Born this way isn’t just for homosexuality…

When I grew up, there were very few points where I interacted with people of a different race, be it Black, Indian, Asian, or anything else that was out of the ordinary to me and my ‘mutt blood’.

 

I learned at an early age at school (about 2nd grade) that other races fascinated me. I met an asian girl and she taught me japanese words, and I thought she was the coolest person in the class. 5th Grade, my history class had one african american student, and I found him to be awesome. He was smart, and funny and though I wasn’t complete friends with him, I felt a little bit more culturally diverse for having him there (I was in fifth grade so this was a big step for a white kid with no previous experience with anyone of color). 

 

My parents never seemed to talk about it, until I started getting on in my teenage years. My mother was forced to move to an almost Lower Class suburb, and almost all her neighbors were who she called ‘ghetto trash’ , ‘white trash’ , ‘blackies’ . I was about 14, and spent my first summer with her, going to a park for a camping program with tons of other kids from the same suburb. This was my first taste of ethnicity and it was fun. 

 

When my mother came to pick me up one day, she saw a Milano boy calling me names, and didn’t know he was joking. She stepped out of her car, pulling me away from him, and sat me down in the car, windows rolled up, looking tense ad flustered. 

 

“Why did you do that, we were joking!”

“Listen, if one of those Niggers calls you a queer one more time, you tell him to go fuck himself”

 

This was the first time I saw any kind of blatant racism from my mother, and frankly was a turning point for me. I realized I wasn’t like her, didn’t want to be like her, and had no problem with color. I discussed it with her in my later years, but she wouldn’t listen to my taks about stereotyping and attempting to be more trusting. 

 

“You don’t understand” She said “I’ve grown up like this, I can’t change it.”

Idiocracy, Or is it?

In readings of the framework essay, I came across an entire section (about pg 344 to pg 346) where they explained the testing of individuals on there ability to comprehend  and/ or perform simple tests; the first occurrences of I.Q. (Intelligence Quotient) tests.

The thing I find interesting about the way they are explained is that the 20th century Americans would lump together people of any race (mostly non-white) that they THOUGHT was too dumb or uneducated, and keeping them under a net of stasis, if you will; unable to breed, and unable to do things everyday ‘normal’ americans could do.

The ‘unable to breed’ part stuck out at me more prominently than the others, because I hear people constantly shout ‘man! People are so stupid! People should have to take a test to breed!’, some Marylin Manson himself had said a while ago. Hey guys, you know what’s funny? 

There was a test! Funny right?? 

If they actually stil had a test like this, do you think it would follow a social Darwinist pattern similar to the one that was used so long ago? I say Social Darwinist, because that’s how we would all be if that kind of testing still persisted. A lot of people who actually are intelligent would be kept out of schools and put in ‘special’ situations, just because of an uneducated and seemingly archaic way of thinking. 

So next time you see someone you consider an uneducated person or an unfit parent (presumably stupid if that’s what you think) try and remember, they may not have had the opportunity you had, but they aren’t stupid. They just need some help is all (not that kind of help, help with there children and finances, those kinds of necessities. It’s easier to think and learn when you’re better off, is it not?)

Those ‘Racist words’ we stutter.

I’ve come to notice through a lot of experiences in my life, that a number of people i talk to (predomantly out of this group, those who are white) seem to be incredibly reluctant to use a phrase to describe anothers race. 

I’m not talking about just words that are found offensive, I mean any at all. 

At my workplace, for example, My white female co-worker came up to me and told me about someone who she believed was shop-lifting. she decribed there clothing, there hair, and there age, but I couldn’t get a clear picture. 

‘what race?’ I said

she stammered a bit, trying to find the correct word to say ‘umm, shes… shes african-american’

I pretended to pay it no mind and told her I’d keep an eye out. but then the officer of our store came over to talk to me about the same women. ‘that women that -your coworker- told you about, has she come over here yet?’ ‘you mean the african american women?’ I asked

‘yeah the black one.’ he said non-chalantly

I was a bit taken back. Is it just because he’s of a different ethnicity then white as well that he can say ‘black’ without so much as a second thought? I wanted to ask him something along those lines, but it wasn’t my place, so i refrained.

I’ve noticed this in our own classroom too, people have stuttered uttering the words black or brown, indian, hispanic, ‘red’ , ‘yellow’, african-american, middle-eastern, and so on. Even I’v e noticed myself doing it. 

In my mind I believe this comes from conditioning to feel a certain way. it feels as if our education has brought whites specifically up to be ashamed of how WE treated everyone else, when in all reality, each of us isn’t to blame, it’s the people that came before us. 

all in all it’s a tricky thing to talk about, but I just wanted to bring it to light. I try not to stammer any more, but I also refrain from saying certain words because the language is different from one ethnicity to another, if you catch my meaning (I hope you do.)

Let’s Play Cowboys and Indians!

But seriously. Stereotypical Marlboro campaign man and nomad land-stealing cheiftan are just brand names. The real indians have to have a quarter of indian blood in them. Why? That man who is 3 parts cherokee said so!

I’m talking about the 1/4 rule and what we read about in Reading 4.

Personally, I find this idea both absurd and necessary. 

It is absurd because being any smaller of a part indian blood than one quarter , makes you inelligable for rights and privileges as an indian makes my head spin. If they are indian (with proof) then they deserve to be recognized as such, not told they have to fill out more of that Pie chart than a quarter. 

However, its also necessary. And it should be quite obvious why. Having people with any amount of indian, be it full blooded or 1/24th , claim that they deserve some kind of benefit, would mean that there is only a meager restitution to be shared, as the government can’t give out ALL its money (FYI they’re too busy lining there own pockets!).

So while there are many definitions of indian and a lot of people making that claim, it still seems that only the most indian ones will get any form of compensation, as ridiculous as that sounds.

Transexual is to Transgender is not to Intersex

 

 

Until reading of Cheryl and his/her plight of finding themself, and dealing with IGM, I had no idea what Intersex was, or that it even existed.

When I was younger, I first learned of what a transgender was, mistaking a transvestite for one. The difference was explained to me in a non-biased light: Transexuals are men or women who like to take on the appearance of the opposite sex. It doesn’t mean they’re weird, or creepy, but that they are more confortable that way. Transgender and/ or transexuals (which are generally two terms for the same thing) are men/ women who wish to transition to being the opposite sex, something very psychological and time consuming, but with todays technology, can be done. 

Intersex however, is an entirely new to me. and leaves a lot of open questions, as I tend to be curious (sometimes overly so) and tend to want to ask my friends about this. The reason i say my friends is because a number of friends I have are indeed Transgender, or quite possibly, intersex. I feel odd about asking, as I don’t know exactley how to put my curiosity into words without being offensive. Like it stated in Reading 11 under the section ‘Language is Real, ‘words are real; bodies are not’. The way I interpret this is that you can say something, and what you say is what gives something meaning. Your body is not a real thing, just a cluster of words used to define your body. 

when it comes to intersex, the body not being real is all the more realized, as it shows that you can call someone she, or he, when they are neither. they would be deemed he/she. why? Because there isn’t a word for this gender, it can only be one, or the other, society says so, even though its not so. 

so after some careful deductions, I’m sure to think further into someones identity before labeling them, trans/ intersex, or not, as they are the ones who are being scrutinized, and they should be the ones to choose the words which give there body a meaning.