Text 9037, 126 rader
Skriven 2005-03-29 22:00:00 av FRANK SCHEIDT (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av BJöRN FELTEN
Ärende: 2nd Observation
=======================
-=> Quoting Björn Felten to Frank Scheidt <=-                  

 FS> It's strange how people approach the word "nigger" as though it
 FS> were explosive or something.

 BF> I agree with you, Frank. And I would go as far as to say that it's
 BF> even saddening. If using the word (nota bene, not calling someone
 BF> 'nigger' but merely *using* it in a hypothetical scenario) is regarded
 BF> as racial, what word will be left for what's really racial?

I have no idea as to the situation in Sweden or even in Europe, 
but here there are some people who seem to *live* for the chance 
to make the "racist!" charge.  I had a friend many years ago -- I 
worked with him -- he was black and had grown up in Detroit.  He 
was *extremely* conscious of racism even to seeing it where I was 
*certain* it didn't exist.  We worked in a lab which was 99% 
white.  When someone would make some racist remark, regardless 
how mild, he'd jump on it.  The person making the remark would 
apologize since it probably *had* been made inadvertently, but 
"Fred" wouldn't let him off the hook and would keep hammering at 
him.

But getting back to his seeing racism where it didn't exist:  One 
of the people in our lab had retired -- he was, of course, white.  
"Fred" had recently entered our group and was assigned the 
retiree's equipment, bench space etc.  "Fred" immediately 
complained that it was a racist act, that he wasn't being given 
enough space -- despite the fact the retiree had used that space 
for *years* without problems.

Despite "Fred's" extreme sensitivity to perceived racism I liked 
"Fred" and we were friends.  This was demonstrated one time when 
he asked me if I could figure out how they kept blacks and whites 
separated during Christmas parties when he worked in Detroit.  I 
blurted out "by piling the watermelons all at one end of the 
hall?" ... I *immediately* saw my blunder ... there was probably 
one-half minute of complete silence ... I *knew* I was about to 
die and just hoped it would be fast and painless ... then "Fred" 
grinned and said, "Frank, you're the only person on earth who 
could get away with that."  ... Wow!  Talk about relief on my 
part!

 BF> What word would you use to describe the fact that 80% of the beds
 BF> in US prisons are occupied by ethnic minorities that makes up 20% of
 BF> the US population?

It's certainly not racism, though many blacks make the claim.  
Actually I think the prison population is about 50% black and the 
general population is about 12%.  Convicts have been, well, 
*convicted* of crimes.  I don't think blacks are treated any more 
unfairly by juries than are whites.

 BF> What word would you use to describe the fact, that the list of the
 BF> 100 richest people in the US are all white? Effectively demonstrating
 BF> that The US Dream is only available to whites. And even when looking at
 BF> the 500 richest, you only find less than a dozen non-whites, all of
 BF> whom are the modern variant of the dancing monkey at the circus -- i.e.
 BF> they got their money from performing as basketball artists and similar.

I don't know *how* I'd explain that ... but I wish *I* was among 
the 500 ... [sigh] ...

 BF> To me, this obsession with a single word has lead to the black
 BF> people of the US not getting one step further in their rightful demand
 BF> for the 'liberté, egalité, fraternité' that the French revolution (that
 BF> the US ditto was modelled from) was all about.

Actually the American revolution was *ahead* of the French 
Revolution by a decade or more.

 BF> Over here in Europe, out of 470 million people, we obviously must
 BF> have our fair share of white trash as well. We sometimes see them rear
 BF> their ugly heads on e.g. football (the real thing) 

I thought *soccer* was the popular European sport at which brawls 
often seemed to break out.  I didn't know football was even 
*played* in Europe.

 BF> games, screaming
 BF> racial slurs to black players. But whenever that happens here, not only
 BF> will the entire might of our legal system come down hard upon them, but
 BF> also the judgement from the vast majority of the people.

 BF> This, I think, is one of the major, cultural differences between
 BF> our two continents. Politicians can outlaw racism as much as they want,
 BF> but if they don't have the public will behind those laws, they are not
 BF> even worth the paper they are written on.

I doubt the U.S. population is more racist than is the European 
population -- after all, the majority of those of us in the U.S. 
are *descended* from Europeans.  My own parents were both born in 
Germany. In recent years, of course, our concentration of 
Hispanic and Asiatics is increasing.  Also racism is strongly 
condemned in the U.S. -- anti-*black* racism, that is.

 FS> And no one
 FS> got worked up about it.  Nowadays if Brazil nuts were named
 FS> "Niggertoes" the store manager would be sentenced to twenty years
 FS> to life ... [sigh]

 BF> We've actually had one such incident here in Sweden a year ago or
 BF> so. For ages we've had a small pastry called niggerballs (because they
 BF> were round and dark brown). They disappeared from the shops some 30
 BF> years ago, but suddenly one shop (run by a 28yo guy) started making and
 BF> selling them again. Someone filed a complaint about this racist
 BF> adventure, but it never got further than to the media. The 28yo
 BF> shop-keeper was black... 

In the U.S. it's commonplace for blacks who make racist 
statements to get away with it while whites are condemned for 
essentially the same acts.

 BF> I think, that if you focus on a single word, and forget about all
 BF> the other small steps of racism, you are in deep trouble. What's next?
 BF> Ban the word 'Boy'?

I had another friend who came from Algeria.  He spoke English 
with a strong French accent and commonly referred to almost 
*everyone* as "Boy".  I often wondered what would take place the 
first time he addressed a *black* that way ... heh heh heh ...

... Elvis lives on, in his music, movies, and a trailer park in Florida.

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