Saturday, January 25, 2014

NewAge Spirituality Is On The Rise (And Not Much Else)



 It can leave me so uncomprehending I carp like a fish that, after 400 years in America, whites still don't even understand black's benign warrior behavior - especially when it comes from my ex-slave, NWA-enthused, hometown. Here we are, together all these years, and blacks still catch Hell for simply being who we are:



We can spend our whole lives amongst whites, and they insist a black voice rising is someone preparing to fight. Blacks see it:

 
"You know, when you hear 'bout black folk, we loud. That's our defense mechanism, we loud. We talk aggressive, you know. We talk all that - We ain't gonna do nothing to you, we ain't gonna do nothing to you,…. "

What I don't think whites realize - as often as it happens - is that, what they're mostly doing, is telegraphing to blacks the white's racist fears about having us around.

 

Blacks hear rising passion and don't think anything. Whites hear rising ANYTHING and get weird - unless they're head-banging, or Yee-Hawing the Allman Brothers, or something.


How can blacks not notice?


Unfortunately, it's the whites collective way to deal with feeling fearful, by acting out - in some kind of misguided retaliation.


Publicly accusing blacks of being upset when we're not (or being more upset than we are) is a means to gain advantage in a disagreement - very effective when blacks are isolated amongst a group of fearful whites in an airplane or, say, at the workplace.

 

Publicly accusing blacks of being upset warps the group dynamic, so whatever the black's main issue was gets distracted into discussing what whites think is a respectful behavior for the black in that given situation.

 

It's complete nonsense.


I can't tell you how often it happens. So often, I don't think I have to.


A respectful vocal timbre lecture publicly identifies the black, even further, as being some "other" in the minds of the white group. Nobody else's voice is rising, is it? That's because the whites are being rational and the black - to the white's minds - is becoming unhinged. ("He should do yoga,…") Whispers, about how comfortable everyone else is, working with someone like that, ensue,…including at the Human Resources level.


BAM. The black's out of a job - and race is never mentioned as a reason for it - while the issue that started it all (which, odds being what they are with a black amongst an army of clueless whites, may have been the black, already previously wronged, somehow) is completely forgotten in the brouhaha, over the mystery, of whether the dark skinned guy started yelling or not.


The black goes home, considers a life of poverty, and gets nauseous.


The whites go out for drinks after work and, using NewAge self-help, re-assure one another they're good people doing the right thing.


While knowing better the whole time.


White Racism, 2014 Style - America's slaves have always known: 

Whites earn it,…
 

5 comments:

  1. Back in the 70's I hung a lot of wallpaper in black homes. Being the quiet type I had to loosen up because there was always somebody around who wanted to get something off his/her chest. Kinda slowed me down but it was fun and they didn't seem to mind paying me to listen to them.

    The big money is in white homes so the enterprising black owner of a painting company in Chicago with all black painters did excellent work and also established a no talking rule for his workers while they were on the job so as not to get on the nerves of their white customers. Those guys went home thinking about how they were going to spend all their money.

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  2. I had a landscaping job like that - guy paid me to drink with him.

    Serious question:

    Isn't it a "tick" or a "tell" for whites to look for the exception to the rule, rather than dealing with the effects of the rule itself, generally? It changes the subject:

    Blacks in South Africa has been brutally discriminated against for hundreds of years? Well, sure, but what do the whites face there now?

    OR

    Whites here can dominate every facet of the American slave-based economy but, if some black guy - somewhere - was making more then whites, well, that's something to think about.

    How it helps solve the problem of over-whelming black poverty based on slavery, I don't know - since you don't sound too happy somebody black "went home thinking about how they were going to spend all their money" - when whites, seeing that as a plus for the nation, is part of the solution.


    Stopping the discrimination I've described in this post is part of that.

    Then you and I, together, can go out for drinks and tell ourselves how wonderful we are.

    I'll buy,...

    ReplyDelete
  3. If the subject is "the over-whelming poverty based on slavery" I have no answer for that. If the "rule" is that there is no work then pointing out the exception to the rule is what I'd do for anyone who was looking for a job or to get a business going, if I could.

    I admire the black painting contractor who figured out a way around a situation that was keeping him from making as much money as he would like. I know how hard it can be for a white painter to please high end white customers and am not the least bit envious or resentful of his success.

    I can't imagine telling myself how wonderful I am because I'm not looking for answers to the larger questions that plague you, so we'll have to come up with another reason for having drinks.

    I'm still working on the advice of Walter Williams: "The best thing you can do for the poor is not to be one of them." When it warms up a little I'll be finding a way to put my 69 yr old ass back to work. That's the only answer I've got.

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  4. To my ear Dad Bones doesn't sound unhappy "somebody black 'went home thinking about how they were going to spend all their money'" but just the opposite.

    I'd like to think if I were one of those young black painters, I'd work hard, save as much money as possible, and then buy into ownership of business. Then I''d make TV ads which include proclaiming "WE ARE THE GREATEST house painters in all of Chicago! Call for a free estimate today. Highest quality. On time. Under budget. Every time. Guaranteed!"

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  5. And if my competitors try to underbid me:

    WELL WE'RE THE BEST PAINTERS IN THE BUSINESS, WHEN YOU TRY TO UNDERBID US WITH A SORRY COMPANY LIKE CRABTREE PAINTERS, LLC,
    THATS THE RESULTS YOURE GONNA GET, DON'T YOU EVER DEFAME US, CRABTREE, DONT YOU EVER OPEN YOUR MOUTH ABOUT THE BEST, OR WE GOING TO SHUT IT FOR YOU REAL QUICK....P.O.B [PAINTERS. OF. BOOM.]

    ReplyDelete

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