Friday Night Micro-Aggression Session.

I went to a symphony concert last night. It was last minute- my friend invited me just hours before. I went straight from work to meet up with my friend. No time to change, so I wasn’t wearing my finest threads, but didn’t look reprehensible. 
The concert was absolutely beautiful. The music was mostly by Brazilian composers and no joke one of the compositions sounded like something straight out of Wakanda. It was by Heitor Villa-Lobos, Chôros No. 10, “Rasaga o Coração.”

Afterward, we went to the reception since my other friend’s mom was in the orchestra. She was lovely. Anyway, the friend who invited me (also a poc) and I were standing and eating near the bar when a white man rolls up next to us while we’re mid-bite and starts talking.

     “My friends and I are wondering where all these people are coming from. Did you go to the show,” heavily implying we did not seem the type. We said yes and told him we really enjoyed it, explaining which piece was our favorite. His face contorted in confusion as if the song described hadn’t been apart of the repertoire. He then asked what we do. My friend told him his profession and I said I work at a startup. The man thought I said Starbucks and asked me about the sensitivity training employees had to go through after the Philly incident. I looked at him bewildered, and corrected him, “Start Up, not Starbucks,” I laughed, but internally was like-

Granted, ‘Startup’ and ‘Starbucks’ can sound quite similar when you’re chewing on a meatball. HOWEVER, a few things here:

1. We were visibly in the middle of eating and weren’t even talking to each other, so it was an awkward moment for a stranger to start a conversation.

2. Even if I did work at Starbucks, it’s another weird thing to bring up in a situation with people you JUST met- ungracefully and with questionable intention.

We then learned he was a minister and grew up in Japan with minister parents. He even has his own church in the east village - gawd bless. I know this isn’t fair, but all I could think about as he was telling us this was colonization, imperialism, and self-righteousness that comes with the idea that ‘others’ need to be taught Christianity to save their ‘savage’ souls but I digress. That topic warrants a whole other post.

At this point, he seemed to have gotten what he came for- making us uncomfortable and plugging his church. He walked away and I was very annoyed. Later on that night my friend and I revisited the conversation. I usually try to give white people the benefit of the doubt, but most times the conclusion remains the same: If I was white the conversation/situation would have gone differently.

This was certainly not as bad of an exchange as it could’ve been but micro-aggressions are still unacceptable. It was a violation of our space and comfort. There’s no escaping this behavior. People always say New York City is so progressive but there isn’t one inch of this country that is completely impervious to racism/prejudice.

At least the symphony and chorus was dope. Even he couldn’t ruin that.

https://www.grsymphony.org

No, it’s not scholarly - it’s racist.

My head is reeling from reading an article on the National Review site tweeted by Jeffrey Wright about the importance of proactive policing and the significant positive implications of gentrification. 

“A black New Yorker is 50 times more likely to commit a shooting than a white New Yorker.” Hmm…I’m slacking. https://t.co/Sj8YgxpgJi’

The overarching theme of the article is that gentrification is the reason for the crime drop in New York City and that ‘cop critics’ don’t have any justification for their outcry against police brutality because whatever the cops are doing is directly influencing the decrease in crime rates- this includes stop and frisk and other unsubstantiated practices. The whole article is an insult to anyone with a comprehensive- no with an ounce of understanding of the history of violence perpetrated by police at alarming levels against the black community. Anyone who grasps the history of this country can surmise that the relationship between the black community and police is not a spontaneous manifestation of tension- this article talks about the Black Lives Matter movement in such a cavalier naive way. This sentiment about injustice when it comes to condemning black lives has been incubating for centuries. It’s also known there is a direct correlation between crime and economic hardship. When this country understands that slavery has been and continues to be a blemish on our history and its affect are felt present-day will we ever get passed these putrid allowances of ignorance that everything is so simple (no pun intended) - black and white. 

There were a few passages in this article that really feeds into the rampant racism that the president has encouraged in this country. And that’s another thing. This presidency. It has ripped open wounds and incited crimes of hatred like no other presidency in history. There’s no way that reality can be disregarded at this point. Anyway, I digress. Here are some of the most blatantly racist passages I’ve seen on a national publication:

This demographic transformation has enormous implications for crime. A black New Yorker is 50 times more likely to commit a shooting than a white New Yorker, according to perpetrator identifications provided to the police by witnesses to, and victims of, those shootings.

(This is about the gentrification of Bed-Stuy. Barf.)

——

When the racial balance of a neighborhood changes radically, given those crime disparities, its violent-crime rate will as well. (This racial crime disparity reflects the breakdown of the black family and the high percentage of black males — upwards of 80 percent in some neighborhoods — being raised by single mothers.)

(I mean, I honestly thought she was just going to come out and say the N-word at this point. I’m not even sure what this is supposed to convey to support her argument. It’s just an empty generalization that was thrown in here to infer some nefarious ideas about black families.)

——

It is that gentrification which is now helping fuel the ongoing crime drop. Urban hipsters are flocking to areas that once were the purview of drug dealers and pimps, trailing in their wake legitimate commerce and street life, which further attracts law-abiding activity and residents in a virtuous cycle of increasing public safety. 

(It’s like she’s saying, gentrification is wonderful for crime since it means pushing POC out of neighborhoods so white people can ‘virtuously’ live their lives. I CANNOT.)

This article had my head spinning and I was at a loss at how something so blatantly biased could be published under the guise of journalism and not OPINION because that’s what this sounds like to me. The facts presented are rolled up into a self-righteous, pious assortment of conjecture and perspective. It’s beyond disrespectful/insulting and solidifies what everyone already knows- racism is alive and thriving in America.

GoT, guys, GTFO.

Game of thrones creators making a show about the south winning the civil war is one of the most insensitive, culturally tone-deaf notions to come out of HBO’s think tank in a while. 

It’s another statement about progress meaning nothing in the wake of a big paycheck and the insufferable ignorance of some people. It’s exhausting. I’ve written this before and I’ll write it again. IT’S EXHAUSTING to live in a society that is constantly telling you the atrocities of the past have no effect on your future and to ‘suck it up’ if you feel discriminated against. No. That is not the proper response. In fact, the way some Americans react to serious allegations of racism is with something that is vaguely (explicitly) reminiscent of a sociopath. The text book definition of a sociopath is as follows:

ˈsōsēōˌpaTH/

noun

1. a person with a personality disorder manifesting itself in extreme antisocial attitudes and behavior and a lack of conscience.

I mean….

Where is your conscience when you completely dismiss an entire community of people because  you don’t understand their plight?

Anyway, this is a terrible idea and I’m appalled by all of the people this concept had to pass through before the show was announced and that somehow it still got funded. Not surprised! Appalled. Now, like, can I still watch GoT?! I’m not sure I can…. but gd it the WINTER IS COMING.

Sigh. Just when I think things are looking up, society has me swallow a whole 28932199393 gallons of get real.

This is a tender moment in time where people are just realizing the intricate complexities of race in America, and then this garbage is announced and it just feels like we’re taking so many steps back. I hope enough people show their disgust, because this is just plain shameful.

Africa, right?

The airport is always a lot. People are rushing or not rushing. Standing still or weaving through crowds. It’s a place where people go to escape or to return. To go off adventure or come back and ruminate.

Many different people are rotating in and out of those doors, so it was strange to have this experience with one of the attendants while I was having a hard time using the self check-in machine.

That machine is a whole different story. It was aggressively unintuitive and the instructions were sparse. I’m not sure how anyone was able to check-in without assistance, but I digress.

Anyway, back to the person who helped me and subsequently surprised me.

My machine was flashing a message that let me know I needed assistance. The first thing he asked me for when he came over was a Visa. So, I rummaged through my wallet to show him the card I used to buy the ticket. He looked at it perplexedly, and then said, no I mean your passport. I chuckled at myself in the moment but that was really strike one. Oh, I said, I thought you meant my credit card. No, he said, slightly amused. He left and I continued the check in process poking at the screen, entering all of my info until I came again to another roadblock. I looked around and he was close by, helping other people with this horrendous check-in machine. We made eye contact. How can I help miss, he asked, focused and ready to assist.
“It’s asking for my email and address but I can’t keep going.”
“Did you put in the country?”
“Yes.”
“Two letters?”
“Yes.”
He finished up with the person he was working with and they went off triumphantly as he walked over and took a look at my screen.
“Country?” He asked again. He pressed some areas of the screen, “Africa, right,” he asked distracted. I didn’t say anything as he continued assessing.
“Ah, forget it. You can hit cancel.”
I nod.
He hits cancel, “I don’t know why it wasn’t working. That’s a new screen.”
“Oh. Well thanks,” I grab my baggage tag and attach it to my bag and he’s already walked off attending to other struggling people.

I’m not sure if it was because he was distracted or stressed out but the situation was uncomfortable now that I think back to it. I mean I appreciate his help because otherwise I probably would have been there for another 30 minutes trying to figure out how to get that thing to work. I’m going to chalk up what he said to an honest misunderstanding but in this world of high tension, it’s hard not to ignore instances like this. Anyway, I’m in France. We’ll see what kind of interesting stories I’ll have to tell from here.