asked them politely (I think) to lower their voices. The Asian promised to do so and kept her promise. The African kept up the loud conversation non-stop and told the Asian that I didn't need to do the scanning at school because I had a scanner at home. She proclaimed that she would not lower her voice, etc. I took the book over close to her and showed her the ticket that proved to her that I had the book on three-hour loan. I looked her in the eye and informed her that if she did not lower her voice I would report her. I returned to my work and she kept up the loud rant, ridiculing me for thinking I could report her to anyone--everyone had gone home for the day. I did not tell her but my plan was to file a complaint to the room personnel who would get it the next day.

 

I felt victimized to say the least. However, when she declared that the dean himself couldn't remove her from the room I knew she was on thin ice and that she knew it, i.e. "Methinks the lady protests too much." Fortunately, supper time came round and a friend of hers showed up, so they went elsewhere on campus for supper. I wrote my complaint and had peace for a while. I knew she would be back because she had left some belongings in the room. It's a semi-private room for students with special needs. We have access with our student cards.

 

I had locked the door so she wouldn't pop in unannounced while I was writing my complaint. I heard someone trying to get in so I went to see who it was. It was the African. I opened the door to let her in. She actually thanked me and sounded like she meant it. She was alone and seemed subdued. I said, "You're welcome" and tried to put some warmth into my voice. She left for home before I did and actually wished me a good evening. It was the first friendly exchange we had in more than a year. Maybe we can learn to relate as humans.

 

But my point is, she's not the first African-Canadian to treat me bad just because I'm white. It happened at the bus terminal, too, one day, when I was between buses. I know we have various skin colours represented on these forums. I don't mean to start something. But can't we just accept each other as the intelligent humans we are? The externals are just the wrappings so far as I am concerned. And I do know what it's like to deal with historical prejudice. Catholics and Lutherans are the religious mortal enemies of the Mennonites--they used to arrest, torture, and execute my ancestors during the same time period they were also capturing Africans for the slave trade.

 

The human race has some very ugly history. If we insist that the sins of the fathers be visited on the children to the tenth generation--woe to us we are damned all of us! The only hope I see is for us to accept all of us as humans, each where we are at and put the historical past where it belongs--IN THE PAST--and LEAVE IT THERE. I personally have enough issues dealing just with my own personal life without trying to take responsibility for all the sins committed by Europeans as a whole for the past five centuries or more.

 

Well okay this is a long rant.

[Casey]

The colour of a man's skin is an accident. What's inside it, isn't.

Casey

[Knitterman]

Holy cow, RubySera! Sounds like you've been reading my blog ... or visiting one of the knitting forums where I got a reaming in a thread titled "Queers Discuss White Privilege". And that line ("methinks the lady protests too much") was used on me for posting my views and what my experiences have been like. One person wrote "what strikes me about your posts is that they are colored by your privileged experience and your resistance to admit it." He also said that white people need to "work on their privilege", whatever that means.

 

I won't go on about it here, but I'm as frustrated by racial tensions as anyone can be. I despise discrimination and injustice of any sort. I hate to see the disparities in access that some people experience, or the apparent barriers that people of color come up against. But anything I say or do is seen as tainted by white privilege. I don't get it.

 

Would be great if we were all just humans, and could be treated that way, but as long as Group A holds all the members of Group B responsible for shortcomings in Group A's experience, it's not going to happen.

[mentalhh]

Similar situation happened to me once a few months ago. I was in the library, sat at a desk and got out my books to study.

 

The people there started wispering VERY LOUDLY about me. It took me a few moments to realise they were getting up their asses about me being white- and HOW DARE I grace myself with their presence and even (GASP) glance at them!

 

That was not a good day.

 

I sat there for TWO HOURS trying to study while they ranted on about me, pretending they didn't think I could hear them. I couldn't take it so left.

 

I wish I had had your guts, to tell them (politely) to be quiet. But I don't handle arguments well and I am a shy person. It pissed me off and considering I was verging depression due to stress, I really didn't need it.

[R. S. Martin]

Holy cow, RubySera! Sounds like you've been reading my blog ... or visiting one of the knitting forums where I got a reaming in a thread titled "Queers Discuss White Privilege". And that line ("methinks the lady protests too much") was used on me for posting my views and what my experiences have been like. One person wrote "what strikes me about your posts is that they are colored by your privileged experience and your resistance to admit it." He also said that white people need to "work on their privilege", whatever that means.

 

Haven't been reading your blog but I did see your post in my thread about my sibs and their selling products. That's what got me started, actually.

 

I won't go on about it here, but I'm as frustrated by racial tensions as anyone can be. I despise discrimination and injustice of any sort. I hate to see the disparities in access that some people experience, or the apparent barriers that people of color come up against. But anything I say or do is seen as tainted by white privilege. I don't get it.

 

Would be great if we were all just humans, and could be treated that way, but as long as Group A holds all the members of Group B responsible for shortcomings in Group A's experience, it's not going to happen.

 

I think I'm beginning to get a little bit of it. By the way, Casey, I love what you said--that skin colour is an accident but what's inside isn't. Taking that as a jumping-off point...I think Group B--bleeding heart whites--are part of the problem. I happen to know the head of the department of the program where this African is studying. I went to church with him for a while and kept having run-ins with him all the time. He loves nothing more than debasing himself--along with everyone else in his church and possibly race--for being such horrible sinners. I've seen this attitude in other modern Mennonites, esp. people working on Mennonite Central Committee with Natives Peoples. They willingly take upon their own personal shoulders all the sins of all Europeans of all times and speak openly and pityingly to "lower" races about the sinful Europeans.

 

Very seriously complicated situation. Since Mennonites as a whole probably did not participate in these things but were themselves at the receiving end of many of these in justices inflicted by powerful state churches of Europe, they can do this with impunity, I guess. I don't know how their Lutheran, Catholic, and other Protestant colleagues treat coloured people today because my interaction has been with Mennonites.

 

I think anytime pity is involved, there is an element of condescention. People receiving it will have complex reactions to it. On one hand, it feels good being pitied rather than being shot or shunted off the last remaining refuge into the ocean. On the other hand, the human psyche rebels at the condescention.

 

As I think about it, I can also see in part why their prejudice runs so deep against whites in general. In the summer of 2000 two Ojibwa ladies took me out to eat. The service we got was not what I was used to getting. It seemed to me there was a brittle edge to the voice and mannerisms of the waitress. It was as though she served us because she had to and if she had had a choice and could have gotten away with it she would most definitely NOT have served such filth of the earth. It was all very subtle and the others didn't pick up on it. It was a new town for me, so maybe that's the culture or mannerism of the town. Or maybe it was just one person having a bad day.

 

However, I know what it's like being a lifelong recipient of ostracism. There are more than one possible approach to it. One possible approach is to hate all people who resemble the people who have hurt us. Another is to judge each person on a case by case basis. That is the only fair way I know to deal with it because, as stated, human history is too full of historical injustice from all sides for our present generation to make up for all past injustices. But yes, if people want to use the bible as their guide, whatever skin colour they come in, they're going to find lots to justify racism with.

[Amethyst]

Skin color is caused by genetic mutations. I agree that it's ridiculous to be prejudiced against people for things like that. But many humans are very narrow-minded when it comes to people who are different from them, especially physically. Not just skin color but other things.

 

I think we have huge problems in human society due to cultural differences and misunderstandings. Many people of different cultures do not wish to take the time to research and understand the differences between their cultures. So they lump everyone into groups and judge them according to the actions of a minority, because that's far easier than trying to understand that it's a minority group and not everyone is like that.

[R. S. Martin]

Similar situation happened to me once a few months ago. I was in the library, sat at a desk and got out my books to study.

 

The people there started wispering VERY LOUDLY about me. It took me a few moments to realise they were getting up their asses about me being white- and HOW DARE I grace myself with their presence and even (GASP) glance at them!

 

That was not a good day.

 

I sat there for TWO HOURS trying to study while they ranted on about me, pretending they didn't think I could hear them. I couldn't take it so left.

 

I wish I had had your guts, to tell them (politely) to be quiet. But I don't handle arguments well and I am a shy person. It pissed me off and considering I was verging depression due to stress, I really didn't need it.

 

Could you move to another desk far enough away? Or report them to library personnel? All of this takes guts and energy when you're feeling depressed, I know.

[Skankboy]

My father had a saying that has served me well in the past:

 

"An asshole is an asshole is an asshole". Color, nationality, etc. Don't matter. Some people are just pricks. Unfortunately you found one that is capitalizing on the white guilt we're all fed from infancy.

 

I'm Irish and Native American... how many of my ancestors owned slaves? Hell, I'm not even Anglo-Saxon!

 

Anyways, a complaint is the way to go. Fuck 'em. Some people just like to bitch...

[pitchu]

I can't speak to issues which are uniquely Canadian, but in the U. S., the twin policies of religiously-derived Manifest Destiny and of slavery produced such immeasurable and still-ongoing horror, misery and death for "minority" victims and such obscene and still-ongoing wealth and ascendancy for "white" perpetrators that it's impossible for anyone of conscience to view these phenomena as mere history and to leave it all behind. Imo, this indefensible wrenching of labor, wealth and land from other human beings by brute force has never truly been faced nor dealt with adequately. If it ever had been, America wouldn't still be doing it (war-for-oil in Iraq, for instance).

 

Just one example, involving three sets of victims:

http://hnn.us/articles/534.html

 

What happened in Mexico, however, was a different matter. Texas was, of course, a part of Mexico at the time that settlers from the United States began arriving and initially they accepted Mexican authority. There was a problem though. The Americans were from southern slave states and brought their slaves with them. Slavery was illegal in Mexico. The ensuing struggle by the Texans was for independence and freedom, but only independence from Mexico and freedom for white slave owners. That the goal was to be annexed to the United States as a slave state was understood from the start. Texas was ultimately annexed and joined the Confederacy at the outbreak of the Civil War. In fact one of General Lee's most valuable units in Virginia was the Texas Brigade and the final battle of the Civil War took place in Texas.

 

Before any of this, however, Texas had its confrontation with Mexico. The United States citizens in Texas probably always intended to be independent from Mexico. But they claimed that the reason for independence was that the Mexicans were trying to trample upon the freedom of "decent Americans." In fact the conflict arose because the Texans refused to obey the authority of Mexico.

 

Texas, of course, won the conflict and at this point the expansionist doctrine of the United States took form in a policy titled "Manifest Destiny": the belief that the United States was ordained by God to rule the continent; that because we knew better how to use this land, we were ordained to have it even at the expense of the legal owners, Mexicans or Native Americans.

[mentalhh]

Similar situation happened to me once a few months ago. I was in the library, sat at a desk and got out my books to study.

 

The people there started wispering VERY LOUDLY about me. It took me a few moments to realise they were getting up their asses about me being white- and HOW DARE I grace myself with their presence and even (GASP) glance at them!

 

That was not a good day.

 

I sat there for TWO HOURS trying to study while they ranted on about me, pretending they didn't think I could hear them. I couldn't take it so left.

 

I wish I had had your guts, to tell them (politely) to be quiet. But I don't handle arguments well and I am a shy person. It pissed me off and considering I was verging depression due to stress, I really didn't need it.

 

Could you move to another desk far enough away? Or report them to library personnel? All of this takes guts and energy when you're feeling depressed, I know.

 

 

It was exam time- so basically the place was packed. Not many areas to sit at in the first place- it was more of "OH! Person just vacated spot- JUST TAKE IT!" Plus in my stubborn mind, I wanted to not show it got to me. Eventually it came to nothing, because it did. I never thought of reporting them, I just wanted to get out of there.

 

I know if it happens again, I'll do that- thanks!

[R. S. Martin]

Pitchu, thanks for that article. I'm not totally clear on the difference between Canada and the United States, though I'm reading on some of that. Just finished a book Fire and Ice by Micheal Adams of Environics that does polls for large corporations on both sides of the border. (Normally I wouldn't trust anything in the service of large corporations but one of my thesis committee members, a sociologist, recommended it for my thesis so I figured it must be good.)

 

They measure values of Canadians and Americans based on three different polls, 1992, 1996, and 2000 (I think). Adams is Canadian. What you say meshes with what he says about Americans versus Canadians and minorities. It also meshes with what I learned in social work classes regarding the American health care system and Afro-American poverty and life-expectancy compared to the Canadian situation.

 

Manifest Destiny sounds just plain sick. If that underlies a significant portion of the white American psyche, it would explain a lot of the above problems. Adams's description of the multicultural situation or "race relations" in Canada compares exactly with what I see every day on the street, on campus, on the buses--basically, everywhere I go in this city with the few exceptions I mentioned. Skin colour and other ethnic and cultural markers are ignored. People are people first.

 

As a cultural minority myself, I have felt very well accepted, respected, and accommodated. I have seen the same acceptance, respect, and accommodation extended to people of all other ethnic, cultural, and religious affiliations. According to Adams, the argument can be made that this goes back to the early history of both countries--Canada had nothing to do with slavery except serve as a haven for run-away slaves from the States. Mark Noll, an American historian, and Adams, both consider it significant that Canada did not participate in the revolution against the British Crown but rather provided haven to Loyalists.

 

So it seems Canada is historically more tolerant and accepting of a mishmash of people that continues to the present day across the country.

 

I'm looking at your post again, pitchu. You mention wealth and poverty. The lady mentioned in the OP owns a home in a good part of town. She seems not to be at the low end of the socio-economic spectrum.

[Amethyst]

I think a large number of Christians in my country still are motivated by some form of Manifest Destiny. Sad, really.

[Grandpa Harley]

Manifest Destiny - it served the Nazis well for a Decade...

[Legion]

White guilt, man yeah.

 

Hopefully it is the last vestige of racism in the U.S. I get the sense that it is almost played out.

[Knitterman]

White guilt, man yeah.

 

Hopefully it is the last vestige of racism in the U.S. I get the sense that it is almost played out.

 

I don't know. I've heard about "white guilt" all my life. I have no doubt that a large part of the problem in society IS a result of white dominance in the Western world for generations and centuries. I admit I'm generalizing overmuch here, but I sense that most white folks that I know are quite ambivalent -- we see people of other races and cultures rising up, and it's not such a problem to rational thinking people. it's just the way it is, and most of us are too busy trying to live our own lives and we don't have the time, energy, resources or even the interest to invest in actively preventing others from getting ahead. If others want to get ahead, that's great. More power to 'em. But I still get the message that it is my fault others don't seem to achieve all they want, and I refuse to be held guilty or accountable for a system I didn't create and don't care about perpetuating.

[R. S. Martin]

When it's me who's living in crowded basement rooms, either walking or using the bus to get where I need to go, and it's her living in her own home and driving a car or paying a taxi, makes me wonder exactly who's perpetuating the system. I think she needs the status symbols to convince herself that the rest of the world knows that a Black single mom is worth just as much as an middle-class Anglo-Saxon lady. If she would but look at what message the media is putting out there she would see that Anglo-Saxon is no longer the dominant culture in Canada.