She must live a very frustrating life.
Reports say a librarian at New York University (NYU) was fatigued after an extended period of exposure to white people.
Seriously.
According to onenewsnow.com April Hathcock attended a five-day conference for librarians. She compared it to a prison sentence, the report says.
“[S]he came away from the event with a severe mental affliction that can apparently only be shaken by white people steering clear of her.”
I wonder how April copes. Even when she is not immersed in a white milieu, she is surrounded by nagging reminders of Western culture, replete with inescapable conveniences invented by white people.
We all are surrounded by whiteness.
The computers we use were invented by Charles Babbage back in the 19th century. The satellite that allows the Internet to function was invented by Sergei Korolev in 1957. The lights that illuminate our work space can be credited to Thomas Edison.
Considering black Americans suffer disproportionately from certain ailments such as hypertension and diabetes, they can thank Scipione Riva-Rocci for discovering a method to measure blood pressure. They can also thank Canadian physician Frederick Banting and medical student Charles H. Best for discovering the application of insulin that has saved the lives of millions; including countless numbers of black Americans.
Babbage, Korolev, Edison, Riva-Rocci, Banting, and Best have one thing in common. They are all white people.
We wonder if the likes of the librarian have seriously considered the consequences of escaping their imagined prison of whiteness?
• Equally absurd was the contention of a Georgetown University professor who declared that “all white people are racist.”
All of us?
Adjunct Professor Preston Mitchum posted on Twitter, “Yes, ALL white people are racist. Yes, ALL men are sexist. Yes, ALL cis people are transphobic.”
Campusreform.org identifies Mitchum as an adjunct law professor.
What logic lies behind such a broad-brushed contention?
“If you’re apart [sic] of any dominant group when it comes to race, gender, sexuality, etc., you contribute to the oppression of groups period,” he reportedly said.
That, of course, smacks of conventional Marxism. The dominant group (bourgeois) oppresses everyone else (proletariat).
Oddly, neither the Georgetown professor nor the NYU librarian seem ready to uproot and escape white oppression. I would recommend the safe spaces of Haiti or Liberia.
• If they do leave, they may want to invite Greg Howard to accompany them.
Howard is a reporter at the New York Times who fumed over the rudeness of white women.
According to thehill.com Howard “accused white women of racism for not ceding space on city sidewalks to black men.”
When white women are in my path, they almost always continue straight, forcing me to one side without changing their course. This happens several times a day; and a couple of times a week, white women force me off the sidewalk completely. In these instances, when I’m standing in the street or in the dirt as a white woman strides past, broad-shouldered and blissful, I turn furious.
After these encounters, I’m always left with questions. Why only and specifically white women? Do they refuse to acknowledge me because they’ve been taught that they should fear black men, and that any acknowledgment of black men can invite danger? Do they refuse to acknowledge me because to alter their route would be to show their fear? Do they not see me? Can they not see me?
Fear black men? Maybe.
The problem is more academic: We tend to find what we’re looking for. If you’re looking for racism, you will find it.
Black Americans have been psychologically conditioned to react with Pavlovian predictability whenever they encounter white people.
In reality, ceding sidewalk space to women is a convention of Western culture. Some call it courtesy; others chivalry. Then, again, there are some who find such politeness to be chauvinism. The reporter finds racism.
(For the record, I make it a policy to hold doors for all women. Women who are feminine will appreciate the gesture. Women who are feminist will fume. I can’t lose.)
Hyper-sensitivity is not the exclusive franchise of blacks.
• Famed and profane talk show icon Bill Maher has been accused of racism.
According to dailymail.com Maher had the audacity to notice that nail salons are often staffed by Koreans. For shame.
Again, we tend to find what we’re looking for. If you’re looking for racism, you will find it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf_qBRhTvLw&index=4&list=PLet7IV-2ybglaZG0HPEQXla5bjVg0V4Hb
photo credit: Phototravelography Mysterious look. Seen in Lugano, Switzerland. via photopin (license)
