He tried to intellectualize my blackness to make it easier for his whiteness
So I’m at some internationally themed speed dating/party event, standing around, noshing on the inevitable chicken and beer and scoping out other people’s fashion when…
Random White Guy: Hey!! You’re a foreigner! That’s weird!!
Me: Um…you’re a foreigner too.
RWG: Yeah, but you’re not white!!
Me: Uh…yeah…and…?
RWG: Don’t you just HATE it here?
Me: Uh…no? Why would I…?
RWG: Well, doesn’t the racism REALLY bother you?
Me: Uh…well…I haven’t experienced anything too blatant, I just…
RWG: OH COME ON!!! I have ONE black friend and SHE says that all the Koreans she knows treat her bad because she’s black.
Me: Well, I’ve definitely met some folks who don’t seem to like foreigners but…
RWG: So you mean nobody’s walked up and touched your hair, or told you you’re ugly, or asked you strange questions, or acted like they didn’t wanna be around you, or not wanted to hire you or anything like that?
Me: Yeah…but that all happened with white people in the USA too.
(Long pause…)
RWG: Well, I’m Canadian.
And THAT, friends, neighbors, and internet stalkers, says more about the state of foreigner race relations in Korea than anything I could make up ever could.
Peace!
Today’s quote comes from Skunk Anansie’s “Intellectualise My Blackness”. I couldn’t find a video of the band performing it, but I did find this cool video featuring the song and pics of black woman who made their lives doing what it was they wanted to do despite racism.
P.S. I promise this’ll be the last race based post from me for a while, beautiful people. I think…
I remember when I lost my mind. There was something so pleasant about that place.
So the other day I decided that I wanted to buy a McDonald’s apple pie. Not one of those crappy baked ones that have taken over the dessert portion of the menu in stateside McDonald’s…no, Mother England still fries her pies in oil, resulting in the perfect combination of crackly crisp crust and molten lava apple filling. Those pies are one of the best things about life as an expat in Britain. They make up for every boiled vegetable, dry pastry, and unsalted piece of meat I’ve been tricked into eating in this country…almost.
Where was I? Oh, yeah. I wanted an apple pie. So I went into a McDonald’s with a handful of change.. It was a strange time of day, just before the lunch rush, so the place was pretty empty. I walk in. See the display tube of pies, nearly empty. And before I order one, I ask the first employee I see “How long ago were those pies fried?”
You would have thought I’d asked, “How many times did you spit in my hamburger?”
I promise it’s less disgusting after the jump…
Continue reading →
Rally round the family with a pocket full of shells…because there will be no pictures of you and Willie May pushing that shopping cart down the block on the dead run, or trying to slide that color television into a stolen ambulance
*sigh* People, let’s talk about this UK riot situation.
I know, I know. It was a whole week ago, now. Aaaages ago. But, in the grand tradition of CP time…here we go.
First, the factual, woman on the street stuff. I’m bad at that, so I’m going to send you here, to Spinster’s Compass, where a fellow expat(and ‘net friend) breaks down the aftermath of the London riots in pictures and video interviews. Very well done, and worth a look.
For what happened in my city, the good ol’ Manky Manc, check out this blog entry over at Talking To Myself…a quick bird’s eye view from someone who lives in the Manchester city centre, practically.
I-HATE-YOU, so much right now, AAAAAAH! I hate you so much right now!
Yeah, so it’s official. I am a terrible person(personne/사람). A terrible person who is hanging on to my attempts to become trilingual because that may be all that redeems me. Excuse the vocabulary practice, then, please..
So what happened was this. I was speaking to someone on the subject of another person, who happened to be in the first person’s house(maison/집). First Person said, “Oh, Other Person is here…didn’t you two have an um, thing?”
I didn’t even think about my response. It just fell out of my mouth. “Yep, I hate her.”
What? What! WHAT!? “I hate her”? I hate her? WTF! I’m me. I don’t hate anybody, except for maybe The Man, and I don’t really even hate him…I just want him to go down because I stuck it to him.
(Cheer if you get my un-necessary and anachronistic 70's blaxploitation reference. Even if you don't, let out a little holler...you'll feel better, I promise.)
Needless to say, me saying that I hated anything, let alone another human being, really disturbed me. I don’t do hate. I don’t even do nasty. I am the original annoying lily-throwingpacifist. I have literally let someone hit me with small noxious projectiles rather than fight back because I believe just that much in passive resistance(or at least, I used to). So how is it, that all of a sudden, I just casually hate folks? And mean it, too?
Well, if you ask some folks, it’s Jesus’ fault. And that brings me, however indirectly, to the topic of today’s post.
The story so far, after the jump…
Tweedle-leedle-lee, tweedle-deedle-dee…
Five random Tuesday things…
1)Follow me on Twitter! I’m @mamalazarus…
2) This makes me happy…
3)I’m burning rose-scented incense right now. It smells so much better than it sounds, but I do miss my sage and sweetgrass right about now…
Two more after the jump…
What if there were no n****s only master teachers? Would Estelle stay woke?
So after some (very un-necessary) thought, I’ve determined that if my personality was a toy, I’d be silly putty. When you first get it, it comes in a hard plastic shell, but if you open the shell, the actual product is soft, squishy, but bounces like rubber. Doesn’t mean the impact doesn’t hurt, btw. The fact that I actually think about things like that is either an indication of depth or narcissism. Heaven help the first person who comments that it’s narcissism. I’ll hit you with my mirror before you can say Vanity Smurf.
What????
...nothing but water... 