>Tinky made the point I would
>have made, had I not
>resolved to stay off this
>post. But now...

Tinky made a great point, but I think I want more discussion on it because I am not sure I would call this racism, but I don't know of a term for it. AND I think it speaks to the experience of people of color in America and the conditioning they have undertake which makes each other the enemy and the "cause" of things -- of how they have absorbed the dominant cultures stances and it turns us against each other. But I guess that is too much for you to think about? Come on, I have more respect for you than that.


>>But I have to wonder... isn't
>>the power they assumed illusionary
>>power? The abuse they have
>>learned and internalized? Of course,
>>I ain't gone think of
>>it like that, but after
>>I curse 'em out and
>>get on with my bad
>>self, I might think about
>>it with a calmer mind
>>and realize that they are
>>acting out what the oppressor
>>has acted out against them.
>
>And that leaves you...where?

Hopefully, it leaves me in a place where I am not acting out any way I am supposed to. It would be easy to get mad at them and say, oh, these kind of people hate Black folk, too. Harder is to trace it and understand where it comes from and look at it one a bigger level. We live in a racist society. Not only is it a racist society, but it is a pointed racist society that IS built on power -- case in point, who has access to media? *shakes head* Come on! I leaves me doing work. It leaves me having to look better, not do their work for them.

"Oh no, oh no, this one's not for sale." - Tracy Chapman, "Born to Fight"

>There was enough prejudice and racism
>between Mexicans and Filipinos alone
>to ground you for a
>week. Yes, it makes
>some sense that people who
>struggled in the past might
>resent newer immigrants into their
>job market, but nevertheless, this
>organizing has to be done
>for everyone's good.

See, that is too easy and too pat, for me. What makes sense is that they are both people of color in a racist society that makes it seem as though one is valued (we have talked about that who "model minority" stereotype white people give to/for Asian people -- except, you know, what Asians consider "niggers" Like Cambodians, Laotions, etc *rolls eyes*) and the other is not. That has caused a lot of flare-ups amongst people of color. It hasn't got ISH to do with who got here when and how much. It is the system/institution/dominant culture _using_ people of color against each other so that they can attend to other more pressing things... like attacking other people of color or something like that.

What I am trying to say, is that in-house fighting between people of color has a bigger frame than that which white people give it. They always see it as reason and excuse to scream out racism at people of color and thus feel better about their privilege and racism, but it is a lie.

Only when people of color can come into spaces without white people around to monitor and "mediate" (HA) can we work through our stuff. In short: y'all ain't needed.

>Same with the asian grocer.
>Everyone in our community, not
>just whoever you've defined as
>the "oppressor," has to confront
>racial issues...and everyone is responsible
>for acting on them.

Race is both illusion and frighteningly real. And racial issues are not universal nor the same across all boards and on all levels. What I, as a gay Black transmesh man, has to deal with racially speaking is going to differ as those words are pulled off and changed -- and this is the truth. We are standing on opposite sides of the very same monster, but what you have to contend with/confront is going to be very different from what I have to confront. While there are attempts on both of our minds to be invading, the method of this invasion is going to be very different. Whether it is because we are perceived differently, from these cultures, from these stances or what have you. The way in which _we_ confront and contend with racial issues is going to differ as well.

For example, I don't want white people involved in my work to reach out to other people of color and attempt to heal what harm has been done to both of us. And there are white people who are going to be offended by this, but I don't care because we have been kept apart from each other for long enough and it is time for us to sit down and have a chit-chat and talk about ourselves and our lives and them build coalitions.

And we don't need some "mediator" or "filter" between us.

Now the theoretical asian grocer, I can tell you, I wouldn't even go to her asking for work -- to be honest. Why? Because there IS work that needs to be done. They are being told that we are nothing more than lazy, lying, theiving people. Now, I could just look at that and be like: YOU think that ABOUT ME?! But that would be too easy. Instead, I think, Why do you think that about me? Who told you that? There are so many avenues to go through! And when I do, I realize that they are acting out, not something I did or something all of us have done, they are acting out what they have been told and in telling made differing experiences that validated what they were told because we are told some pretty harsh and horrible things about ourselves, too.

Do I think that is power? Yes. Whose power? Not the power of that Asian grocer. So what does that Asian grocer say to me? She says that I have work to do. Both on myself and herself. She tells me that I need to reach out to her and build a relationship with her... or her kids... (or her huzband *evil grin*) and we need to work on some stuff. I don't think this is the kind of power that makes my life hard. This is reality of "race" in America -- it keeps people of color apart from each other.

>>There are Black people who do
>>this same thing against other
>>Black people, for that matter.
>>I don't think of it
>>as racism as much as
>>being lost and acting out
>>of something that doesn't belong
>>to them.
>
>Well, I have trouble imagining that
>you'd afford the same leniency
>to a white person's personal
>prejudice...despite the fact that it's
>the SAME SYSTEM innoculating both.

Well, that's because we are coming at the same problem from two different stances. I don't know if I have explained where I am coming from in a way that you can understand it, but I feel that I understand where you are coming from. I'm sorry, but I simply cannot be bothered by univeralism as I know and preceive the difference and the difference is not what I want to eradicate, but I want to use to influence my creativity in facing what has to be faced -- which is building viable bonds between people of color so that we might, one day, together, all make the effort to bring this mutha down. Because, when it comes to white supremacy, for reals, we are all "niggers" and it is time...has been time... past time...


But, to answer you. I don't consider white people and their personal prejudice to be part of my community. Why should I -- because the same system is affecting them both? Nah, you forget, that I am a person of color, I am a Black man, and that being a Black men means more than simply being a "race" it means coming from a culture. It means having a culture passed on to me from my mother that stretches all the way back. A culture that was given to me before I even knew what a gift I had... and I have spoken (ha) and lived around a lot of Black people from different places and I see that this culture has been passed on and so I know what these Black people have lost.

I don't see white people in this light. I can't afford to make that transubstantive error. You can see them as lost if you want to, those are your people and your community and that's where you as a white ally can do your work... but don't expect me to do your work for you. I am not aware of what they have lost -- or, only aware of it in the theoretical. The same system may be affecting (innoculating is a very strange and awkward word to use there and in that sense, I feel...) both people, but I know what Black people have lost... and I understand what being lost is about. And for that I can feel for.

Unless you telling me I can't feel for Black folks.

*winks*

Peace,

Quentin


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"americans are gross!" -utamaroho

Uplifting thoughts:

"We are the end result of our ancestors prayers as they died. We you are the sum total of their answered prayers."

"I am because we are; we are because I am."

"falling in love with somebody's soul...their essence their personality their walk their talk the way they speak and smile...no matter what the physical outer body is..male or female...is a temptation i hope i am never foolish enough to resist." - Hot Damali