6’9"? really, I had not noticed. 
As a mid 50s white male I keep wondering who these racism deniers are trying to convince since, we all know it exist. So I think they are just trying to convince white people that the racism white people still have is ok, because we’re not as overtly bad toward black people has we used to be.
For example, they think it’s ok for white people believe all colored folks are up to no good and if we have the least expectation they might harm us it’s ok if we shoot first and find out after, that they we’re actually not a threat. Because before, we’d shoot just because they were black, even when we knew they were not a threat.
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Or, you know, in the real world, they are black and have actually experienced racism at the hands or racists and bigots.
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There’s probably not a single minority person out there who obviously looks like a brown/black person and is of 35 or more years of age, who hasn’t gone to a restaurant or some other establishment in a fancy part of town or a backwoods pit stop during a road trip, and didn’t later leave (or just plain leave immediately) due to how awkward, weird and/or uncomfortable it felt in there.
Usually it’s somewhat subtle. We leave and everyone starts commenting on how it seemed like folks were looking at us. How strange the waitress or waiter acted. How things just felt hostile for some reason. How the hairs in the back of your neck were going haywire for no apparent reason.
And no, it’s not paranoia. I’ve personally gone to a few hundred of restaurant in my life, in multiple states and countries, in both filthy rich and dirt poor areas. But it’s only been in 2 restaurants that it’s been that way for us. It was just plain freaky. The distinguishing characteristic in both, which is obvious once you take a look around, was just how white everyone was.
I can only imagine how it must have been 80 years ago for a black/brown person to walk into a white establishment. It wouldn’t be just a freaky feeling. It would have been immediate silence, intense stares, and violence. Racism may not be as overt nowadays, but it definitely still exists.
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I want to see FOX interview some of these racist cab drivers. Come out from behind the wheel!
In a secret meeting the day after the election, Obama and his aides decided it was time to control what was on FOX by taking the initiative on a variety of fronts. Rather have FOX react to Obama than Obama react to FOX.
We still get followed around in stores. You still have some white woman in the supermarket aisle who will whisper to another white woman to watch her purse in her cart. One simply has to continue to let these folks know, I have my own money, I don’t need yours. Too many other indignities to mention aside from the obvious ones that are causing the discussions we’re having now.
Interesting Obama mentioned the incident about the tux, coffee, country club. That’s exactly what Bill Clinton said to Ted Kennedy that damn near gave Ted apoplexy and caused him to make his very public endorsement of Obama.
It’s never going to end. It’s too ingrained.
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I think the point of the K-Mart story was about assumptions.
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I remember back in the late 60s/early 70s being pulled over several times because I had long hair & a beard, I guess. Once, the cops went sifting thru a pile of empty beer cans in the back seat, looking for drugs, I guess. Didn’t find any, so they let us go !
Back in the 80’s, before cell phones, a black friend and colleague of mine was driving to Pensacola when he had car trouble on the highway. He was making light of the situation when he relayed the story to me but his dilemma was very real. He was laughing about it afterwards but he said he actually ran down the embankment and hid a couple of times before flagging someone down for help.
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Fuck them - who cares what worthless scum think
Please refresh my memory about that. I don’ think I heard that. Screw the Clintons, They are the ones who brought Reverend Wright and Bill Ayers into the fray during the 2008 election,
Yep, same here. One of the consequences of being tall. When I was younger, I was often mistakenly thought to be an employee at department stores, for some reason. Maybe because I was dressed nicely?
A few years ago, I saw a big moving truck in the driveway of the house next door. There were two black guys moving furniture into the garage. I walked over to one of the men and put my hand out, smiling, and said “Hi! I’m “Name!” Are you our new neighbors?” He kind of hesitated, then smiled and shook my hand, and said “I wish!” Turns out they were the moving men. I assumed my new neighbors were a black gay couple.
Much nicer story than what the Obamas have had to endure. The way they’ve been treated makes me sick.
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I am just over 5 feet, and I often ask for help getting something off a shelf. I live in Charlottesville, and so one time I even asked John Grisham (yes, he does his own grocery shopping) to reach something for me. There is a difference between asking a fellow shopper if they can help, and asking an employee of the establishment…not that one is any friendlier than the other; it’s just that when it is an employee, the assumption is that it is their job. When it is a fellow shopper, I usually say something like, “I’m sorry, but I am height -challenged…could you…?”
Michele Obama is no dummy. She knows that the assumption was that she was an employee. There is nothing wrong with working at Target, but when strangers assign you a role, it feels belittling.
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My sister in-law was once mistaken for a department store mannequin. Really, two other women started touching her coat. That’s a step below employee, I think.
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Ding ding ding. It’s not about whether or not tall white folks have had the same experience. It’s that this woman completely dismissed the SS most certainly buzzing around the First Lady and assumed she was just some woman there to serve her. The lady may not have meant any harm at all. She may have just been wrapped up in her own little world trying to figure out how the hell to get that thing off the shelf. At the same time, you also know someone is asking you to do tasks for them because they see you as almost a servant. It’s complicated. It’s the same as when a man uses some term of endearment in a professional environment. As a woman, you know the difference between a guy who just sees women as playthings, as girls to be infantilized, and men who have no issues with women yet call everybody by something other than their name.
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Damn, this happened to me down in the Southeastern part of KY. I was working down there and had checked into my hotel. I dropped my stuff off at the room and then headed out to find someplace to eat dinner. I walked in the restaurant and the looks these people were giving me told me to get the hell out of there and fast. The looks weren’t just, “Oh, lookie here! I’ve not seen this black girl around here, wonder who she’s kin to?” It was pure hate from the women, and hate and something far more disturbing from the men. I went back to my hotel, asked if I could get a refund if I left then, was told I couldn’t, but headed back to Louisville anyway. My life was more important.
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How is a short person asking a tall person to reach up to the top shelf and then commenting how easy it is (for the tall person) an example of racism? Maybe there’s more to the story? I’m tall and occasionally get asked - or offer. Big deal.
I haven’t read the linked article, so I don’t know if she elaborates. There may have been more to it - the words used, the situation, the tone of voice. Since I’m white, I have the luxury of being pretty sure that when a stranger asks me to help them get something off a high shelf, it’s simply because I’m tall. For others, the situation may be ambiguous. But here - and someone above mentioned that Michelle is no dummy, and I have to agree - I’m guessing she had a reason to consider this an example of racism.
Not sure why they felt they had to ‘open up about the racism they’ve faced’.
Hell, we’ve been witnessing it first hand for six years.
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