In Reply to: Re: Respecting the person and not just your own perception posted by Farmer on February 05, 2007 at 02:44:46:
Farmer,
No worries, I am not saying you are racist or anything. I am just discussing something that I feel strongly about, which is interesting for me to discuss. The topic is something I live with, my world. I know how it used to be PC to say Negro, and then it became "black" and now the prefered term is "African American." I know about the allegations that Michael Jackson wanted to look white by using dermatological bleaching creams, and his denials, attributing it to a skin condition called vitiligo; and about James Brown's "Say it loud! I'm black and I'm proud!"
Actually, (not to press the point or anything, just mentioning something I've seen in my world!) some of the worst, most ignorant remarks about race, have come from people who were married to someone of a different "color." These are people who said some of the worst things to my Chinese friend, because they thought they had it all figured out just by looking at him. I wince everytime someone starts with: "Hey my wife is from Thailand. You two have something in common!" or "I have many Asian friends. I like Asians. You people are so beautiful and hardworking."
What I do have trouble with is "If you are a coloured person, then have the courage to be like one" because I am not sure we can set criteria for how one acts, before they are behaving like a colored person.
If you read the link I gave, there was a case of another Susie, in Case study 2: Susie Guillory Phipps. Do you think she was living "in some dreamworld denying" her true color?
When you consider your own faith: people wanted to force confessions out of Jesus, if he was pro-Israel or pro-Rome; pro-sinner or pro-pious; pro-jewish or pro-gentile; pro-rich or pro-poor; why he didn't measure up to accepted Rabbinical roles; why he didn't admit he was just the son of a carpenter; whose side he was really on. Posthumously his teachings have been (mis)attributed to branching from anything from Buddhist to Zoroastrian or Egyptian.
I've seen susie being called anything from a Buddhist to an agnostic. She describes herself best as humanist. I'll go with that because that helps me relate to her best. Maybe the question is whether you want to understand more about her, than you want her to understand more about you.