[ SECRET POST #2112 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2112 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 05 pages, 102 secrets from Secret Submission Post #302.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 1 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

Apologies in advance for TLDR and typos. I shit you not, these are some real personal experiences.

[(Anonymous)]

I agree that POC on white racism isn't okay, but is it as detrimental for white folk as a whole? IMO no because POCs don't hold as much power over white people. I don't care how much people try to argue that power doesn't play an important role in racism. It does. Personal examples?

-I was once suspended for standing up to a group of bullies that made snarky racially charged comments about me. My bullies weren't suspended. They put on an act and claimed they were very sorry because they were joking and didn't think it would hurt me. They said that I had made a racist joke about them first (I didn't). They suspended me for that joke, disobeying my teacher, and disrupting the class. They later told my bf's parents that they should speak to their son about dating a person like me when there are plenty of pretty local girls. This same school also kept raising suspicions about my home address. I guess they didn't think I lived nearby. I transferred to a better school later on.

-Last year, my apartment burned down and my car was stolen. When I went to the dealership to report it and receive an extra key (in case it was found), I got very shoddy service. I called some days later and found out that my land lady had called and requested a key for me so that she could move my car. THEY TOOK HER WORD FOR IT AND GAVE HER THE FUCKING KEY. The woman told me she seemed "very nice and sincere". I returned with a male friend of mine (who happened to be white) and all of a sudden, the attitude from the same people I dealt with changed drastically. I think they thought he was my fiance or something.

When I went to the police station to report the theft, I could tell I wasn't being taken seriously. As soon as I mentioned that my landlady was white, the conversation became tense and I felt like I was being interrogated. They suggested that maybe I was wrong and that she was borrowing it. I couldn't fucking believe it. My car was never found.

-Today, I read this depressing article about a cute blonde haired white woman who was murdered by her male friend. Very sad story. The news article had hundreds of supportive, nice comments. They arrested the suspect after finding evidence against him. Last week, 13 people were killed in 3 different poor neighborhoods near mine. There was a case where 3 women (college students) were gunned down in their car. These people were all POC (it included their pictures). Guess what kind of comments those articles got?

"I bet these people weren't as innocent and loving as the article says they were."
"Idk, they might have had it coming."
"That's what happen when you live that way and in those places."
"Maybe people should snitch more often."
"What to do you expect from welfare recipients/democrats/Obama supporters?"
"*insert political issue here*"
"Another day in x, another murder. Who cares? It happens all the time."
"They never arrest any suspects. The police stopped wasting their time long ago."
"*Lone supportive comment. Various thumbs downs*"
or no comments at all.

I felt a little guilty for being bitter afterwards.

-I've been pulled over and asked for a search while visiting a friend in Maine. Apparently, I looked like I wasn't from around there even though I often borrowed my friend's car which had a Maine state license plate. It's happened 3 times.

-I've been told by a professor that I was lucky to receive my generous, full scholarship and that it was a thoughtful charity. I don't think he knew he was being offensive. I didn't even grow up in a poor neighborhood and I was more privileged than most POC in my hometown. No one said anything to defend me in that class. Some even laughed and gave a smirk. Shortly afterwards, the topic turned to affirmative action. I have never been more humiliated in my life. I dropped that class.

-I've had an extra hard time finding an affordable apartment in one of the nicer neighborhoods around here. I was suggested to the land lady by a friend after she mentioned that she was looking for new tenants. A couple months later, my friend (who was close to the land lady) told me that she had accepted all 3 of the other applicants after me and that she was still looking for 1 tenant. My credit was good, I made pretty decent money, and had no pets. Of course, I can't PROVE that bigotry was the reason why...I just wonder.

-I've been approached by the police for sitting in my own car while waiting for someone in a nice neighborhood (someone called in for "suspicious loitering"). It happened twice near the same area. I decided that I wouldn't met those friends there again.

-When I went to Lake George NY, I called a hotel ahead of time to reserve a room. They told me they would reserve their last available room since I was on my way. When I arrived, I was suddenly turned down from the hotel because the cleaner hadn't cleaned the room yet (arrived @ 5pm checkout time was 10am). When I went to the hotel next door, the woman was very kind and offered me a room. She excused herself to pick up the phone. I overheard her conversation with the woman from the hotel I had just came from. I will never forget it.

"Oh yes. That young woman? She just came in right now."
"Oh she just came from your place? Hmm."
"Oh...OH? *lowers voice* You think she's with a suspicious group? I thought she was alone..."
"You're right...the man in the car kind of looks like one of those hoodlums...
"But...I just offered her one of our rooms..."
"I'd rather avoid any possible trouble."
"Don't worry about me hun. I'll think of something. Thanks for the concern."

She came back, apologized, and claimed that she forgot that her last room was being saved for her brother in law. There was another woman in the lobby who overheard her phone conversation as well. She shook her head, shrugged, and gave me a look of pity. She suggested a very nice hotel a couple blocks away. I didn't let that experience affect my vacation too much. I took my business elsewhere.

Later that night, I gave my bucket of arcade tickets to a young white boy and his family. I was thanked profusely by his parents for being so kind. They said that they were very surprised by my kindness because they didn't expect it at all. They said they were glad their son could "experience rare kindness of this kind". I just brushed it off and left. I wasn't really surprised by my treatment in Lake George. A friend who grew up in Lake George warned me about it beforehand. I saw golliwog merchandise and this poster for sale at a gift shop there: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickaninny
I saw a shirt with Obama sporting a big ole afro too.

-I've had an old woman go into a racist rant on me in a crowded trolley train while coming home from college. She overheard me say "shit" while speaking to a friend and scolded me for my potty mouth. I ignored her. She claimed that I was too stupid to retort because I was just like the rest of them, "lowly and uneducated Neanderthals". She claimed to have had a higher education that I did and wished today's society would stop catering to bottom feeders like "us". I just kind of stood there surprised. I couldn't help but laugh out of shock. She made many assumptions about the kind of person I was. She moved her purse and clutched it tightly. She even elbowed me and yelled "don't you dare touch me!" after I gave her a serious look. Luckily someone on the train gave up their seat for me after they saw that the woman was trying to provoke a fight. I was embarrassed at first because some people were laughing. Others sitting near me told me not to pay too much mind to an old jaded woman like her because she was a product of her time. It made me a lot feel better.

-I went to work with my natural hair once and got flack from my supervisor for having a nice but distracting, unprofessional hairstyle. My natural hair looks like this but much longer: http://cdn.blogs.sheknows.com/celebsalon.sheknows.com/2008/02/raven-symone-long-curly-hairstyle-black-women-in-hollywood-luncheon.jpg

-Serious question. Has anyone else (POC) noticed the can't-keep-proper-eye-contact-while-conversing thing some people do? Some people will unnaturally fixate their eyes on something and only glance back at you a few times before doing it again. Sometimes they will also speak in a rushed or defensive manner. I know this is something a lot of nervous people do, but it happens when I deal with bigots (some of the people I mentioned above). I recall watching a documentary once where a white man went to various local places in (believable) blackface and noticed a distinct change in body language, treatment, and service. The show "What would you do?" has some depictions of this treatment some people claim doesn't exist as well. Lack of giving the benefit of the doubt, over defensiveness, paranoia and suspicion, etc etc. It's kind of depressing but interesting to watch.

IDK. Maybe I'm just in a really bad area with really tense race relations. When I visit my friends in the city (tons more diverse) I very rarely have these kinds of situations. Where I'm from though, it makes me feel powerless and unnecessarily stressed. If I could afford to live near the city, I'd totally move there.

And no. Even now, I don't think every white person is out to get me down.