Bigots @ MindSay

• I seem to do this feature a lot on my blog. I thought about doing it once a week on the same day, but my musing and rambling is spontaneous. As rigid as I am, I should take any opportunity to "go with the flow."

• I wish I could find the original author of those bullshit, bigoted emails that are attributed to either Andy Rooney or George Carlin and kick his ass.  First of all BOTH Andy Rooney and George Carlin adamantly deny writing this crap.  Carlin even wrote a response to the crap circling around with his name on it on his website: http://www.georgecarlin.com/home/home.html. Please people, have the decency to TAKE CREDIT FOR YOUR OWN BIGOTRY! As Environgirl always says, "Own your shit!" Quit trying to pass it off on people like Andy Rooney or comic geniuses like George Carlin.

• The 5-HTP is working great! I take it before I go to bed every night. It makes me sleepy and the long term affects are that it really is helping me with my moodiness.  I have this pleasant, "Eh, I don't really give a shit" type of attitude lately. I still get riled up, but I only get up to about an 8 or a 9, not an 11. (that was a very vague reference to the movie Spinal Tap.)

• I'm really starting to like that show "Pushing Daisies". It's one of the few new shows I like. I hope it stays on the air. I'm notorious for getting hooked on shows that get cancelled mid season.

• Never have I felt so violated just by trying on shoes!  As many of my friends know, the Cocoa Goddess admires, but does not do high heels. Two inch heels are just about the limit for me. Once I had to wear three inch heels because I was in my aunt's wedding.  I prayed to Jesus, God and the Virgin Mother the entire time I was standing in those damned shoes.  It didn't help that my uncle, who is a Baptist preacher officiated over the wedding.  He got a bit long-winded and started "feeling the spirit" .  I almost decided to take the opportunity to fake "getting happy" so I could pass out and give my poor feet some relief.  I decided against the blasphemy, though. 

Anyway, I was curious to see how high of a heel I could stand walking in when I was in the shoe aisle in Walmart a couple of days ago.  I tried on some four inch open toed shoes because I know that if I ever had the balls to risk my ankles and neck wearing heels that high, they'd have to be open toed because unfortunately, my father saw fit to pass on the gene for long-assed, finger-toes to me. Wearing closed-toe heels that high would be absolute murder!

 

I wiped the insides of the shoes down with AVON cucumber melon hand sanitizer because they had no footies and oh so carefully put on one shoe and then the other.  I was still standing and my knees and ankles felt sturdy. I decided to venture to the mirror to see if I could walk in them and of course to see if I looked good in them.  As I walked slowly to the mirror, I felt someone watching me.  I turned around and saw a man with a very big smile on his face. He had to weigh about a buck fifty if that. (Why is it that I seem to get hit on by little men?) He said with great enthusiasm, "That's right mama! You gots to try on the open-toed shoes. Pretty Thick sistas like yourself look good in some high-heeled, open-toed shoes!" It wasn't what he said that made me feel a little creeped out, it was the look on his face. He looked like he wanted to suck my toes! I felt so dirty. 

 

 

Ethnocentrism - /n/ the tendency to look at the world primarily from the perspective of one's own ethnic culture.

Lately, it seems like I've been bombarded by bigoted comments at work and on Mindsay, especially regarding the issue of immigration.  I believe that most people saying these comments don't even realize they are being bigoted. They swear on the grave on Martin Luther King, Jr. that they believe in social equality, but their words and actions say otherwise.  Racist views aren't always about wearing swaztikas, wearing hoods and burning crosses. Most of the time its subtle, everyday things. I will outline a few situations that have come up at work and in other aspects of my life that have made me want to scream bloody murder.

• At work there are two Hispanic teachers. One from Columbia and one from Mexico. They always speak English in their classrooms and they always engage in conversations and are friendly with the other teachers. Sometimes, and I do mean sometimes, when they are on their lunch break, they speak Spanish to each other. There are four of us that eat lunch together, the Columbian teacher, the Mexican teacher, another African-American teacher and me. One day, our boss called the teacher from Columbia and asked her to not speak Spanish at work anymore even during her lunch period because it makes the other teachers feel uncomfortable. The other African American lady and I were perplexed. We could care less if they spoke Spanish to each other. We certainly didn't feel uncomfortable about it. Later, the secretary whispered to me, "I think it's so rude when they speak Spanish to each other! Who knows, they could be talking about us!"  I just rolled my eyes. How paranoid.
• A student told me that his dad hates rap and calls it "Low classed, N-word music." I was livid.  I asked him what kind of music his dad listened to and he said, "My dad listens to jazz."  I wanted to scream and laugh at the same time. My response was, "Tell your dad to open up a music history book.  Jazz was created, by so-called low classed African-American people in the streets of New Orleans. As a matter of fact rock and roll was also created by so-called 'low classed', black people in the South. Jazz wasn't enjoyed by the upper classes until people in Europe heard it and raved about it. To this day, jazz is wildly popular in Europe. Get a clue!" God, I really hope he told his Dad what I said.
• The same kid with the clueless father told me his step-mom had a hair stylist whose last name was Ngyuen, pronounced Wen.  He then commented on how stupid it was to spell it that way.  Why can't they just spell it W-E-N?  After tempering my urge to wring his skinny neck I replied, "Why do people spell their name S-E-A-N and pronounce it /SHON/? Why is knee spelled with a silent K? Those Celts are so crazy!"
• A good friend of mine who is over 3/4 Native American (his mother is 1/2 Mexican and 1/2 Native American and his father is full-blooded Native American) just had a baby with his girlfriend who is white.  When they were trying to pick names for their baby girl, he kept coming up with Hispanic sounding names. They almost decided on the name "Marisabel"(I changed the name). He really liked the name. Later, his girlfriend said she didn't like it because it sounded to "ethnic". He was disappointed, but the clown sucked it up anyway. I wanted to hit him over the head with a lead pipe. Didn't she realize that the child's grandmother was part Mexican?  They finally decided on the name "Marisa". She said it sounded less Hispanic. What the hell??? I was just disgusted. I was disgusted in so many ways.
• And For the Finale of the Bigot Wall of Shame:  When I saw this clip I cracked up. I couldn't even be angry because it was so damn funny. I always say, "If you don't laugh, you'll cry or have a coronary."

Not too long ago, my Old Man told me about an incident that happened in the early days of our dating life.

At the time, he lived in Astoria, Queens.

I went to visit him.

His roommate's mother was visiting from Israel. I was introduced to her and we went about our business.

Not too long after that, the roommate laughingly told my Old Man that her mother said, "Oh...she (meaning me) looks like one of the INTELLIGENT ones."

Nice, huh?

Would've been just as offensive if I had turned to my then-boyfriend and said, "OH! She looks like one of the GENEROUS ones!"