Oh, FFS! Presented Without Comment

[neadods]

So...

Arizona comes out with a controversial anti-illegal immigration law.

But it's not racist.

Arizona begins to audit teachers to reassign ones who, among other things, have heavy accents.

But it's not racist.

A mural on an Arizona school depicting black and Hispanic *children who attend that school* will be "lightened."

But it's not racist.

As explained by Prescott City Councilman and (former) radio personality Steve Blair, "[D]epicting a black guy in the middle of that mural, based on who's President of the United States today and based upon the history of this community when I grew up, we had four black families — who I have been very good friends with for years — to depict the biggest picture on that building as a black person, I would have to ask the question, ’Why?' ...I’m not a racist by any stretch of the imagination but whenever people start talking about diversity, it’s a word I can’t stand."

Presented without comment because this bullshit talks for itself.

Comments

[bentleywg.livejournal.com]

(Sidetracking with a nitpick: Hispanics come in all colors. It *is* possible to be black and hispanic at the same time. Hispanic is not a race.)

/ end sidetrack

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I stand corrected and will correct the post.

[gonzai55.livejournal.com]

It's the whole damn tea party/F*x News thing. They get away with being racist - sometimes outrageously so - in public all the time. So a place like Arizona figures, well, nobody's calling THEM out on it, maybe we can be publicly racist too and get away with it.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Except finally people are... I hope. If it waddles like a bigot and it quacks like a bigot...

[lagilman]

Alas, not all. Someone actually tries to be an apologist on my FB link. I am... flabbergasted.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I saw that, see your flabbergasted, and raise you a gobsmacked.

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

And you'd like to think that this sort of crap doesn't happen in the fannish community, that we're more enlightened than that. Not so, as the citations in this post illustrate.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid to look!

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

No, go look. The post I've linked is a condemnation of the fannish examples, which are used only for illustrative purposes.

[steviesun.livejournal.com]

[shakes head]

At least once a day at work I will have someone on my phone complaining that they're not rascist but that if they were fresh off a boat from africa or were foreign then they're get their benefits easier.

It is rascist, it's just easier for them to blame other people than themselves. Urg, and now I'm thinking about all the people who refused to get off their backsides and challenge themselves.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I was once struck speechless by a couple who were otherwise lovely, charming people - the husband casually said "Oh, blacks in America are okay; they belong there. They don't belong here."

[violetisblue.livejournal.com]

It's only a matter of time, and not a very long time either, before towns like Prescott start passing ordinances which aren't racist, but which say that, for instance, private businesses have complete discretion in deciding what sort of person is allowed to eat in their restaurants, attend their movies, drink at their water fountains...I'm not being sarcastic about this, either.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I might have thought you were, but that was before Rand Paul opened his yap about the Civil Rights Bill and people started saying "Well, he has a *point!*"

Every new story has me agreeing more with the guy who writes Dispatches From The Culture Wars - if you hate being around Mexicans that much, stop living somewhere that used to be part of Mexico.

[violetisblue.livejournal.com]

We just got back from seeing this play and it was all far too apropos.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Not familiar with that one. Sounds apropos.

[ladyfox7oaks.livejournal.com]

I thought they already did that when they post that sign that says "We reserve the right to refuse service..." So I'm not sure I understand what you mean, here?

[violetisblue.livejournal.com]

I mean them attempting to get around the Civil Rights Act's private business provisions through the back door. Not that it would succeed, but they'd still try it.

[ladyfox7oaks.livejournal.com]

Ah, I think I understand.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

There's refusing service to someone because they're rude or not properly dressed and then there's refusing service to a whole group of people because you don't like "their type." The latter still happens, but it's illegal.

[ladyfox7oaks.livejournal.com]

SO, it would be a case of trying to disguise the racist behavior under a legitimate law?