Black folks are nice to us, don’t look at us with the suspicion I saw 20 years back. Times change.
Know where I experienced the most shocking racism? Manhattan and Chicago. Segregated down to the city block. And NYC wasn’t merely black/white/Hispanic, it was like, Haitians this block, Puerto Ricans that block, and don’t cross the fucking street if that ain’t your hood. Find me a white man in South Chicago, dare ya. Solid blue cities. Imagine that.
Know where I’ve seen the most racial integration? Here in the South. Couldn’t get my head around why there were so many old white folks running around with little black kids. Ex-wife: “I dunno Shalafi. Maybe they’re grandparents?” No, I had never seen so many interracial couples. Hell, of my wife’s friends, there’s only one Filipino husband, rest are white guys. No one even blinks. (Except in Mississippi. Shit’s gone worse since Trump’s second term.)
Our street is an exact racial representation of the area. 70% white, 30% black, squeeze an extra 1% in there for my Asian wife. Most places in this area are like that. There’s no black or white or Hispanic side of town. Asians are fairly concentrated in two areas though. Whatever.
tl;dr: Not going to hear how racist we all are when the whole damned country is racist. Not going to ignore all the progress we’ve made this century.
Black folks are nice to us, don’t look at us with the suspicion I saw 20 years back. Times change.
Know where I experienced the most shocking racism? Manhattan and Chicago. Segregated down to the city block. And NYC wasn’t merely black/white/Hispanic, it was like, Haitians this block, Puerto Ricans that block, and don’t cross the fucking street if that ain’t your hood. Find me a white man in South Chicago, dare ya. Solid blue cities. Imagine that.
Know where I’ve seen the most racial integration? Here in the South. Couldn’t get my head around why there were so many old white folks running around with little black kids. Ex-wife: “I dunno Shalafi. Maybe they’re grandparents?” No, I had never seen so many interracial couples. Hell, of my wife’s friends, there’s only one Filipino husband, rest are white guys. No one even blinks. (Except in Mississippi. Shit’s gone worse since Trump’s second term.)
Our street is an exact racial representation of the area. 70% white, 30% black, squeeze an extra 1% in there for my Asian wife. Most places in this area are like that. There’s no black or white or Hispanic side of town. Asians are fairly concentrated in two areas though. Whatever.
tl;dr: Not going to hear how racist we all are when the whole damned country is racist. Not going to ignore all the progress we’ve made this century.