I remember this. In 2010 he was running against Libby Mitchell, who nobody liked, and Independent candidate Eliot Cutler. Mitchell got only 19% of the vote and Cutler got 36%. In 2014, he won reelection with 48%, and Cutler only got 8%.
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NOOOOO! the brexit is stupid enough, a bbrexit would finally destroy my faith in humanity Britons!
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Being in the south, from here it usually looks like the north is a real bastion of racism.
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##FTFY.
Having lived in the North, South, East and West, I can personally attest that systemic racism exists in some form or another in every quadrant of the country; the only real difference is the way it’s that disseminated.
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Yes. Racism is a changing same.
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Totes.
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I don’t want to engage in a fruitless dialogue with someone that seems not to have experienced racism, so I’m commenting on your reply instead.
In my experience as a biracial person, I “pass” with some people (or they really don’t care/don’t operate on racists assumptions), but there are always those who make a point of reminding me that I’m not really white. Po either has never experienced this or has been oblivious to it.
I am a person of color because I’m not white, and I’ve been reminded by whites of this enough times for it to have sunk in.
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That’s been my experience too.
The ‘reminder’ wasn’t necessarily always overt, but in some form or another, that message has always been there, 24/7, 365.
When I was a kid, total strangers thought nothing of walking right up to me and demanding to know about my biological heritage, as if it was their right to know.
0_o
Now I’ve had a kid of my own, with another biracial person; and so my daughter is what I jokingly like to call Extra Mixed.
And should anyone be foolish enough to question “what she is”, my answer is invariably something like this:
She’s human; what are you?
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I was going to let this pass - until I saw that you referred to me by name. Something I said must have bothered you enough to stop you from reading, because I neither said nor indicated that I have not “experienced racism”. It is rude of you to suggest, and even more so for you to talk over my head about it when I am right here. Everybody experiences racism, but I think that each person’s experience of it is unique.
As a biracial person though, “passing” goes two ways, one for each side of your lineage. Some people might pass one way, both, or even neither. All resulting in possibly drastically differing experiences.
I have experienced it, but I have never been convinced about it. Unpacking this a bit, when a person informs me that I am not white, what is my evidence of their own claim to white heritage? And in any case, what is the significance?
Part of my outlook is because I think that in the Americas, “white” is not really a thing. There is no claim to a real coherent ethnic or traditional heritage behind the label, certainly not in the way there might be in Scandinavian countries, for instance. The status quo of the Americas is that if a mixed-race environment, despite some people being in denial about it. The census might not reflect this, but I wager that the gene pool does.
As for the possible significance, as I explained, is that the whole trope of “white nativism” does not work on indigenous people. What are conservative people actually conserving? Poop? They claim to be conserving a cultural tradition. So it would be worth their while to know what those traditions are. It can be seen as a form of rhetorical jiu-jitsu if you like, that being “othered” as non-white puts me in the superior position, because I have thousands of years of American tradition, while they are admitting to be mere tourists. I am not really a “red supremacist”, but I use the fact that any racial criticisms of self-professed white nativists can be easily deflected back at them.
And in any case, me being part American and part European in no way makes me or my traditions equivalent to those of other ethnic groups. Any more than the genes or cultures of Celts or Slavs are “the same”. Without some cogent argument to the contrary, my perception of this does not change based upon how many people may disagree, or how forceful they are. They might be able to kill me if they try, but it will take a lot more than that for me to internalize their perspective.
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It’s really useless to discuss the issue with someone that is blind to, or in ignorance of, the dynamics of a racial power imbalance. But whatever. I guess it’s really great that you have freed yourself from societal definitions and any responsibility to those that don’t have that privileged freedom.
—Sent from Boxer | http://getboxer.com
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How exactly are you entitled to be complaining about my remarks to somebody else, while evading discussing them with me directly? Yours seems like a passive-aggressive tactic, where you say that there is no point in engaging me - yet you then explicitly put words in my mouth? I am sure that you are entitled to whatever opinion that you like of me, but your right to do that stops at telling me or others here what my experiences or opinions are. So if you persist with that tactic, you should expect to be confronted about it.
If you have a case to make that you see the situation differently than how I do, then by all means make it and explain your side, instead of hiding behind snarky personal innuendo. Otherwise it looks a lot like you are only trying to change how I am perceived by others rather than making a point of your own. Can’t you relate your experiences of racism without denying mine? Can two different perspectives exist without it being some petty contest?
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That might be issue here: your lack of ‘conviction’ regarding the topic of racism can often seem dismissive and willfully obtuse.
Your personal perspective does not dictate anyone else’s reality, but you often wax philosophic as if it somehow does.
For example, I’m not even remotely “convinced” that I am any less valuable than than any other person based solely upon the color of my skin, but that mere disbelief on my part doesn’t negate the mentality of those who choose to believe that I am.
Furthermore, your assertion that your specific ‘mixture’ doesn’t have the exact same ramifications as a person who is ‘mixed’ with Black or Brown cannot be emphasized enough.
To quote an old BeBe Moore novel, your blues ain’t like mine.
Which is not to say that your experiences are not valid, just that they are vastly different than mine or @Marcos_El_Malo’s.
Lastly, maybe don’t take his words so personally; I don’t think any offense was intended, but I totally grok his apparent frustration with your viewpoint; it simply isn’t very practical when it comes to dealing with other people in every day life.
As much as I would like for the reality I live in to be like John Lennon’s Imagine, it’s far more often like Jay-Z’s Hard Knock Life.
You’re not the only “dreamer”, Pops, but many of us have no choice but to keep our ‘eyes open’ in the meanwhile.
That’s just self preservation.
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There is no basis for a discussion because you deny reality. I don’t argue with climate change deniers, chem trail conspiracy believers, nor racism deniers. If commenting on their failings is passive aggressive, so be it. Are we done? Have a wonder racism-free life.
—Sent from Boxer | http://getboxer.com
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I believe the Mister was referring to this:
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But where did I say that I deny that racism exists? The failing that you are accusing me of contradicts my experience and my accounts of it here. I said that I have experienced racism, that everybody does to some extent. How is that denial? I even explained that my experiences of racism are almost certainly different from those of others. You ARE arguing, but only with a straw-man of me.
I would rather hear about how your experience of racism is different, rather than you insisting over and over that I am failing, and ignorant, and delusional - just because you say so. I suppose it’s possible, but I don’t feel schooled when all you back it up with is a drastic misreading of my own words.
If you truly want us to be done, stop talking to me or about me, and we’re done. Or PM me if you want to level personal accusations, so it doesn’t derail other people’s discussions of the topic.
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I had stopped posting after being temp-banned for asking about an accessibility issue. My post was deleted, I thought the system had eaten it, as sites do, I reposted. I got temp-banned for that. Apparently this was off-topic, even though it was an accessibility question. and this was after getting a note not to repost, even though I never got any note, and if I had, I can’t be expected to check my mail every thirty seconds. I asked for an explanation or an apology and never got any reply.
I returned because I’m trying to follow the news, and I stopped reading the Guardian after an entire editorial, which was supposed to be about Trump, but whatever his neurology, played off tropes which dehumanize neurodivergent people. I pointed that out in two of my comments, and they deleted these. I wrote a complaint to the readers’ editor arguing that the dehumanization of autistic people, specifically, encourages the violence against us, and never got any reply.
I would like recommendations for a newspaper which doesn’t dehumanize anyone.
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I don’t consider myself to be human, nor think that there is anything special about being human.
That said, it’s nice to know that you are back.
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