I fucking hate you

If you ever thought or wrote this about Sarah Palin:


Let’s face it, if she had really wanted to spare her daughter the harsh
glare of the spotlight, she could have respectfully declined the job

then you are a piece of human scum and I fucking hate you. Bonus points if you are a woman.

What the fuck is wrong with you people? I can understand you are gung ho on voting the party that hates you and treats you like scum, but at least have the fucking decency of leaving others alone.

You know, I am starting to see Sarah Palin as a feminist hero, for the shit the so-called progressives and feminists lob at her for having the audacity to not kis Barky’s ass while possessing boobs. They don’t hate her for being a republican- behold the similar hatred Hillary got from them, they hate her for being a woman. Plain and simple. What is worse is that people who were upset when it happened to Hillary think it’s OK to pick on Palin on those exact things.

The truth of 2008 finally comes out: Hillary didn’t lose because she was Hillary, or wrong, she lost because she is a woman and women who run for political power are horrible people . Nothing they will ever do will be good enough for it. How dare they forget they are inferior, worthless and generally irrelevant?

Mind you, per se, Hillary didn’t LOSE. She was robbed of the nomination. But that is another animal isn’t it?

I fucking hate people.

Stand there in your wrongness and be wrong.

A post over on feministe about the flooding in Mexico has sparked quite a bit of anger at brownfemipower . Well, not the post itself, but rather, the insensitivity and ignorance of the (mostly-white?) commenters, especially the first few.

Being somewhat new to feminism as a current (rather than historical) “thing” I’ve been reading a bit lately. on various blogs, including the Women of Color Blog. So I was a bit more prepared to hear what she had to say on this topic than I would have been a week ago. See, it seems that many non-white feminists have a lot to say about white feminists. And it’s not all “hey what a great job you’re doing promoting equality for everyone” It’s more like “Hey you’re really fucked up and NOT promoting equality for everyone!” It’s more like “You’re really biased and you just can’t see it!”

And you know what?

They’re right.

And I’m just as guilty as anyone. One of my first comments on Red’s post about the floods was an idiotic attempt to make a humorous connection between this tragedy and the immigration discussion we were having earlier. Mercifully, it was removed from the page in a matter of minutes by either Red, The Almighty, or Teh Internet Gremlins. Or Deek. He hasn’t posted in a while, but I’m sure he’s still got edit-power, and hates this kind of bullshit.

And I’m thankful, because it was offensive, and I never should have said it. It was offensive because people are dying, and I used it as an opportunity to make a joke. From safe in the heart of “white america,” I made a joke. not an overtly racist joke, but the fact that I, in a position of unearned privilege took advantage of that privilege to show how witty i’m not, reeks of racism.

And that is WRONG.

  • Nearly a million people homeless, and we giggle over “Tabasco”.
  • I can’t find a number on how many dead, and we excuse ourselves with “class, not race” as if the two bear no connection, and white people don’t benefit economically from the color of our skin.
  • Our government offers the insult of 3oo,000 crumbs off our table for relief, while spending millions(billions?) on a “border fence” and military aid to fight a phantom “drug war” and we try to prove how clever we are.(my mercifully deleted comment)
  • The Mainsteam US Media largely ignores the tragedy, and we quibble over whether the CA fires can be compared to Katrina

And then we go over there and reply to brownfemipower’s post with our “oh-no-i’m- embarassed-to-be-white*- we’re-not-all-like-that-please-don’t-hate-us-all” hand-wringing.

To Which she says:

brownfemipower

“We’re not all so hopeless, and many of us benefit from the education.”

First, i want to say that I get everybody’s point and i think that it’s great, really really really great that so many people take this shit to heart and really genuinely want to learn and understand and change etc. I trust every single one of you, and understand you are coming from a good place.

but I just want to pause and reflect here and point out that there is some very real and very righteous rage here–Aaminah has Latin@ family, I am Latin@, several of the woc who posted are intimately connected to Latin@ communities or women through organizing or have seen their own communities similarly traumatized and then mocked by white majorities–and I just want to point out that even as women are *politely* pointing out that you want to learn and you are very grateful–this rage, this hurt, this pain that women of color are feeling is being very subtly rewritten to be about white women and how they hope that we won’t stop teaching them.

because what is this really about, this hope that we won’t stop teaching? I look at it as a defensive reaction. As, even in sympathy and understanding, being a bit defensive and needing to point out that *you* aren’t *them*–that you aren’t *that*. that *you* are not hopeless, even if those others are–it is a way of distancing yourself, and at the same time, sort of absolving yourself–you are not them, and you don’t have to call *them* out because you’re busy letting us know how much you want to be taught.

Now is not the time, even politely, to let us know that you hope we never stop teaching you–now is the time to cut through the bullshit and respect that when a community’s world is collapsing, a little human sympathy and understanding would be perfect. of course, there are other things that could be talked about and reflected on as well–but when a community is in pain and suffering–they owe nothing to anybody. They have the right to speak their anger, their pain, their rage, their hurt, without any pressure or expectations on them at all.

thank you so much for understanding–and I appreciate all of the support.

We don’t get it. So we need to shut up and listen, and realize that it’s not always about us.
And we need to, as BFP said, call each other out when we act racist, even inadvertently, and not expect our hands to be held every step of the way.

*(Actually I kinda am… Or, rather, I recognize how inherently unjust and shameful it is that my being born with less obvious pigmentation places me in a “protected” category whose interests are served at the expense of people who are, well, browner than I am.)

Small-Town Politics Happy Dance


So, the mayor of my charming little adopted hometown of about 8000 decided that the city needn’t bother to speak the native language of about 1/5 of its residents… you know, the ones who do most of our agricultural work (in a county whose economy is largely based on citrus and other fruits & vegetables which need to be harvested by hand), a big chunk of our construction, and a whole laundry list of other back-breaking, no-respect, low-paying jobs.

The “Illegal Immigration Relief Act” was copied almost verbatim from a similar ordinance passed in Hazelton, PA, and would have, amongst other things, declared English the “Official Language” and the only language the city does business in. In a recent TV interview, the mayor seemed unconcerned that this could pose a problem for pesky little things like reverse 911 notices (in a town with an air force bombing range recently approved to use live ammunition)

It also would penalize property owners & landlords for knowingly allowing an “illegal alien” (Interestingly enough the US immigration website uses this term, but does not have a definition in its glossary – yes, i know, it’s a commonly understood term, but it’s a vague term to be used in a piece of legislation without providing a definition) to rent, lease or “use” their property. (just in case the landlord decides to let somebody stay without paying rent?)

The city attorney spoke to a local newspaper, saying the law was poorly written and probably unconstitutional. He’s now looking for another job. No “official” reason was given why he was fired, but a council member was quoted as saying it was due to a recent “embarrasing incident”

When I started this post, this measure was up for a vote: After a five-hour city council meeting, the vote came down at 11:00 monday night, failing 3-2 the same margin by which it was originally expected to pass. One councilwoman changed her vote to no, commenting that she had prayed for guidance.

I’m not foolish enough to think that illegal immigration isn’t a problem, but I don’t think the solution lies in passing wrongheaded ordinances that appeal only to prejudice and snobbery.