"It worries me that people like you have any say or influence in politics"
I can't remember if those were the exact words of the guy, but this was said to me at Wednesday's Blogging and Politics event and, well, I am still shocked at the comment.
Why? Because he said it after I commented "when was the the last time you saw a Puerto Rican black woman being part of the political discourse?"
This guy for some reason found it necessary to call me a shrill because I am a Puerto Rican black woman being part of the political discourse. That somehow, the only way a Puerto Rican black woman can only be part of the process if she is shrill or offensive or part of an echo chamber. That somehow there is no merit to what I as a publisher am trying to accomplish with my blogs because of the kind of mentality that will rationalize, "if no Puerto Rican black woman made it before, then there's a reason for why you shouldn't be here now".
I was shocked and I am still shocked that this guy said what he said.
BTW : If you were there, please feel free to correct me in the wording of this asshole 
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The populism guy wasnt as offensive
Submitted by Liza Sabater on 27 October 2006 - 10:47pm.
Although I was expecting him at some point to pull out the confederate flag out from under his pink Lacrosse shirt --and btw, who the hell wears pink Lacrosse shirts in October?!?!
yeah, that whole bit about how we are moving away from being a republican to a democratic country. Because he didn't use the word populist. He used the word democratic ---correct me if I'm wrong. I was like WHAT! Is that really BAD!
What a trip.
Don't worry...
Submitted by mole333 on 27 October 2006 - 1:27pm.
He's probably just posturing because he feels inferior due to having a small penis.
Just a hunch....
Submitted by Karol (not verified) on 27 October 2006 - 3:53pm.
....but was the guy who said that a Democrat?
HAHAHAHAAHAHAHA!
Submitted by Liza Sabater on 27 October 2006 - 10:49pm.
That's why I am so disturbed, because I honestly do not know. He seemed too country club to be a Democrat 
but, hey, you never know.
If I may translate from "obnoxious white guy"-ese
Submitted by Antid Oto (not verified) on 27 October 2006 - 4:23pm.
Here's what I'm guessing he meant: "I can't believe you notice people's race!"
In my generous interpretation he wasn't attacking you for being a Puerto Rican black woman, just for being gauche enough to mention your race and background. Note: that's the most generous I can possibly be, and frankly, it's still not very generous. The default position of people who want to sweep racism under the carpet is to attack anyone who dares to notice race.
Isn't that the same though?
Submitted by Liza Sabater on 27 October 2006 - 10:52pm.
Because that's the worse kind of racism : You're fine as long as you don't remind me you're one of those people who are not like me.
Urgh!
I am still wondering if the guy was a Dem or a Repub. I've gots to know!
Here's my generous interpretation from "obnoxious white guy"-ese
Submitted by Antid Oto (not verified) on 27 October 2006 - 4:25pm.
"I'm so enlightened, I didn't even notice your race. I can't believe you would be so gauche as to bring it up."
Note: that's the most generous interpretation I can think of. It's still not very generous.
Here's my generous interpretation of "obnoxious white guy"-ese
Submitted by Anonymous Coward (not verified) on 27 October 2006 - 4:28pm.
"I'm so enlightened, I didn't even notice your race. I can't believe you would be so gauche as to bring it up."
Note: that's the most generous interpretation I can think of. It's still not very generous.
It's real kid; it's real.
Submitted by ROCK (not verified) on 27 October 2006 - 7:07pm.
Liz: I wish I could share with you some of the crap I have to put up with, being black, Caribbean-born and audacious enough to comment on politics here. Racism is real kid; real. What has never ceased to amaze me in the last 33 years in NYC, is the reality that significant numbers of blacks (USA-born), have negative predispositions to blacks born outside the USA. This is hardly talked about, but it is there. There are many culprits in all this. Many; and they aren't all white.
You and I should do a chat and post about it
Submitted by Liza Sabater on 27 October 2006 - 11:19pm.
Seriously.
I get it from every single fucking side. White Puerto Ricans for being black; African Americans for being Puerto Rican, Melanin-challenged people for being black, Puerto Rican, being able to tan, having curly hair; dark-skinned negros for being a light-skinned negro, etc. etc. etc.
And do not get me started with the class dynamics I have to deal with when around Caribbean people. Doesn't matter if you are Jamaican, Haitian, Trinidadians, Cubans, Dominicans. OMFG ... CUBANS!
What you experience is not racism perse. It's class prejudice. We should definitely chat about that and publish it.
The stories I have to tell. Once I was in Italy visiting a friend who is also Puerto Rican (she got married to an Italian and has been living there since). She warned me about the women. She said to me, "Italian women will be a problem".
"What do you mean?"
"They'll pinch you, pull your hair or smack you to see if you're skin color is real or makeup."
"WHAT."
"Yup. Wait and see. "
So we tak a short train to Venice proper because driving there is a headache (she lives in the a suburb about 30 minutes from it). And what do you know. Women swiping me to touch my hair. Women pinching my ass to see if it was real or padding. One woman was nice enough to ask me if I had spray on tan. When I said I was born looking like this, she asked for a photo. It was wild.
Granted. This was a bit over 15 years ago. Things have changed all throughout Europe what with Middle Eastern and African immigration. But you've got to wonder. I mean, dude, they were frigging invaded by Hannibal. I mean, Sicily is a stone's throw from Africa.
You would think ...
I joked once that I should create a supersheroe called Ethnic Woman (EW, for short). EW (as in ewww what the hell is she?) is capable of morphing into any cultural and racial identity of her choice. That's it. She has no other superpowers. She would have to survive then with her wits
I have been asked if I am everything : Southern Indian, Egyptian, Sicilian, Native American, Roma, Algerian, Brazilian, you name it. Which, to tell you the truth, I actually enjoy. I had an intese conversation about hair texture and the myth of native american physical identity with a Pecos elder woman over in Chaco Canyon.
So that kind of questioning, I totally do not mind it. I actually relish it.
It's when I am told that I can't talk about my identity, because it's offensive to them that I am proud of being Puerto Rican and black and a woman --that really pisses me off.
Charitable translation from "obnoxious-white-guy"-ese
Submitted by Antid Oto (not verified) on 27 October 2006 - 8:50pm.
"I'm so enlightened I don't even notice race. I can't believe you'd be so gauche as to mention yours."
Great moments in white male stupidity
Submitted by Ace (not verified) on 28 October 2006 - 2:17pm.
Hey Liza -
I was there of course. I believe the exact word that the large-browed young fellow used was "scared." Scared that you would challenge the notion that white men don't know everything.
It still doesn't make complete sense and I'm still curious as to what exactly he meant. Although I think a few of the comments on here are right on track. He reminded me of that one frat guy in college who always seemed to be in every class on race & gender studies, who--while thinking he is saying something profound and insightful--would say something completely moronic and continue to dig himself into a deeper hole with every word that came out of his mouth. You almost feel sorry for the guy. Almost.
What it sounded like was that he was scared of the big bright world around him and he longed for the days of being coddled by an insular, hierarchical world where he could sit back, relax, and roll up with a copy of Pravda and know that he knew everything that there is to know that is going on in the world. Think for youself? Who needs that! Multiple viewpoints and opinions -- that's crazy talk.
Andy
Sorry for the -what- quintuple post?
Submitted by Antid Oto (not verified) on 28 October 2006 - 6:51pm.
Oops.
Liza,
Liza,
Thats basically what he said. He sounded like a knucklehead. In my own notes of the discussion (which I posted on my blog here:
I summarized the back and forth this way:
http://indypendent.typepad.com/academese/2006/10/notliveblogging.html
"[long conversation about information overload spurred on by a gentleman who seemed to be very dismissive of the notion that 3,000 posts of 100 words could be anything more than informational garbage.]
[Same guy says (I'm making him sound more intelligent than he is): do we really want our politicans responding to bloggers? Isn't that creating populism and destroying republican government?]
A long and passionate conversation about this. Guy from the sunlight foundation: “The issue that we're talking about here is transparency, and enough transparency that will recreate a sense of trust.†Talked about the sunlight foundation DC timeclock program."
It was shortly after this point that I left ...
Chris