Personal Experiences with Racism?

[D_Martin van Burden]

That really bothered me too. Even after reading the Salon article, I can't help but call into question the means of deduction that the photographers used to determine if items were "looted" or "found." Despite the "finding," there's not enough information to determine if those two white folks "found" the items in a grocery store or along the street. A photographer couldn't just look at two passersby and make that determination. Sure, a broken window and fleeing from the scene wouldn't help, but they're both taken in neck-deep waters.

Maybe I'm strange, but I don't even have a problem with racist thinking so long as people aren't denying themselves into thinking they don't intentionally act that way. For instance, if you're going to call me a nigger, then do so with the realization that that's a highly offensive word, so offensive that it might merit you getting hurt if I were feeling particularly belligerant that day. Good or bad thoughts, dammit, own them, even if you don't want to work on changing them. At least accept the reality of what you say and how you feel.

Quite frankly, I'm surprised those photographers aren't already backpedalling like crazy. That method would be pretty consistent with how people take care of serious problems anyway -- y'know, like the President and the war in Iraq.

 

[KinkGuy]

Originally posted by DeeBlackthorne@Sep 3 2005, 11:57 PM
-- y'know, like the President and the war in Iraq.

[post=340577]Quoted post[/post]​

And the President and the crisis in New Orleans.

 

[D_Martin van Burden]

I Googled his name and came up with one of his photography credential pages. The web page includes a form that you can fill in and send him a message.
http://www.sportsshooter.com/members.html?id=1312

I asked him to provide the reasoning behind what made one subject guilty of looting and another blessed by finding groceries and/or come clean about honoring his mistake and accepting the consequences.

 

[KinkGuy]

Apparently black people "loot"
and white people "find"

I don't care if they (or I) are black, white, purple, yellow or lavender; if my family is faced with the dire life or death situation the Katrina victims (or should that read US Government victims?) were and are, I will be breaking into Walgreens, Walmart or QuickieMart in search of supplies.

 

[Dr. Dilznick]

Originally posted by DeeBlackthorne
I Googled his name and came up with one of his photography credential pages. The web page includes a form that you can fill in and send him a message.
http://www.sportsshooter.com/members.html?id=1312

I asked him to provide the reasoning behind what made one subject guilty of looting and another blessed by finding groceries and/or come clean about honoring his mistake and accepting the consequences.

->> Jeasus, I don't belive how much crap I'm getting from this. First of all, I hope you excuse me, but I'm completely at the end of my rope. You have no Idea how stressful this whole disaster is, espically since I have not seen my wife in 5 days, and my parents and grand parents HAVE LOST THIER HOMES. As of right now, we have almost NOTHING.

Please stop emailing me on this one.

I wrote the caption about the two people who 'found' the items. I believed in my opinion, that they did simply find them, and not 'looted' them in the definition of the word. The people were swimming in chest deep water, and there were other people in the water, both white and black. I looked for the best picture. there were a million items floating in the water - we were right near a grocery store that had 5+ feet of water in it. it had no doors. the water was moving, and the stuff was floating away. These people were not ducking into a store and busting down windows to get electronics. They picked up bread and cokes that were floating in the water. They would have floated away anyhow. I wouldn't have taken in, because I wouldn't eat anything that's been in that water. But I'm not homeless. (well, technically I am right now.)


I'm not trying to be politically correct. I'm don't care if you are white or black. I spent 4 hours on a boat in my parent's neighborhood shooting, and rescuing people, both black and white, dog and cat. I am a journalist, and a human being - and I see all as such. If you don't belive me, you can look on Getty today and see the images I shot of real looting today, and you will see white and black people, and they were DEFINATELY looting. And I put that in the caption.

Please, please don't argue symantics over this one. This is EXTREMELY serious, and I can't even begin to convey to those not here what it is like. Please, please, be more concerned on how this affects all of us (watch gas prices) and please, please help out if you can.

This is my home, I will hopefully always be here. I know that my friends in this business across the gulf south are going through the exact same thing - and I am with them, and will do whatever I can to help. But please, please don't email me any more about this caption issue.

And please, don't yell at me about spelling and grammar. Im eating my first real meal (a sandwich) right now in 3 days.

When this calms down, I will be more than willing to answer any questions, just ask.


Thank you all -
-Chris Graythen

http://www.sportsshooter.com/message_display.html?tid=17204

 

[smallman]

Originally posted by Dr. Dilznick+Sep 4 2005, 02:33 AM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Dr. Dilznick &#064; Sep 4 2005, 02:33 AM)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteBegin-DeeBlackthorne
I Googled his name and came up with one of his photography credential pages.  The web page includes a form that you can fill in and send him a message.
http://www.sportsshooter.com/members.html?id=1312

I asked him to provide the reasoning behind what made one subject guilty of looting and another blessed by finding groceries and/or come clean about honoring his mistake and accepting the consequences.

->> Jeasus, I don&#39;t belive how much crap I&#39;m getting from this. First of all, I hope you excuse me, but I&#39;m completely at the end of my rope. You have no Idea how stressful this whole disaster is, espically since I have not seen my wife in 5 days, and my parents and grand parents HAVE LOST THIER HOMES. As of right now, we have almost NOTHING.

Please stop emailing me on this one.

I wrote the caption about the two people who &#39;found&#39; the items. I believed in my opinion, that they did simply find them, and not &#39;looted&#39; them in the definition of the word. The people were swimming in chest deep water, and there were other people in the water, both white and black. I looked for the best picture. there were a million items floating in the water - we were right near a grocery store that had 5+ feet of water in it. it had no doors. the water was moving, and the stuff was floating away. These people were not ducking into a store and busting down windows to get electronics. They picked up bread and cokes that were floating in the water. They would have floated away anyhow. I wouldn&#39;t have taken in, because I wouldn&#39;t eat anything that&#39;s been in that water. But I&#39;m not homeless. (well, technically I am right now.)


I&#39;m not trying to be politically correct. I&#39;m don&#39;t care if you are white or black. I spent 4 hours on a boat in my parent&#39;s neighborhood shooting, and rescuing people, both black and white, dog and cat. I am a journalist, and a human being - and I see all as such. If you don&#39;t belive me, you can look on Getty today and see the images I shot of real looting today, and you will see white and black people, and they were DEFINATELY looting. And I put that in the caption.

Please, please don&#39;t argue symantics over this one. This is EXTREMELY serious, and I can&#39;t even begin to convey to those not here what it is like. Please, please, be more concerned on how this affects all of us (watch gas prices) and please, please help out if you can.

This is my home, I will hopefully always be here. I know that my friends in this business across the gulf south are going through the exact same thing - and I am with them, and will do whatever I can to help. But please, please don&#39;t email me any more about this caption issue.

And please, don&#39;t yell at me about spelling and grammar. Im eating my first real meal (a sandwich) right now in 3 days.

When this calms down, I will be more than willing to answer any questions, just ask.


Thank you all -
-Chris Graythen

http://www.sportsshooter.com/message_display.html?tid=17204

[post=340595]Quoted post[/post]​

[/b][/quote]

is appears to make sense, but I&#39;d rather call him racist from the safety of my home on dry land.

 

[Dr. Dilznick]

Originally posted by smallman
is appears to make sense, but I&#39;d rather call him racist from the safety of my home on dry land.

Someone get this liberal a band-aid for his bleeding heart.

 

[Dr. Dilznick]

Your sarcasm is sensed and appreciated, smallman. Even on the internet.

 

[Lex]

Originally posted by dcwrestlefan@Sep 4 2005, 12:52 AM
i worked at a department store a long time ago when i was 20 or so, and remember a day when a black lady came up to the counter for me to ring up some merchandise. i was already waiting on a white woman. both were dressed very well. i&#39;d describe both of them as classy looking. the white woman looked at her, grabbed her purse, and pulled it in close, like she thought it would be stolen otherwise. there was zero reason for this.

the incident bothered me quite a bit. it made no sense.

[post=340560]Quoted post[/post]​

This happens to me consistenly--over time I have experiences like this in the grocery store and at department stores. THat is happnes when I am dressed for work is especially disturbing.

 

[Dr Rock]

Originally posted by smallman@Sep 4 2005, 03:06 AM
all that inventory will be written off as loss by the stores anyway, why not steal a dvd?

[post=340550]Quoted post[/post]​

well, personally I wouldn&#39;t waste the effort on shit that&#39;s no use to me - having no power, how are you supposed to watch DVDs? - but most people are fucking stupid.

 

[Lex]

Originally posted by ChimeraTX@Sep 4 2005, 10:06 AM

It is called "statistical discrimination". A black woman, for whatever reason, is nth times more likely commit a crime against you than a white woman.

For those who will say "You shouldn&#39;t judge a book by it&#39;s cover", would you step on a piece of glass with your bare feet, or would you infer that there is a likely probability that doing so will hurt you, and avoid it?

[post=340630]Quoted post[/post]​

RIIIGHT--because I always don my Geoffrey Beene dress shirt, Van Heusen tie, Dockers dress slacks, Rockport dress shoes, Armani cologne and stand in line in Macy&#39;s with handfuls of merchandise before I&#39;m about to rob a bank, snatch a purse/wallet or rape a white woman. Because I want to look my best when I get arrested and make the 11 PM news. Yeah, THAT&#39;S it. *eyeroll*

 

[smallman]

Originally posted by Dr Rock+Sep 4 2005, 10:18 AM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Dr Rock &#064; Sep 4 2005, 10:18 AM)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteBegin-smallman@Sep 4 2005, 03:06 AM
all that inventory will be written off as loss by the stores anyway, why not steal a dvd?

[post=340550]Quoted post[/post]​

well, personally I wouldn&#39;t waste the effort on shit that&#39;s no use to me - having no power, how are you supposed to watch DVDs? - but most people are fucking stupid.

[post=340632]Quoted post[/post]​

[/b][/quote]

I used to agree, but people can&#39;t be THAT stupid, can they? Somewhere down there there must be a dealer who is moving the stuff and paying handsomely for it. In any case, I&#39;d hit the liquor stores first.

 

[steve319]

I&#39;ve seen too much racism in my life. It&#39;s the status quo here in many ways. While there are lots of positive, enlightened people to be found, the vast majority think nothing of discriminatory language and thought processes. And sometimes I think that I&#39;m a fool for constantly being surprised by it. You&#39;d think I&#39;d learn. It was a veritable scandal (SCANDAL, I say&#33 when I dated an African American girl. Who expects that in this century?

And the fact that our fastest-growing local industry is the Department of Corrections doesn&#39;t help. Working in that environmnet just serves to feed the worst in any sort of "us and them" thinking, regardless of which lines are drawn between the local, WASPy norm and African Americans, Latinos, or homosexuals. For many who work there, it&#39;s the ONLY exposure to a diverse set of people. Just serves to reinforce the prejudices. As I&#39;ve said too many times, it&#39;s a battle I fight every day.

Gets tiring sometimes too. That&#39;s part of the reason why I tend to avoid these endless race-issue quarrels.

At least now that I teach pretty much exclusively on campus, it&#39;s a bit more veiled--if more insidious as well.

Anyway, even in the professional world, even in this day and age, discrimination exists. I&#39;ve seen highly qualified, valuable, positive job applicants rejected in favor of mediocre or even incompetent ones purely based on skin color. And those making the decisions had no qualms about saying so, although in the local "accepted" social form. "Well, she wouldn&#39;t be comfortable here anyway" or "He would just cause trouble" or whatever. Infuriating.

Because of my outspoken nature, most of these people have learned not to say those sorts of things around me anymore. And while it definitely sends the message that this behavior is at least somewhat unacceptable, it also drives the behavior underground so to speak. What influence can I have if I&#39;m shut out?

As I said, the battle gets tiring. I can only imagine how debilitating it is to someone who is actually a victim of this thinking.

 

[Dr. Dilznick]

Originally posted by dcwrestlefan+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dcwrestlefan)</div><div class='quotemain'>i worked at a department store a long time ago when i was 20 or so, and remember a day when a black lady came up to the counter for me to ring up some merchandise. i was already waiting on a white woman. both were dressed very well. i&#39;d describe both of them as classy looking. the white woman looked at her, grabbed her purse, and pulled it in close, like she thought it would be stolen otherwise. there was zero reason for this. [/b]

Not exactly what I had in mind when I started this thread, but yeah. Speaking of, I was in an antique store once with this lady, she was planning on spending a couple G&#39;s on furniture and we were just walking around, minding our own business. The whole time we were there this woman followed us around and pretended to be rearranging shit. After a while I mentioned it and my friend went over and whispered "we&#39;re not stealing, it&#39;s ok." She got all flustered and started babbling about something or another like she wasn&#39;t following us. I guess she thought we were gonna try and run off with a sofa or some shit.



<!--QuoteBegin-steve319
It was a veritable scandal (SCANDAL, I say&#33 when I dated an African American girl. Who expects that in this century?
[/quote]
You can say "black," Steve. We won&#39;t mind.

 

[B_RoysToy]

Picture this: A small town (2,000) in northwest TN in the early 1960s.
An editorial in the local weekly newspaper dared to criticise the white ministerial association for not including the attendance of the three black churches in their report of church attendance -- only those of the nine white churches. Subscriptions were canceled, the writer had a knock on his door and was threatened by a local, and to cap it all off, his sister slapped his face and called him a "nigger-lover". He was married at the time with three children.

Guilty, world, I wrote it and have thanked God ever since its publication&#33;

Luke

 

[steve319]

Originally posted by ChimeraTX@Sep 4 2005, 02:28 PM
Do you feel that your motivation behind combating racial discrimination has to do with your quest for self-justification?

[post=340665]Quoted post[/post]​

No. I&#39;m just an old-school hippy liberal, I suppose. My attitudes were forged long before I began dating anyone. Another thing I have to thank my family for, I suppose.

Attraction is attraction. If a person of another ethnic ancestry and I feel an attraction and decide to see one another romantically, then that&#39;s just the way it is. Seems similar to the same-gender attraction issue.

A non-issue in my eyes.

Leaving this topic now.

 

[smallman]

Originally posted by steve319+Sep 4 2005, 03:36 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(steve319 &#064; Sep 4 2005, 03:36 PM)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteBegin-ChimeraTX@Sep 4 2005, 02:28 PM
Do you feel that your motivation behind combating racial discrimination has to do with your quest for self-justification?

[post=340665]Quoted post[/post]​

No. I&#39;m just an old-school hippy liberal, I suppose. My attitudes were forged long before I began dating anyone. Another thing I have to thank my family for, I suppose.

Attraction is attraction. If a person of another ethnic ancestry and I feel an attraction and decide to see one another romantically, then that&#39;s just the way it is. Seems similar to the same-gender attraction issue.

A non-issue in my eyes.

Leaving this topic now.

[post=340673]Quoted post[/post]​

[/b][/quote]

Yeah, well I don&#39;t personally know anyone with serious objections into interracial dating in my social group. Do you think it just has to do with you living in North Carolina?

 

[prepstudinsc]

Living in North Carolina doesn&#39;t present problems for inter-racial relationships. Just come to my church and you&#39;ll see lots of it--not just black/white, but black/asian and black/latino. I played for a wedding two weeks ago for one of my friends who married a white guy (her second marriage to a white guy). She&#39;s only dated white guys. Her family doesn&#39;t have a problem with it. Her new husband&#39;s family didn&#39;t have a problem with him marrying a black woman, either. Maybe it&#39;s because we&#39;re in a city and not in a rural area like Steve is.

I&#39;ve gone out with two black people before. What&#39;s the big deal? People are people--I look for qualities such as brains, personality, and yes, beauty, too. Skin color isn&#39;t a factor.

My mother has actually encouraged me to find someone at church to date. She&#39;s visited my church many times (since she lives out of state) and always remarks at how beautiful all the people are. I know that my mother would not care if I dated outside my race.

Like Steve said, it&#39;s a total non-issue. I look for a quality person, regardless of color.

 

[SpeedoGuy]

As my wife is a very fair skinned latina (red hair and freckles) often mistaken for Irish, I often see the effects of racism by those who don&#39;t realize she&#39;s Spanish speaking and from Mexico.

Its a disappointment for both of us when new found friends or casual acquiantances unknowingly cut loose some racist crack about Mexicans in our presence. She&#39;ll give them an earful afterwards but the accumulated pain lingers over the years.

SG

 

[D_Barbi_Queue]

My mom is one of those idiots that&#39;s racist against Mexicans. It pisses me off and I&#39;ve chewed her out several times. I&#39;ve tried hard over the years to change her, but I&#39;ve come to realize that it&#39;s a wasted effort. Instead, I just make sure that I teach my kids not to dislike anyone for their possible differences. We&#39;re all humans with red blood running through our veins.

On another note, I had a bitter-sweet sight in the paper this morning with an officer pointing his gun on two men who misbehaved in New Orleans. They were laying on their belly and their hands behind their head and they were WHITE.

It was bitter-sweet b/c I&#39;m glad that the media (at least this morning&#39;s paper) was portraying whites as deviants as well but bitter b/c I hate that people still can&#39;t get their shit straight down there and just try to help out one another.

Also, my 70ish yr-old neighbor (who is white) vowed to never watch CNN again b/c of all the racist portrayal in the media and lack of stories on heroism.