I ride the public bus in Seattle almost every day and witness the following: surly African-American bus drivers and the largely white riders who go out of their way to effusively thank the former, even when the former are 10-25 minutes late. The bus drivers are usually silent but sometimes scold and yell at riders. Male African-American bus drivers go out of their way to be gracious, helpful, and kind to African-American women of any age. To African-American men, they are friendly ("Hey, Brother, how's it goin' today, Man?").
If these African-American bus drivers have a white supervisor, s/he is almost always trying hard not to offend i.e., is scared of "upsetting the cart" because those drivers--his subordinates, in fact--are sure "gonna holla'" and scream "racism."
I believe the attitude best illustrates Seattle-style liberal white guilt: White people have to work hard to "get on the good side of" black Americans.
Black men are powerful, intelligent, wise...and white people don't have a clue (about anything). Stupid white men.*
After what "what would a white boy (like me) know"?
Black men can be mean to white people (or Asians, Hispanics,...) but non-blacks can't be mean to black people (that would fit neatly into the Seattle liberal white definition of "racism").
I
I have personally encountered racism from African-American bus drivers who refused to answer a single question about a bus route that had just recently changed. I repeated my question and was met with stony silence. This from a driver who had minutes earlier helped an African-American with drug-related problems get off his bus.
Maybe I'm the only one in Seattle who sees a double standard and a hypocrisy in race relations here.
Sounds like a abdication of responsibility to me.
* If, on the other hand, you said "stupid black men," you would be accused of racism and inciting racial hate by the Urban League, local NAACP, and the hipper-than-hip guide to liberal white guilt Stranger...and risk censure by the Seattle City Council and Office of the Mayor.
No, I don't believe in the innate or moral superiority of one race over another. Nor do I believe that we should teach our children such values.
"What did I tell you? We have no troubles."
* * * * *
The pattern in Seattle, and elsewhere, of hitting robbery victims with a baseball bat and threatening to shoot them with a gun--or pistol-whipping them, in other cases:
http://westseattleblog.com/2013/05/west-seattle-crime-watch-2-people-robbed-at-gunpoint-on-fauntleroy
Liberal white guilt serves an unintended purpose.
If these African-American bus drivers have a white supervisor, s/he is almost always trying hard not to offend i.e., is scared of "upsetting the cart" because those drivers--his subordinates, in fact--are sure "gonna holla'" and scream "racism."
I believe the attitude best illustrates Seattle-style liberal white guilt: White people have to work hard to "get on the good side of" black Americans.
Black men are powerful, intelligent, wise...and white people don't have a clue (about anything). Stupid white men.*
After what "what would a white boy (like me) know"?
Black men can be mean to white people (or Asians, Hispanics,...) but non-blacks can't be mean to black people (that would fit neatly into the Seattle liberal white definition of "racism").
I
I have personally encountered racism from African-American bus drivers who refused to answer a single question about a bus route that had just recently changed. I repeated my question and was met with stony silence. This from a driver who had minutes earlier helped an African-American with drug-related problems get off his bus.
Maybe I'm the only one in Seattle who sees a double standard and a hypocrisy in race relations here.
Sounds like a abdication of responsibility to me.
No, I don't believe in the innate or moral superiority of one race over another. Nor do I believe that we should teach our children such values.
"What did I tell you? We have no troubles."
* * * * *
The pattern in Seattle, and elsewhere, of hitting robbery victims with a baseball bat and threatening to shoot them with a gun--or pistol-whipping them, in other cases:
http://westseattleblog.com/2013/05/west-seattle-crime-watch-2-people-robbed-at-gunpoint-on-fauntleroy
Liberal white guilt serves an unintended purpose.
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