Racial Inequity

For quite while now you get a lot of rolling eyes when you talk about racism and the inequity that exists between white folks and all of us mud people. To add to that is the now prevalent reaction many white folks have when you mention anything about reparations for centuries of racism (like say choosing an artist from East LA to do a mural about Boyle Heights' history, or how the US has had a historical influence in fucking up Latin America) which is "that's racism against me/white folks". The thing is, I'm totally against being actually racist against white folks, but when you are mentioning racial constructs in REALITY and how they should be addressed it gives people the "out" to peg you racist against their whitedom.As I noted somewhere else, pulling that card (unless someone is calling you a cracker for no reason) is really lame and played out; it's the equivalent of white oakies yelling "what about my civil rights?" becuase their housing project was being integrated with negroes, it's pure bs. The shit's so flipped upside down now that when a white dude on a blog goes to a taco stand and doesnt get served within the 5 minutes he can handle waiting , his first response is to cry "racism".

That kind of crap is not racism.  Racism is the news doing their first story on a white lady in Laguna Niguel chasing away two darkies burglarizing her home including an interview and whole 3 minute breakdown and then switching to a 30 second blip about how 9 people were murdered last night in LA (including 5 in south LA) with no map, pictures or nothing. Racism is covering the fucken BS writers strike (or possibility of a SAG strike) as if the world will stop for it, after ignoring the more important janitors strike that affected millions more people.  Racism is only covering one side of the illegal immigration issue, airing interviews of militant racist white guys as "one side of the coin" and ignoring the radical other side (MECHA headscalper stolen land crowd); or fox news noting the race and immigration status of a person on a topic that had nothing to do with either. Racism is how downtown LA and almost every central city neighborhood has been totally neglected for half a century but now magically are receiving investment and infrastructure improvement once rich white hipsters move in, or these large sunglass wearing folks then arrogantly spewing how Latinos and blacks made these communities shit and now it is up to the saving grace of hipsters to improve them (that may also be stupidity). Newsflash: our civic entities purposely neglected and oftentimes actively ruined these areas while still catering to wealthy whites, and it is a proven fact that social deterioration ALWAYS follows civic and structural deterioration in a community. We want a vibrant downtown but lets harass and fine every Latino street vendor selling hot dogs (which is kitschy in NYC, but not here when brown people do it). But I move on.

I try to avoid the racism issue like reefer.  But it is always around and oftentimes blowing in your face. It pisses me off, the way brown and black and poor folks are treated as unnecessary and less important than rich whities. The way I am never given the benefit of the doubt in any situation, and always viewed as suspect; which is the total opposite of how my white friends are treated. How I have NEVER been able to talk my way out of a ticket and ensuing vehicle search, no matter how logical and proven my explanation is; the way I cannot get ONE THING done at my bank for my nonprofit account without being denied my basic banking rights first then having to prove my identity and position in my organization to an insane degree (which my asian looking and much lighter hued wife never has to go through).  I try to ignore this reality most of the time because it eats away at you and makes you miserable, and I have kids and dont want their dad being an unhappy dickhead always whining about the man.

But the other day this little gem I just could not avoid.  In florida a black girl riding her bike was struck by some hillbilly and almost died solely because she was black (they had no prior contact). He rammed her bicycle with his pickup truck, got out of his car and was screaming "I want to kill this n-word" to horrified witnesses and then tried to attack her some more. The black girl was repeatedly shown noting how she forgives him and does not hate him, as that is what we should do in those situations (according to the media, but on the flip side it is absolutely OK to hate illegal immigrants).  Anyways, this didnt get me, it happens. What got me was that the attacker is now being charged with aggravated assault, aggravated fucken assault for ramming a girl with his truck and then noting he wanted to kill her because of her skin color. Good job DA, way to show our legal system doesnt value mud people like they do whites.  No hate crime, no assault with a deadly weapon, no attempted murder, none of that. And the media noted he was mad because his wife had cheated on him with a blackie, ergo the aggravated with the assault.  No the girl did not aggravate him, yet something that had nothing to do with the crime was added to make it less offensive to the courts. Another victory for the civil rights movement.

Mathew McConaughey can drink beers on the beach no sweat, whereas Wesley Snipes and TI cant so much as fart without adding another charge to their pedigree. Underage Jamie Lynn spears can get knocked up by her adult boyfriend no problemo, but god forbid an 18 year old black high school football star from Georgia screws his 17 year old white girlfriend, then it's statutory rape despite their 4 month age difference. 

Listen here white world, if you want to have the ability to roll your eyes at the mention of racism and note the civil rights era made everything right, then you HAVE TO ACTUALLY PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH. Black and brown folks are still pissed because the only thing that's changed is the lip service we get, but in actual action very little has improved.

By Art

Comments

[browne]

Oh god Art, I totally read that taco incident, I wanted to slap him. That was just disturbing and it pissed me off, because I was like, you think racism funny asshole, is that what you think, but then I went to the LAeastside blog and felt better...

But yes preach brother...

Browne

[browne]

Oh man that was deep, where's the cycling communities outrage in the Florida issue... I hear nothing from the blogosphere. These little token PoC's in the "cycling" movement need to wake the fuck up and realize that this movement isn't about nothing, but rich assholes...(that's probably going to get people all pissy at me.)

Very good observations Art. I'm sick of this rolling eyes shit in regards to talking about the racism and prejudice that still very well exists.

Browne

[Brian]

Good point about Jamie Lynn Spears. Complete hypocrisy.

Downtown is another story. I bought a loft there three years ago. I'm white. And if you came to our homeowner's meetings, you'd see the racial makeup of the building is diverse: Blacks, whites, Latinos, Asians. So if you say that the city is pandering to the "white hipsters" I will indeed roll my eyes, because unless you also added "Black, Latino, Asian hipsters," you'd be wrong.

[BusTard]

Brian,
Lemme tell ya something, my boy: Art may need some editing (being a newspaperman, it pains me to read his posts for no other reason than I wanna take that figurative ax—the red pen—and comb it through his copy) but he is spot on. I am no apologist, and I am white, but most importantly: I know and have for many years written about and published stories on downtown. I was here long before the current demeanour, and it is indeed pandering to the influx of whiney, primarily white, ex-west siders, valley vermin and other fly-over escapees. I have lived round the world, am a former New Yorker (with many years in Japan, UK and the south, to name a few places). I am out "there" (which is here, to me) on a daily basis and I am seeing all sorts of crap that makes me meaner because I am white and have to deal with people who are not, owing to the burgeoning ignorance and post attitudes of hicks from out of town newly arrived.
I have a published pedigree about downtown and the surrounding area to competently state that it is you who are wrong. I'll roll yer eyes for you sonny, if that is what you want. I am sick of your mindless creed coming in and ruining strange places and bleaching it of a future so you can flip a place and speculate with real estate. Artless fucks such as yourself could do with a taste of some Brooklyn bootleather, so be sure to get thee off the streets when I decide to take one of my many daily and nightly strolls.

[Browne]

I don't view people in downtown LA as hipsters, the most annoying ones aren't the hipsters anyway.

Hipsters seem bad, until you meet yuppies. It's like you think having a cold sore is bad, then you get cancer. Yuppies are like cancer.

At least hipsters get bored and leave an area. Yuppies get in there, take root, won't leave (its an INVESTMENT) and in the process they kill everything. They take all of the fun out of everything and make it painful for everyone who was there before and dares to impede their GROWTH!!!

It's the yuppies. The USC alumni, sports cheering, non-ironic baseball cap wearing, 401k talking, playdate making, take a look at my vacation pictures to Hawaii yuppies. And annoying classist yuppies come in all shades (i met some black ones, it was painful), but lets be honest. Look at even the advertisements for the lofts and eateries everyone looks the same, don't you think that is weird?

They all kind of look white or the vast majority of them do.

Downtown News talks about a baby boom when babies were already here, what is this. Working class Latinas have been pushing their babies around here for decades. So who are they at the Downtown News talking about.

Hopefully the bad economy and the incoming crime wave (fingers crossed) will be just the kind of chemo that we need around here to restore the balance of nature.

Someone was talking about how they wished they had a Target down here and they weren't being funny.

I don't know if I'm going to be able to handle stumbling from happy hour and having to navigate through the bums, pee, AND some yuppie mom with her hummer stroller. Poor people have little strollers and the kids seem perfectly happy, why do yuppie mom's need strollers that look like they need a license to push it?

Browne

[Brian]

As for being an "artless fuck," I didn't realize you had to be an artist to move downtown.

I am a school teacher. When I bought a place downtown, it was the only place in LA I could afford. I could not afford anything now downtown (or even a year after I bought). I was not a speculator; I rented a tiny room in the Inland Empire for many, many years prior to save for a down payment; I bought a small place downtown so I could own something. My building was an abandoned warehouse. Not even squatters were living there. How am doing a disservice by inhabiting an empty building?

Back to the issue:

You like to throw vitriol my way, but you didn't address my point: the owners in my building are from all racial backgrounds. They are black. They are Latinos. They are Asian. They are white. It's a genuine mix of people.

Try to explain your point without calling me names or threatening me.

[Browne]

I think your use of a personal anecdotes is not enough support to prove your point.

Your one building maybe one way, but that doesn't mean that's the case for all of downtown.

Also just because the building has all races doesn't mean it's diverse.

If they are all of the same socio-economic group then that is just a Gap commercial like San Francisco the most undiverse, yet very diverse place on earth.

I think the working class and poor residents of downtown LA have been treated like second class citizens, because until people from a higher socio-economic group moved in the city didn't do anything to make this place livable.

browne

ps bustard keep it clean

[Art]

Brian, my comments were not a personal attack unless you are one of those douchebags who gets oversensitive when our country's racial dichotomy is brought up. There are plenty of whites who fall into the category as non-yuppy and plenty of nonwhites who are elitist arrogant shitheads as well. The spectrum is not black or white (no pun intended, but like all social realities, has various nuances and anecdotal anomalies. Of course there are plenty of nonwhite yuppies colonizing once poor neighborhoods, and my disdain for their arrogance is the same as well. These truths are of little relevance to our city's investment in communities, which follows money, and money is still generally distributed inequally along racial groups. Is this not true? Are there millions of rich middle class mexican yuppies now coloninzing DTLA? Are there huge ghettoes in Boyle Heights and Watts of poor whites treated like second class citizens and harassed by police. My notions come from reality, and are not meant to be absolute, but they do tend to portray the way general trends exist in contemporary society.

But the fact of the matter is that a lot more rich people are white in the US, and the infusion of hipsters/yuppsters into Downtown LA has meant more white people in terms of ethnic shifts in the area. To note that a small piece of the new DTLA colonizers arent white (which is true) somehow disproves that our civic entities are colorblind is absurd. I grew up around downtown, the moment I began seeing blonde hair around the area after work hours is the moment I began seeing infrastructure investment and sidewalk cleaning. When the inner city areas became minority-dominant was when it became neglected, that is basic city history.

If you think my comments were absolute and feel that is incorrect then you are right, I do not time to put disclaimers and explanations in all of my rants. Browne asked me to type up my feelings when I can in a quick and dirty manner and that's what I do. I dont have time to lay down my philosophies in a book, I am not a rich mexican. I am wealthy enough to be able to blog and dress in a suit for work but not wealthy enough to buy a loft, spend all my time creating my art or recording my extensive thoughts on issues like race and class. If you are one of those oversensitive folks that cannot handle race being borught up then grow up, that shit is old. As a man I can handle women's rights or male oppression being a huge societal factor, I feel it is time a lot of whites 9and men for that matter) owned up to it, accpeted it as real, and moved on while still recognizing it in their daily endevours.

And bustard, I know i could use some editing. But I got a full time job, have 2 kids and a demanding daddy schedule ,run a full time nonprofit that paints murals in the barrio AND THEN try to post my thoughts when my wie isnt complaining about me being on the computer. My aoplogies, and if you want o help my editing 9if possible) it would be much appreciated ese.

[Sarah]

Hmm. Art, I was with you until you wrote "douchebags" in the same comment where you say "I can handle women's rights...being a huge societal factor". Maybe that's something you can work on editing out, because it's a little disheartening to see people with good thoughts turn around and make thoughtless remarks, just like all the rest. This is my first time on Browne's blog, and I plan on coming back, so I hope you understand I'm commenting to try to offer constructive criticism.

[Browne]

Sarah don't think this blog is not women friendly, it is or it's making an effort to be.

I allow for everyone to just speak how they speak (and for those who have an issue with a certain term to let people know what they think.) The only thing you can get banned for is threats against bodily injury towards another living thing.

I don't think lots of guys get that douchebag is anti woman term, just like I don't get they get bitch is an anti woman term. It would help greatly if I had more women commentators, radical feminist commentators would be great, but you know I can't be picky.

I even have to be reminded of antiwomen terms. I sometimes forget you get so caught up in emotion and I'm a woman, but it's always good to be reminded.

Browne

[Sarah]

That's cool. I wouldn't have spoken up if I didn't think it was a friendly place for me to speak...and there are enough of those even online nowadays...so thanks for making a place for us to talk.

I have to say more often I would write off the guy who uses antiwoman words as a jerk, than try to remind him what he's not noticing, because I get depressed that people won't ever change. But I felt like I could talk to Art. Which is good.

(And for the record Art, I don't think you're a jerk, I think you are exactly right calling out white privilege for what it is.)

I'll be one of your women commentators because I like your blog and I'm glad I found it. As for radfem commentator-ing...I am unlearning crap all the time in the hopes of one day growing up to be one (and being ok with what 'feminist' has meant in our history is part of that).

Anyway...thanks.

[Art]

Hey, Sarah, truly my bad. I really thought the word was purely trash-related, like scum being a old timey word for condom. So it is anti-female? I can see that as it relates to menstration being something gross, is that the point you mean? Again, my apologies, as a man who respects female empowerment and the mitigation of a male-centric society. I honestly equated the term with "jerkoff", like a senseless idiot. but your point is well taken, and gracias for the heads up.