Sunday, September 21, 2008

Overheard

At a public gathering, from a congregant:

"It all depends on the election. If Obama is elected, he's gonna give all our money away to those black folks."

6 comments:

June Butler said...

I've lost count of the number of times I've heard that comment.

The Rebellious Rev said...

It just amazes me that otherwise caring, kind people, can make such off-the-wall remarks.

Jane R said...

Oh, Lord. There we go.

Well, the two recent posts (see my place - the posts are from other sources though) on white privilege were right on, weren't they? And with white privilege goes this kind of attitude.

We are a deeply, deeply racist country. It's not that folks are bad people or ill-intentioned. It's that the cultural and historical soup in which we swim is a white supremacist one. It's hard to avoid.

And when one becomes conscious of it, it takes constant effort to work against it.

Diane M. Roth said...

I've never heard that! Maybe because I live in Minnesota?! (You know, "Minnesota nice", we don't way what we think...)

The Rebellious Rev said...

Jane -
I will check out those posts. You are right on, there is this underlying racism that does not seem to be going away anytime soon. I am unsure what more can be done ...

Diane -
Yes, I think living in Minnesota does affect one's racial / political outlook. Perhaps the outright racist comments there are simply reserved for the home?

June Butler said...

When folks tell me that they won't vote for Obama because they fear he's a Muslim at heart, or because he an elistest, I take it with a grain of salt, because, in most cases, I believe is has to do with racism. The "elitest" label translates as "uppity Negro". And, of course, he can never show anger, or he becomes "the angry black man".