BAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!
Friday, July 21, 2006
BANDAIDS AND RACISM
Dining with a friend of mine, I was alerted to the inherent racism that exists in the color of - yes - bandaids.
"Bandaids come in just one color- beige - which doesn't take into account the color of African-Americans," spouts my friend - a professor of English at a local university.
"What would be the remedy to this awful debacle," I retort, heavy on the eye-rolling sarcasm, "black bandaids for blacks in Africa? Are you seeings blacks marching the streets here in large protest about this type of thing?" I now feel myself getting warmer, getting emotionally engaged in a conversation that could easily escalate and ruin the cuddly mood at the table. Me and 6 other women, very few of whom I surmise would help me run the flag up this hill with me.
"You don't just understand, as a white male...," chirps my pedagogue friend, self-satisfactorally.
"You probably think it's stupid...,"
"Well, yes......" I stammer, face in hands.......
What I wanted to do was slam my beer glass on the table, and harumph, "get back to me when you can find an African-American who frankly gives a shit about this...."
But of course, I did no such thing.
Dining with a friend of mine, I was alerted to the inherent racism that exists in the color of - yes - bandaids.
"Bandaids come in just one color- beige - which doesn't take into account the color of African-Americans," spouts my friend - a professor of English at a local university.
"What would be the remedy to this awful debacle," I retort, heavy on the eye-rolling sarcasm, "black bandaids for blacks in Africa? Are you seeings blacks marching the streets here in large protest about this type of thing?" I now feel myself getting warmer, getting emotionally engaged in a conversation that could easily escalate and ruin the cuddly mood at the table. Me and 6 other women, very few of whom I surmise would help me run the flag up this hill with me.
"You don't just understand, as a white male...," chirps my pedagogue friend, self-satisfactorally.
"You probably think it's stupid...,"
"Well, yes......" I stammer, face in hands.......
What I wanted to do was slam my beer glass on the table, and harumph, "get back to me when you can find an African-American who frankly gives a shit about this...."
But of course, I did no such thing.
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