As much as the conservative media would have us think otherwise, this is the case. Everything in M. Atwood’s novel, which was written in the 1980s, was based on actual events in human history. Sure, she combined them all into her own special dystopian hell, but the restrictions and other actions foisted upon women were all drawn from actual historical events
THIS ON CRACK. It’s not about the personal or the place. Privilege is systemic. It ain’t about you personally or where you are from. Trust, I live in Alabama and the “but there are good people here too!” doesn’t fly.
Hence, the usual reply in the US, “but there are wonderful people here!” It’s not an attack on you personally or where you are from. It’s much, much more systemic than that. These things are culturally constructed in ways that even those of us who are aware can’t always parse. I feel like a broken record with every, single, response to “not all are x, y, or z.”
One of the most amazing conversations I’ve ever had was with a POC friend of mine. After one of the police shootings (maybe Ferguson?), she told me about “the talk” she’s had with her son, who was, BTW, 12 at the time, the same age as my son and they are friends. The “talk” consisted of how he should ever react if he was approached by the police. I was at once utterly ashamed and aghast. Of course, being who I am, I went and did research. This is no small thing, as POC know, but those of us who enjoy privilege do not: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/17/opinion/a-conversation-with-my-black-son.html?_r=0
To deny that race has something to do with an incident like this is akin to denying that many, many parents of children of color feel the need to have such talks.
People, it is real and it is now.
