Atif Irfan and his wife, Sobia Ijaz, were among nine passengers removed from a flight Thursday after commenting on the safest place to sit. (By Phelan M. Ebenhack For The Washington Post)
I’m all for deconstructing prejudices but there’s an oft-missed dimension of prejudice that is not adequately addressed, namely, fear.
As much as we can wax progressive in cross-cultural ideals let’s face it; we’re really terrified of the ‘other’ are we not? For example, what happens when this xenophobia is mixed with, say, fear of flying? All of our progressive ideals get tossed out the window. In light of 9 Muslims getting booted off a plane – sure it’s discrimination – but it reflects a national sentiment and deeply-rooted fear since 9/11. What we need is dialogue – more voices from the Muslim community – and more talking to address this issue of fear. I’ll be the first to admit; ever since 9/11 I’ve hated flying more than ever. Anybody else echo that sentiment?
My prediction – and I hope I’m wrong – is this latest round is going to be the longest, most acute, persistent case of xenophobia ever.
Intrigued that Clint Eastwood has chosen to tackle the subject matter of Asian-American racism; while it’s not his first venture into the Asian genre (Letters From Iwo Jima) I think this one will take a unique twist. I’m looking forward to watching Gran Torino. Above all, don’t visit the wikipedia page, the person who put it up completely spoils the film. At any rate, any body see it yet? What’d u think? And pls, – no spoilers… for those who might be interested, here’s the synopsis (sans spoiler): Read more…
The recent trampling of a Long Island, NY Wal Mart worker on the morning of Black Friday has elicited a lot of commentary about our economic mess, consumerism, and why we ought to Buy Nothing (Day). While I’m deeply saddened, probably the only fresh perspective I can offer would be as a former Long Islander looking in and my misgivings about the whole “Buy Nothing Day” idea. Read more…
Today I participated in the systemic oppression of the balloon people.
It was thru a little exercise w/my cohort @ Leadership Whatcom – and it was quite an experience to be the most-privileged, richest, elitist class of society in the room – albeit through roleplay. It awakened me to my own privilege, in terms of class, economically, socially. And while I’ve taken the victims’ stance many times a past, and complained of the oppressiveness under the privileged, it was surreal to have the tables turned – and I realized that I was complicit as well. America is complicit today when it comes to privilege in a global sense. Not to say we ought to be ashamed, but to face the reality that when our market crashes, so does the rest of the world. How can anyone say anymore that we don’t hold economic power over others? At any rate,
what are your thoughts on privilege, beit economic, gender, sexual orientation, race?
It seems every week there’s another piece of below-the-belt politics, whether it’s waffles, calling someone a terrorist, or the most recent $10 bill depiction replete with fried chicken, watermelon and food stamps.
While I’m not out to rant, (there’s plenty of that going around) it’s clear from all of this there are sizeable segments of the U.S. population that don’t realize it; they are racist. Whether it’s intentional or out of ignorance (“I have minority friends!”) is not for me to call out, but the real question is, how do we address it? More specifically, how do we fix it, heal it? Do we as minorities lash out / lash back? Read more…
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