Thursday, March 22, 2007
One Last Thing
I apologize for the personal attacks. Not excusing my behavior but attempting to explain it, this is the type of racism I hate the most, experience the most, and it hurts the most.
Allow me to make one last point here:
You, Serephim and Zek, have an advantage in this forum over me. All I know about you, Serephim, is that early in the discussion you said you are "not white." Late in the discussion I discover you are skinny and small framed. All I know about Zek is he is probably the man that left a $20 at Grendel's for me to have some coffee. One ohter thing I know about you two, mostly you, Serephim, because Zek hasn't come out and outright stated what you did, is that you and to a lesser extent Zek, believe the troops get what they deserve: familial destruction, death, homelessness, suicide, PTSD, etc.
What you know about me is pretty much everything. I am very open about who I am. I don't hide behind pseudonyms. My face is on television. I produce a radio program. I am an Indian. If you've been reading my blog, you already knew my three names, a little about my familial history, etc., etc., etc.
Now...let's take that all away. All you know about me is my view on "the troops." All you know is that I want these guys to quit pulling the trigger. You know I have vets for peace friends and that I believe "the troops" currently can be converted to stop killing. Now, would Zek have said to me:
"by your own words then, you have nothing to complain about 'amerkans' killing your ancestors as the killers were after all only 'duped', hence not responsible."
That IS institutionally racist. Zek also has his "plausible deniability" by using my words against me instead of just coming straight out and saying what he obviously believes: Eugene, you have no right to complain about what America did to your people because you support the troops. "Plausible Deniability," excellent tool, because he would not have even mentioned it had he not actually believed it himself. I got the same type of shit from Peter Bergel when he said that "some people" think of certain races as this or that. What he really means is I see certain races as this, but can't say it outright because that wouldn't look good, and therefore use my plausible deniability and say that it is "some people" and not me. (I've had about 3 years of forced study in psychology and its various forms as well as life experience).
Would Zek have said that to me if, say, you both knew I was a Jew, Black, Asian, Middle Eastern, etc.?
Would Zek have said to a Jew, for example, "Since you support the troops you have nothing to complain about what the Nazi's did to your people."
If I was Black, "Since you support the troops, you have nothing to say about the military abuses of your folks in South Africa during apartheid."
There are many forms or racism. There are many forms of racism against Indians that prevail in this socieity as a whole: racist sports team names, racist product names, our issues NEVER brought up in the mainstream, education about Indians is non-existent or limited at best, we have apartheid light in the reservation system, we have an imperialist colonialist authority that uses force to keep us in our place and continue to steal our resources and kill our people to this day, and all of this and more is a piece of the U.S. society as a whole and that seems to allow Americans the simple idea that they can bring up our race and use it against us at their convenience. That is racist. That is what is known as institutional racism.
And, one last time I will ask that question again: You say that the troops get what they deserve. How did you lose that part of your humanity and what makes you believe that you are any better than the troops (being complicit in their killings, etc.) than they are other than the fact that you don't do your own killing?
Also, my offer still stands about the Inga Muscio book!
Allow me to make one last point here:
You, Serephim and Zek, have an advantage in this forum over me. All I know about you, Serephim, is that early in the discussion you said you are "not white." Late in the discussion I discover you are skinny and small framed. All I know about Zek is he is probably the man that left a $20 at Grendel's for me to have some coffee. One ohter thing I know about you two, mostly you, Serephim, because Zek hasn't come out and outright stated what you did, is that you and to a lesser extent Zek, believe the troops get what they deserve: familial destruction, death, homelessness, suicide, PTSD, etc.
What you know about me is pretty much everything. I am very open about who I am. I don't hide behind pseudonyms. My face is on television. I produce a radio program. I am an Indian. If you've been reading my blog, you already knew my three names, a little about my familial history, etc., etc., etc.
Now...let's take that all away. All you know about me is my view on "the troops." All you know is that I want these guys to quit pulling the trigger. You know I have vets for peace friends and that I believe "the troops" currently can be converted to stop killing. Now, would Zek have said to me:
"by your own words then, you have nothing to complain about 'amerkans' killing your ancestors as the killers were after all only 'duped', hence not responsible."
That IS institutionally racist. Zek also has his "plausible deniability" by using my words against me instead of just coming straight out and saying what he obviously believes: Eugene, you have no right to complain about what America did to your people because you support the troops. "Plausible Deniability," excellent tool, because he would not have even mentioned it had he not actually believed it himself. I got the same type of shit from Peter Bergel when he said that "some people" think of certain races as this or that. What he really means is I see certain races as this, but can't say it outright because that wouldn't look good, and therefore use my plausible deniability and say that it is "some people" and not me. (I've had about 3 years of forced study in psychology and its various forms as well as life experience).
Would Zek have said that to me if, say, you both knew I was a Jew, Black, Asian, Middle Eastern, etc.?
Would Zek have said to a Jew, for example, "Since you support the troops you have nothing to complain about what the Nazi's did to your people."
If I was Black, "Since you support the troops, you have nothing to say about the military abuses of your folks in South Africa during apartheid."
There are many forms or racism. There are many forms of racism against Indians that prevail in this socieity as a whole: racist sports team names, racist product names, our issues NEVER brought up in the mainstream, education about Indians is non-existent or limited at best, we have apartheid light in the reservation system, we have an imperialist colonialist authority that uses force to keep us in our place and continue to steal our resources and kill our people to this day, and all of this and more is a piece of the U.S. society as a whole and that seems to allow Americans the simple idea that they can bring up our race and use it against us at their convenience. That is racist. That is what is known as institutional racism.
And, one last time I will ask that question again: You say that the troops get what they deserve. How did you lose that part of your humanity and what makes you believe that you are any better than the troops (being complicit in their killings, etc.) than they are other than the fact that you don't do your own killing?
Also, my offer still stands about the Inga Muscio book!
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