Why is it necessary to discount the possibility that EBT card holders are treated unfairly, and elevate the possibility that people of color are treated unfairly to the exclusion of all other narrative?
I think it’s ridiculous to discount either factor. Maybe I’m missing something, but I don’t see from this story that there’s any evidence that would lead an unbiased person to a certain conclusion of racism or classism - it’s likely both, but it honestly could be either one.
Edit: Oops, several people already pointed this out. Sorry!
I’ve actually had my debit card information stolen twice. Both times, my bank caught it after the first transaction and I was liable for none of it. Maybe it depends on where you bank.
I am believing more an more that racism as currently expressed is racism for sure but different than classic white supremacist racism and more using race as indicator for class.
Classism is perfectly A-ok and dress, way of speaking, and of course skin and facial attributes combine to give an output for assumed social caste.
I doubt if a well groomed minority in a bespoke suit were declined they would have gotten tie irresponsible comment, if anything this would be the ‘one black friend’ effect where the cashier would go out of her way to have this story in her toolkit if ever accused of racism.
Even in rural Oregon I rarely have seen hate/rage level racism, except in mixed race dating, that seems to be an east coast urban and southern US thing, but class hate is widespread and considered strange if everyone doesn’t participate with gusto.
It definitely depends on your bank. Some offer zero liability protection as a courtesy but it’s not mandated by law like the Consumer Protection Act dictates for credit cards.
First, you’re in Oregon, not known for its racial diversity. second, I’d suspect that hate/rage over mixed race dating is a symptom of something else, a deep level of racism that permeates daily life in little, sublte ways. Such as was described in this article.
In the past tense, by over 12 years now.
I would guess that there was more diversity because of the massive migrant worker population though it was a super classist form of racism and exploitation, it reminded me of sharecropping. The land and business owning English speaking hispanic men who volunteered with fire and EMS seemed to be treated pretty well and those who were officers seemed to command equal respect.
I had to deal with the mild Northern Exposure flovored antismetic stuff, though that was probably as much not-from-here’ism as it was the little Jew boy baiting, some in your face slur challenge posturing, and shitty slights as we were unwholesome to some but I was somewhat insulated as I was pretty highly ranked in local public service and also tasked with managing the well regarded volunteer fire and EMS so could be reverse classist and envy which could be easily focused on the Jew thing. I wonder if it would have been different had I been an openly Jewish kid who had attended 12 years of school with them. I do think it was important to most people that I was not flirting with or dating their daughters and that I was married to a Jewish woman, it probably also helped that I happily accepted an assault rifle(the gun stuff means so much to them) from the sherrif’s office(to keep in my command truck for super remote calls) which I was happy to show off to their delight.
I would have been surprised to see unprovoked random race based violence against myself or any minority. When forced to recall that shitty episode it was the lower level stuff that towards me was pretty clearly a Christian/traditional antisemitism, though I was also a biblical mythical creature to many, and they probably weren’t as open around me with other race stuff except when baiting.
Frack, even remembering that place makes me feel exhausted.
I still argue we’re dealing with two phenomena, both of which deserve some focus and attention. I really don’t understand why saying that racism exists, apart from classism is such a contentious and controversial position to stake out, given reality.
Racism isn’t just acts of violence when provoked or unprovoked. Someone can be perfectly nice and still have racist views, apart from classist views.
Will someone please explain just why in the hell so many white people think it’s so important to say this? “Yeah, racism might be a problem sometimes, but don’t forget about classism!”
Is it because they’re feeling left out of the conversation? Do they think rich black people don’t already understand that at least financially, they have it better than poor black people? Seriously, wtf?
EBT card holders are definitely treated unfairly. But from the context of a cashier who unlikely rakes in the bucks, the classist argument doesn’t hold up.
I suppose she might not like Christians or something,…
