Some serious ridiculousness

Perhaps my friend Shaina's headline was best: "This just in: Racism solved overnight!"

Of course, she's sarcastic. Much like me in my sheer disgust with white people thinking that with the election of a non-white guy to the presidency, all things are equal. As if it only were that easy.

But that's white privilege for you, to assume that racism is simply some complaint that people use as an excuse to get things for free. To say so is to deny the trenchant institutional barriers that remain against equality in this country, despite the ability to elect a non-white guy as president.

What started this line of thought was a post on MySpace, "White Guilt is Dead," from a guy I knew from high school. I knew it was something I shouldn't read and expect to walk away from unaffected, but I read it anyway.

The very premise of this post could be summarized by the post I saw by someone else on the Oklahoman's site after the election, something to the effect of, black people can no longer play the race card. The very premise of this line of thought, that racism can no longer be used as a valid "excuse" for inequity, is in and of itself racist. It excuses the racist structures that still persist, even with Obama's glorious election; in fact, the reactions to his election can be said to exacerbate the racism in this country. And don't even get me started on the white victimhood shit. Until white men no longer control the majority of this country and make the majority of the major decisions in the U.S., hush your mouth. You ain't got shit to complain about, alright?

So I hope someone will check out this link:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/11/16/13346/058/190/661895

I think it counters very nicely the way so-called conservative Christians talk out of both sides of their mouth in regards to living a Christ-like life while simultaneously condoning and perpetuating racist screeds like the one to which the Dailykos poster, and myself, responds.

To close, I plan on making a hobby out of confronting people head-on when they pull racist crap like this. I don't care how good a friend you are- you'll hear it from me. One of my best friends sent me a polite response to a post I made on MySpace informing me she and her husband were voting for McCain. That would be fine, if her response to me wasn't in reference to an article I posted that discussed the racist and violent outbursts at McCain/Palin rallies. Implicitly, she was condoning that behavior. And I just can't stomach that anymore. Not even from her.

I've already sent an email today to some wack job church in Wichita, which can only be regarded as the epicenter of Christian wingnuttery, in response to their sign outside their church that states something like America has a Muslim president (um, he hasn't been sworn in yet folks) and how a Muslim president was an sin or an abomination of God. All I've got to say about that is, are you fucking kidding me? Oh, and this: that whole bearing false witness thing. I guess it doesn't matter, eh?