Hiding in the Backwaters Just one more blog on the net.

N*W*C

Went and saw N*W*C a few weeks back. Posts like this one tend to sit for a while so I can make sure I'm saying what I want to say. Still feeling a little trepidatious about this one, but it's time to put a fork in it and call it done.

After the show I participated in a discussion group at a local coffee shop where I was one of three white people at a table of 9. I was, however, the only white person who was talking. I go to these things because I want to try and broaden my understanding of the human experience, but I usually end up walking away feeling like an ass. Not because of anything stupid or insensitive that I have said. I'm smarter and more aware than that. I walk away feeling like an ass because, regardless of my personal beliefs or my personal politics, I am white (and middle class male, to boot), and that automatically makes me one of them, one of the oppressors. I suppose I internalize those kind of messages way too easily, but that's a topic for another day.

Apparently N*W*C is quite controversial. Groups on campus really had their panties in a knot about the show. There were several power guest speakers that came in to "deconstruct" the play even before the curtain went up. From what I've been able to gather, people are upset because it takes too soft a stance on racial inequality. They spend a lot of time poking fun at stereotypes and I guess folk think that will give the masses permission to join in. I suppose I can see some rich, clueless white kid taking it the wrong way, but I find it hard to believe people would walk out of the show thinking it's okay to call a black man a n*gger. I thought it was pretty clear that is still not okay.

Some were uncomfortable or offended by how often n*gger, wetb*ck and ch*nk were said during the show, mostly (if I understood correctly) because of the comic context in which they were used. I really don't get that. Have you ever seen Chris Rock live? He drops the n-word all the time. "But he's black. That's different." Well, they each kept to the slur that fit the color of their skin. You didn't hear the Latino using n*gger, nor did the black man use ch*nk. So what's the big deal? Is it the venue? If the show were at a private theater and not a university campus would that be different? Think about comedy in general. If you pay attention, it's all about stereotypes. When the Asian fellow says, "Oh! And Asian people do know how to drive! We're just cautious" we all laugh because we know exactly what he's talking about. Because of the comic context I'm not sure it reinforces stereotypes nearly as well as getting stuck behind a car going 45 in a 55, finally being able to pass, and glancing over to find it piloted by an Asian person.

The more I think about it the more it sounded like the message was "we are more alike than we are different and we need to get past these rigid, ridiculous definitions of race." Not sure what the problem with that message is. Just because we aren't there yet doesn't mean we can't dream. And if no one dreams...well, how is it supposed to happen then?

There was a segment where each of the three--a black man, a Latino, and an Asian--took turns talking about the things in other stereotypes they wished they could be. For example, Asian men are often viewed as asexual. Hence, the Asian fellow talked about how he wanted to be seen as a mysterious, sex machine with the guaranteed ability to drive his woman to distraction in the bedroom. ("Big penis" was a running joke throughout the show: black = have, Asian = have not, but more on that in a minute.) That seemed to be one of the sticking points with the discussion group (which was primarily Asian for whatever reason). It seemed they didn't like the idea that not all stereotypes are bad and that some people might actually want to be seen that way.

The topic of passing came up since I, being gay, am "other" but can fake it if I want to. Thus my experience coming to terms with my sexuality can't compare with the experience of someone of color realizing the the color of their skin means something, and not something nice. We both had to come to terms with our position in society, but unlike me, a person of color can't usually pretend to be white. I didn't bring it up at the table and maybe I should have, but, honestly, I'm not sure that's an asset. Having to decide every single time if it is worth it to out yourself to some random sales clerk who assumes the flowers you're buying are for your wife gets old. Tiresome even. Most of the time I don't bother. I suppose I could camp it up like a friend of mine whose outrageous behavior is at least in part telling the world, "Don't you dare assume I'm straight." I could don glittery silk shirts and and rhinestone Elton John glasses. But none of those things is really me and would feel phony and affected. Sometimes I do wish I didn't have the choice to make and would prefer the stares and jeers of the uncouth.

Of course then you'd have the flip side of that coin. One of the young ladies at the table who is of Korean descent told the story of an experience in the hospital where a nurse entered the room and started making conversation based on all kinds of (incorrect) assumptions about her likes and dislikes just because she is Asian. Again, I probably should have asked if she corrected/educated the nurse and if she didn't then why not? Would it have been worse if the nurse had assumed she was white?

Right on the heels of that discussion came ex/non-Mormons. Some have likened their adjustment to living in a predominantly Mormon society to the oppression people of color feel. Several of the folk at the table take offense at that. They felt it devalues their experience. I could wade into treacherous territory here, but I'll just say I'm not sure how I feel about that. I don't feel its any more appropriate for me to assume the young lady at the table who self-identified as LDS is a repressed, homo-hating, pill-popping Mormon than it is for me to assume someone has grilled puppy for Sunday dinner because he is Korean. Is the distress a person of color feels worse than the distress of a white person in a minority? I don't know. Don't suppose I ever will.

Oh, getting back to "big penis." The ladies tired of the joke pretty quick. I didn't think it was excessive, but then, I'm a man. One lady said she wanted six people on stage three men and three women and that would give a more accurate picture. Accurate picture of what? Sorry, but that is the male experience. Having six people on stage would give a view of male/female interaction in the context of race, but if it were three women on stage it would give a completely different view. I'd be willing to bet they'd have been talking about boobs or Aunt Flo or something like that. The men in the audience would have tired of menstruation jokes just as quickly as women tired of penis jokes. Is one better than the other? I don't think so. Just different. The male experience is different from the female experience is different from the male-female experience.

Does all this have a point? I don't know. Probably not. Just ruminating on the experience.

Chinese. No, my bad. South Korean.

I was chatting with a professor of Japanese descent about the nightmare at Virginia Tech. She is going to be participating on a panel discussion about the Asian perspective on the events. At first blush that sounded just a bit odd too me. I mean, does anyone really think Asians feel differently than anyone else about a deranged killer slaughtering innocents? That's not what the panel is about, though. It's more about the Asian perspective on the reactions to the killer being Asian. This quote from Margaret Cho is right on the money.

So here is the whole terrible mess of the shootings at Virginia Tech. I look at the shooter [Seung-Hui Cho's] expressionless face on the news and he looks so familiar, like he could be in my family. Just another one of us. But how can he be us when what he has done is so terrible? Here is where I can really envy white people because when white people do something that is inexplicably awful, so brutally and horribly wrong, nobody says "do you think it is because he is white?" There are no headlines calling him the "White shooter." There is no mention of race because there is no thought in anyone's mind that his race had anything to do with his crime. (Cho, 2007)

You gotta wonder how come the media reported Seung-Hui was Chinese before verifying his actual national descent. Wouldn't have anything to do with China being the last remaining communist super-power would it? Wouldn't have anything to do with an assumption that only a communist would be capable of such an atrocity, would it? South Koreans are such nice people.

What my professor wants to know is how is this going to affect the status of "model minority" that has been granted Asian Americans. Does this mean Asians will be now considered hard working, intelligent and possibly deranged?

I never thought of it that way.

One of the reasons I'm enjoying my diversity class: it's making me see things that would never have occured to me in my white, middle class world.

Latin women pray "in Spanish to an Anglo God/with a Jewish heritage," and they are "ferverntly hoping/that if not omnipotent,/at least He be bilingual." (Cofer, 2004, p. 364)

The Broken Record

The conclusive objection to the political enfranchisement of women is, that it would weaken and finally break up and destroy the Christian family. The social unit is the family, not the individual; and the greatest danger to American society is, that we are rapidly becoming a nation of isolated individuals, without family ties or affections. The family has already been much weakened, and is fast disappearing. ...and when the family goes, the nation goes too, or ceases to be worth preserving.

Orestes A. Brownson, Catholic World, May 1869 (Rothenberg, p. 462)

Passing: Chapters 2,3

Chapter two tells the story of a white woman in Essex County Virginia where school integration did not occur until seventeen years after Brown v. Board of Education and seven years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Our leading lady is a school teacher who considered her self color-blind. Her boyfriend is adopted and unsure of his parentage, but is "noticeably dark-complexioned," and she spends most of her time in the company of the black people in her community.

Her moment of truth came when she was asked to serve as master of ceremonies for a charity fashion show. She was delighted to accept. Occasionally asked to attend planning meetings, she came to realize that all the women involved in planning were black and that the organization was all black. No big deal. She was used to being the only white woman in a room. The problem came when it became clear the other women assumed that she, too, was black. After wrestling with her dilemma she decided it was best to be honest and let the ladies know they were mistaken.

The encounter made her desperately uncomfortable. ... "I'm emabarrassed to say that I think it [the discomfort] was because somebody thought I was black. At that time. In my life." (Kroeger, pp.61, 63)

Really? I'd be interested to hear how she came to that conclusion. It seems to me that is the standard conclusion. "I was in a really uncomfortable situation with a person of color. I must be racist." I'm sorry, but this presumption of racist guilt bugs. Wouldn't any person, even absent issues of color, be uncomfortable informing an organization they had be offered a position of honor under false pretenses? Weren't the racist people the black ladies who assumed she must be black because no white woman would be so involved with and so helpful to their community? Granted, not an unreasonable assumption to make in that time and place, but painting anyone the villain in this scenario seems ridiculous to me.

I recently read in one of my many other readings the statement that black people cannot be racist, the presumption being that to be racist you must be in a position of power. If I can find the reference, I'll update the post, but frankly I think that's horseshit. What a great way to define racism so you don't have to examine your own prejudices. Chapter three tells the story of a Hispanic woman who was a model student by day and hung out on the streets with dropouts who smoked weed, drank too much alcohol, dealt drugs and illegal weapons. "If my friends found out I was a goody two-shoes at school and at home, I would've been beaten and left on the curb" (Kroeger, p.82). She would have been beaten for the sin of being too white. The man she finally married and settled down with was, like her, "deeply engaged with the world of ideas, but [did] not have a college degree" (Kroeger, p.87). One of the things she enjoyed most about him was being able to have intelligent discussions without either of them accusing the other of sounding white (p.87). But minorities cannot be racist...

Personal Prejudice?

Muslim attitudes and beliefs are at the top of many people's minds these days. Some spend their days fearing a terrorist attack. Others, including me, are just trying to get a handle on a culture that seems completely foreign to our way of thinking. Recently an article appeared in the International Herald Tribune titled "Murder of a Muslim prompts anti-immigration feelings in Italy." After reading about the 20 year old Pakistani woman found buried in the family garden with her throat slit, with her father, uncle and brother-in-law in custody as suspects, my reaction was, "Oy. There they go again." Probably not the most culturally sensitive response, but it does, in fact, get worse.

The Muslim community here, which has universally condemned the murder, strongly resents the allegations that Hina was killed as a result of her family's religious beliefs.

"For us, murder is a sin, not only a crime," said Mahmood Tariq, the director of the Muhammadiah Islamic Cultural Association in Brescia (Povoledo, 2006, ¶7-8).

My cynical, "Uh huh. Sure," response to Mahmood's statement brought me up short. How could I assume one murderous act is representative of Islam as a whole? Perhaps such a cynical view of Islam is a natural consequence of constant media coverage of the rising violence in Iraq, public execution of minors in Iran, successful and thwarted terrorist attacks in Europe, Muslim youth in the streets of New York openly praising terrorism and, most recently, a bit on the evening news about suicide bomber recruitment drives. Nevertheless, why is the possibility that these acts are, in fact, the doings of extreme radical elements of Islam that have little to do with the average Muslim so far removed from the public consciousness ? Is there no Western analogy to such groups? Obviously, there are. What about the former Presbyterian minister who showed no remorse for gunning down a physician who performed abortions and his bodyguard? "Much of the joy I felt after shooting the abortionist, and still feel today, is the joy of having freely obeyed Christ after long being enslaved to fearful obedience to men"(Hill, 1997, ¶45). Did anyone at any time condemn the Presbyterian religion for the acts of this one man? Indeed radical Christian fundamentalists have been waging a terrorist campaign against abortion clinics for the last twenty years ("Violence," 2004). When was the last time you were nervous your new Christian neighbor might be a terrorist?

The prejudice that Muslims are violent and unpredictable fosters an environment of fear where dialog and understanding are impossible much less trust. Those affected by this prejudice are on both sides of the issue. Italians fear for their safety, and growing resentment only serves to further ostracize and alienate Muslim immigrants. For their part Pakistanis and other Muslim immigrants fear wider reprisals and increased discrimination. There is also growing sense of bitterness that they are regarded as alien. "People used to be more tolerant; they used to be less allergic to seeing someone from a different race... Now people don't want to see us outside the factory... They just want us to produce" (Povoledo, 2006, ¶20-22).

The media has already been counted among those who contribute to a distorted view of Islam. One cannot discount opportunistic politicians who seize on such tragic events to further their own political agenda. As nice as it would be to lay the blame elsewhere, human groups, whether large like a society or small like a gang, tend to demonize "the other." We must all take a second look within at our own socialized responses, responses like mine, and determine whether we are helping to maintain prejudices or dismantle them.

I cannot think of any practicing Muslims I have had the chance to meet much less get to know. I believe that were I to have that opportunity I would not allow my prejudices to interfere with getting acquainted with that individual. I also believe that it would have to be a conscious effort on my part.

While this sociodrama has played out in Italy, I do not think the issues are unique to Italy. Such a scenario could play out anywhere in the western world, including here in the U.S. and Utah.