Racism is Everywhere (and it's not cute)

Okay, I'm pretty sure we're all tired of seeing this shirt by now. A little backstory; Mastodon recently put out this shirt. It's stupid and racist but they don't want to say that because that would make them sound like dumb racists. Even MetalSucks is on this shit, defending the t-shirt from the perspective of a white person who has probably never had to live the life of a native American person.

Okay, let me take a step back. Is the t-shirt stupid and racist? Absolutely. Is Mastodon a bunch of KKK members who want to purge America of indigenous peoples? No. What they are is a bunch of dudes who have no idea what it's like to be an indigenous American. Or even a brown person. Mastodon is made up of four white dudes. Is there anything wrong with being a white dude? Of course not! I love white dudes! Being white is cool, but you have to realize that you, as a white person, have a vastly different life experience than someone who is not white. You can't understand what it's like as a brown person to see brown people depicted in these ways and maybe that's why they thought it would be okay to make this t-shirt. Mastodon even came out and said:

Regarding our thanks giving shirt, whether you choose to believe or not, (who doesn't believe this??) the American Indians were massacred by the white settlers who became the Americans we are today.

This shirt represents this atrocity and celebrating in the face of this atrocity is chilling. (I wasn't aware that we celebrated this during Thanksgiving.. am I doing it wrong?)

We may have a sick sense of humor, but we are far from being “Racist” as some of you who might not get it are calling us.

I personally don't believe they are racist. What I believe is that Mastodon doesn't understand what they did or why it offended people, and that happens a lot. It doesn't make them racist, it just makes their opinions the product of certain racist elements that are readily accepted in society. We see them every day and we've learned to live with them, especially in regards to Native Americans. Thankfully, we have (for the most part) put a lot of really horrible Black stereotypes to rest in this country, because duh, Black people aren't too keen on seeing stuff like this in the media. So they spoke up and people realized how stupid they were being. I'm sure there were plenty of people saying that those uppety Black folks should stop complaining and know their place, but they didn't listen. They fought against racism and are continuing an upward battle against it, today. And that's something to be proud of. So why do people get pissy when native peoples do the same?

Because they don't see them as actual people. The image of a native woman on her knees is every bit as racist as the "atrocity" that Mastodon is trying to educate us on. The idea that they feel we should be educated is even more insulting; please, tell me, who in America doesn't realize that the native people here were screwed during European colonization? I learned that in elementary school. Are some kids not learning that? I'm sure you can educate them way better than with a t-shirt.

And next time you want to bring attention to the plight of another group of people, you might want to try asking their opinion first.

Chameleon powers activate!

I've always said that if I could be a superhero, my name would be "Redline". As in... when I sing so loud, I "redline" the microphone. I imagine I'd have Banshee-like powers, that I could fly and scream the skin off of people. Lately, however, I've noticed that I have another superpower; my uncanny ability to change my appearance and blow people's brains. This weekend, for example, I attended a wedding. As you can see, I managed to clean myself up... do my nails... do my make-up... make my hair less uhhhh.... poofy? And throw on a dress I bought for the occasion. Well, it went over pretty well, it was a lovely day and a lovely ceremony, and I had a couple of lovely martinis that made me feel quite lovely indeed. After some nice dancing and family fun times, Willy and I piled into the limo his parents rented for the occasion. The limo driver asked where I was from, because apparently, he thought I was Indian. Well, fancy that! I think that's the 3rd time someone has thought I was from India. I've been categorized as a lot of things, in fact! Indian, Egyptian, Native American, white, Italian, Armenian... the list goes on. For those of you who don't know, in terms of colors, I'm exactly 1/2 white (my mom is Spain, specifically Catalan) and 1/2 brown (my dad is from El Salvador, descended from the indigenous Pipil tribe), so my skin has this slightly orang-y yellow-y caramel color and I've got a big Euro-nose.

So far, the only people who have guessed that I'm Salvadorian are actual Salvadorians. They know something is up, though... they always do. They kind of give me this, "...are you Salvadorian?" while looking at me skeptically. When I explain that I'm Spanish on my mom's side, they get it. However, and here's the kicker, you can tell the difference in American and Latin American culture right away because there have been several people I've met that seem impressed by this. I remember one dude, when I told him where each of my parents were from, thinking my dad had won the jack-pot. (He's never seen them argue, LOL) The sad reality is that Latin America is still harshly racist. As in, pale skin is considered waaaay more attractive, and is often an indicator of social status. Do we have that in the US? Absolutely, but we're a lot more quiet about it. People in Latin America don't shy away from the truth; people with pale skin tend to have it easier, and people with dark skin are routinely discriminated against. It kinda sucks. I feel bad for people who react so favorably to my "pedigree" (I'm mixed, I don't really have one!), because of all things to admire in a person, I don't want it to be my skin color.

That being said, I seem to be pretty good at blending in because of it. I imagine that this, plus my acting skills, would make me a pretty good spy! But man would I get tired of not being able to tell anyone...

OMG, STFU

Seriously. Dude. This was stupid.

Story Here

Okay, so Imus makes this comment about a dude who was arrested. He goes, "What color was he?" the guy replies, "He was African American." to which he replies, "Well, there you go. Now we know."

...

Okay, so now he is defending himself, right? Basically saying that he was commenting on the fact that black people are arrested for no reason every day, and he was defending them.

...

Holy shit. Male. Are you really that stupid? Lets just say for a moment that you actually cared for the plight of minorities.. do you honestly think that you should bring it up in that way? You're on the fucking RADIO! You KNOW what you are saying! And everyone knows you're a racist, because of what you said about that girl's basketball team!

Oh no, because after calling a basketball team "nappy headed hos", we all know how much you respect black people. What was I thinking.

Holy f'ing shit.

On illigal immigrants

So this morning I went to Maaco to have Sunstreaker's spoiler repaired. It was sagging at the sides due to 1) my car being a low rider and easilly screwed up by curbs and 2) me being a dumbass and hitting curbs.

I went in and the dude looks it over. He says it will cost $550 to REPLACE the spoiler because I tore the thing completely apart. Damn. Way to go, Toyota. I swear to goodness, my car is light, but it's pieces are made of freaking cardboard. I seriously did NOT hit the curb that fast. I backed into it and hardly nicked it, but there you go.

So I'm all sad and I'm like, "Can't you just put some screws in it? Glue it?" because I'm a little desperate. Dude tells me they can put screws in it. It won't look great, but they'll do it.. so I say go for it, since it'll be a quick fix until I decide to replace the whole thing. Dude agrees, takes my car to the guys behind the creepy door.

I wait no more than five minutes.

A mechanic rolls my car back in, with two teeny weeny little black dots on each side of my spoiler. The screws. I was like "Oh! Dude!" because seriously, you can hardly see them. A little touch up paint or no, they're hardly there. And the spoiler is held up just fine. The guy in charge says it'll be $10, so I hand him my card.

No can do, apparently. I offer him a check, but nope.. the guy who fixed it doesn't have a bank account. He asks me for cash to give to him.

I think to myself, "This is a telltale sign of an illigal immigrant." I mean, he has a big white dude as his boss, he only takes cash, and he fixed my otherwise $550 spoiler for $10. Boss tells me I can go, it's fine. So I ran to an ATM,, took out $20, and ran back to pay them.

I understand the plight of illigal immigrants. Moreso do I understand that all most of them want to do is make an honest living, working. Unfortunately, they have really shitty represantatives out there that make the rest of them look bad. In general, the Latino work ethic is uncanny. We work for dimes and make this country sing, and people still hate it because they didn't come here legally. Which believe me, I understand. Laws need to be upheld. That's just the way it is.

I just wish that there was something that could be done to help them come here legally. I wonder sometimes, if all these immigrants were legal, would people still complain? Is this a race issue, or just an illigal immigrant issue? I'm not sure, but I do HOPE it's not a race issue.

Racism within your own race?

How ridiculous is this?

Click here to read the article.

That black people are racist against one another is the most ridiculous and awe inspiring thing that I've ever heard. Next thing you know, Latinos are going to be pissed because my nose is European.

I remember my dad telling me that, as a kid in El Salvador, he was teased by a woman in town. My dad's really dark, definately deep-rooted with Native American blood, with solid black hair and black eyes. This lady used to tease him because his brother was lighter skinned, more my complexion. I'm lighter because I'm half White. Half Spanish White. Half blonde hair/green eyes White. My brother and sister both have white kids, with blonde hair and blue eyes.

I swear to God, this stuff weirds me out. How the hell can you discriminate against people who's discrimination you share?? Isn't the world harsh enough on people? Why should we add to it? It makes no goshdamn sense.