|
|
2001-12-26 (Wednesday) - 3:12 p.m. Yesterday was Christmas and most years, including this one, that means that my mom's family comes over in the late afternoon and stays till 9 or 10 p.m. Along with their smiling faces, they also bring a smattering of right wing thought and "humor" and this year was no different. To commemorate the occasion, I have decided to make a tally of the groups who I heard being the target derogatory jokes, epithets and slurs at this exclusively white gathering. Keep in mind that the occasion featured 17 people -four of whom were children under the age of eight while the rest were adults. Furthermore, I probably didn't hear every relevant comment that was made and I didn't hear any coming from my lips or that of my parents. Despite these limitations, here is the list: African Americans: 2 Arabs: 6 Asians: 1 Gays and Lesbians: 2 Immigrants: 4 Jews: 1 Latinos/Hispanics: 2 Muslims: 3 Native Americans: 0 Whites: 0 Women: 1 I'm not sure if any real conclusions can be drawn from this list or not. The number of cracks about Native Americans has been higher in previous years but comments about them seem to have been replaced by statements about Arabs and Muslims, who, as far as I can recall, never would have showed up in tally like this before. For the record, I did challenge some of these comments but when it became clear that the people making them see the current situation as a choice between hating "the other" and being killed by "the other," I decided there was no point in arguing. And that is what really scares me. I could be wrong but my hunch is that the current attempt by the United States will just invite more terrorism and, more certainly and importantly, further the oppression of people in underdeveloped countries and people of color and religious minorities in the U.S. It is thus very important to fight against the current move but doing so requires gaining more support and, while I would never expect my extended family to be on the frontlines of that struggle, it is now clear that they favor the war drive to an extent that makes them long term committed opponents of a more just world. My guess is that the same is true is for wide swaths of white people, and perhaps most white people. 
|