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Sometimes people just scare me.
The bizarre not-even-thinly-veiled racism (and just plain crazy) evident in this letter to the editor of a newspaper serving the town I grew up in (among several others) just chills me. Sure, it is some random wacko who writes crazy letters to the editor, but you know what? I went to school with people who thought and talked like that. I don't mean high school. I mean college. I think one of my favorites was the woman who didn't understand why a.) we kept talking about Islam in a class about middle eastern gender issues and b.) why the bible wasn't considered an appropriate academic reference source for a paper in a women's studies class. Oh, and how could I forget the woman who insisted there were no African-Americans in local law enforcement for no other reason than "they just don't apply for the jobs"?
Then there is this flavor of crazy. Yep, ol' Barack is just waiting to get elected so he can turn the good 'ol US of A into the People's Republic of North America. It is part of the super-seekrit-liberal-gay agenda.
And while those letters are bad, it pales in comparison to some of the bigotry, hatred and racism I have experienced and witnessed in that particularly scary pocket of California and in other places, like say, rural Missouri. I mean, it's really endearing that men my dad works with tell him he has "fag stickers" on his car because he has an "equal rights are not special rights" bumper sticker. Or, say, it is so heartwarming to be approached by a stranger in Missouri who tells me she is fascinated by my "dark, shiny hair" because "You ain't even oriental, are you?" Or, say, I just loved that when I was president of the GLBT club on my university campus and our posters either got torn down and shredded, or had bible verses written on them. Oh, yeah, that brings me back.
It is easy, sometimes, to feel a bit too comfortable in the Bay Area, to think that maybe the world is as hateful as I often tend to think it is. Then I read those letters, or travel, and realize just how much hatred, bigotry, racism, sexism and homophobia is acceptable in so much of our country. I cannot even believe (well, sadly I can) that Huckabee got any votes at all. I swear he has some sort of Handmaid's Tale fantasy going on.
So, I weep. And then I vote. Please do the same.
The bizarre not-even-thinly-veiled racism (and just plain crazy) evident in this letter to the editor of a newspaper serving the town I grew up in (among several others) just chills me. Sure, it is some random wacko who writes crazy letters to the editor, but you know what? I went to school with people who thought and talked like that. I don't mean high school. I mean college. I think one of my favorites was the woman who didn't understand why a.) we kept talking about Islam in a class about middle eastern gender issues and b.) why the bible wasn't considered an appropriate academic reference source for a paper in a women's studies class. Oh, and how could I forget the woman who insisted there were no African-Americans in local law enforcement for no other reason than "they just don't apply for the jobs"?
Then there is this flavor of crazy. Yep, ol' Barack is just waiting to get elected so he can turn the good 'ol US of A into the People's Republic of North America. It is part of the super-seekrit-liberal-gay agenda.
And while those letters are bad, it pales in comparison to some of the bigotry, hatred and racism I have experienced and witnessed in that particularly scary pocket of California and in other places, like say, rural Missouri. I mean, it's really endearing that men my dad works with tell him he has "fag stickers" on his car because he has an "equal rights are not special rights" bumper sticker. Or, say, it is so heartwarming to be approached by a stranger in Missouri who tells me she is fascinated by my "dark, shiny hair" because "You ain't even oriental, are you?" Or, say, I just loved that when I was president of the GLBT club on my university campus and our posters either got torn down and shredded, or had bible verses written on them. Oh, yeah, that brings me back.
It is easy, sometimes, to feel a bit too comfortable in the Bay Area, to think that maybe the world is as hateful as I often tend to think it is. Then I read those letters, or travel, and realize just how much hatred, bigotry, racism, sexism and homophobia is acceptable in so much of our country. I cannot even believe (well, sadly I can) that Huckabee got any votes at all. I swear he has some sort of Handmaid's Tale fantasy going on.
So, I weep. And then I vote. Please do the same.
