Friday, February 29, 2008

"Getting in touch with my inner racist"

Rather strange Speigelman essay in Mother Jones: "Getting in touch with my inner racist"
Posted by at

8 comments:

kc said...

Wow. That is rather strange. I'm not sure that I understand his point.

I can't believe he has a black housekeeper.

Remember when we were at that airport, Erin, and we both wondered how a white man could sit there and have a black man polish his shoes? I would just never feel OK about that.

10:32 PM, February 29, 2008
Erin said...

Exactly. I couldn't be comfortable with a black person in a sort of menial position like that.

I don't understand Spiegelman's point either. The essay seems to raise more questions than it answers. The ending is especially odd.

10:37 AM, March 03, 2008
kc said...

I don't think he was at his most articulate in this article, but I can see how the idea of an "inner racist," touched upon in "Maus," too, is something to grapple with. I think no matter how enlightened we think we are, we all carry bits of cultural baggage that have racial overtones. Those of us who were brought up in racist households, especially, have actively had to purge certain notions from our minds, or at least had to keep them from taking root. And sometimes certain stereotypes remain as thoughts that enter our heads, if not actual feelings that inform our actions.

12:13 PM, March 03, 2008
rev amy said...

It's like they forgot to publish the third page of that article. Or maybe self-reflective rambling without a tidy conclusion is a normal part of Mother Jones.

I am a bit confused:
What is surprising about the black housekeeper? Surprised that he has a housekeeper or that she is black? What ethnicity of housekeeper would be acceptable?

Same with the shoe shiner, who would you be okay with in that menial position?

No doubt we all have "cultural baggage" like you say, kc. We live in a world of classifications, it is impossible for us to erase them completely from our minds. But we don't have to act on those impulse reactions. Or if we do, there is always the chance to apologize.

This conversation does convict me of my own "bubble." the UM church is a white, white world. I should build up the diversity in my life. How do ya'll do that?

3:57 PM, March 03, 2008
kc said...

What ethnicity of housekeeper would I find acceptable? Any well-to-do white man who has sponged off the domestic labor of a woman for decades would do.

Except then there'd be the problem of know-how. Such people can run a corporation or expertly swing a golf club, but they usually don't know the first thing about cleaning a floor or scrubbing a toilet.

Hope that's not a stereotype.

Seriously, my answer is that I wouldn't have ANYONE shine my shoes or clean my house. I'd do it myself. And I damn sure wouldn't have a black woman come pick after me and let my children, who have no other black people in their lives to speak of, see that racist model playing itself out in my own home. If I had a kid, preferably three or four kids, I'd simply rely on unpaid child labor.

The way I boost diversity in my own life is to make friends with an assortment of straight white Midwesterners in their 20s through 40s.

7:17 PM, March 03, 2008
rev amy said...

I agree that it is irresponsible to have your child's only contact with African-Americans be the person who cooks and cleans and whatever.

This does have me thinking about my own situation, though. Last June we hired a new custodian, young and African American. H.S. diploma. We are a good wage for him. He was the best applicant for the job. There are cultural differences (born of race or income level or both) that do make for tension. I know that he is not treated by some church members like a white custodian would be. (though they were pretty mean to the drug addicted felon who preceeded the current custodian.)

Okay, so should I have said. "I can't hire you, we have no other black people here at the church, we will be racist toward you." Or "We will hire you but then we need to recruit some African American church members to balance things out."

I don't mean to be snide. But what are my options here? Other than advocating for him as a human being, which I do every chance I get. We don't know the relationship b/w Speiglman and housekeeper. I clean my own house too, but someone cleans my office. Well not someone, Ron does.

9:28 AM, March 04, 2008
kc said...

There's a distinction, it seems, between picking up some well-to-do white family's personal messes and cleaning a church that belongs to hundreds of people who could be of any race and income level, a church that he could join if he wished (he can't join the rich family). If I had my choice between the two jobs, the church job would definitely appeal to me as more dignified. I mean, I think I'd feel like I was just cleaning a building, as opposed to being someone's personal servant.

When I was a kid, the lady parishioners (of course the ladies, not the men) would take turns cleaning the church on Saturdays. I always went with my mom when it was her turn. I dusted the pews with Pledge. I found the empty, silent church eerie. I wouldn't get near the altar or the confessional because they spooked me. Was that the fear of God?

10:21 AM, March 04, 2008
Erin said...

I agree, there's a difference between being a custodian at a business and being someone's personal maid. And I agree that I would most likely be uncomfortable with ANYONE cleaning up my household messes or shining my shoes. But bringing in the racial difference does make me more uncomfortable. I don't think we can act as though the racial history of this country doesn't matter anymore. We don't have a blank slate to work from. The image of a black man shining a white man's shoes just strikes me in a way that wouldn't happen if it were another white guy kneeling at his feet.

11:36 AM, March 04, 2008

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)