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| This is Kyria Abrahams. She has a GREAT sense of humor |
Recently, a writer for the blog Jezebel, Lindy West, penned an article entitled "A Complete Guide to Hipster Racism." The article addresses the trend of young, seemingly intelligent people making racist comments and jokes in an "ironic" way, thought of as "making fun" of racism, therefore it's considered among those that do it, not to be racist. Lindy West proceeds to tear this ignorant idiocy a new asshole. It's brilliant. You should read it.
Not surprisingly, but still sadly, Lindy is receiving a lot of criticism from racists, wanna-bes and that group of people whining they should be able to call their black friends 'n*****' as a joke if they want to without anyone thinking they're assholes. All that stupidity aside, one blogger took her distaste for Lindy's logic to an even more distasteful level. Kyria Abrahams, writer of a book and other blog entries at some point, wrote a response to Lindy West's article on the blog Street Carnage she entitled, "The Myth of Hipster Racism." In it, she not only proves she's a complete clueless idiot, but also takes the "my black friend says it's okay" argument to new extremes, managing to do nothing but prove Lindy's point that 'hipster racism' is alive and well and very, very fucking stupid.
I wrote a long, impassioned response to Kyria's article that I attempted to post via it's comment thread. It was rejected three times. Meanwhile, long responses in which internet trolls call Lindy 'fat' and make such eloquent points as 'get rid of the n*****s," remain to keep the discourse fair and balanced. From there I decided to send my response to Kyria via e-mail. I haven't heard back. Continuing the tradition of posting open letters to people on this blog they will never read, here is my response to this shitty article in full.
Dear Kyria Abrahams,
Thanks for posting the picture of your either Spanish or
Puerto Rican (you seemed confused) boyfriend to in fact prove to your readers
that you are being like, totally honest when you say you are totally willing to
fuck a colored person whose ethnicity apparently constantly preoccupies your
mind. This article is incredibly sad to
me. It was such a breath of fresh air to
have someone finally mention how shitty it is to think you can get away with
making racist jokes under the guise of you don't mean it to actually be racist. Then, of course, heroes like you hear the term 'white privilege' and words like 'you shouldn't' and
flip out because you can't stop being told that the hateful shit you say
meaning to be edgy, but don't intend to be hateful shit is indeed hateful shit. I get it.
You don't want to think you're a shitty hateful person. No one wants to think that about
themselves. When white people hear the
word "racist" they think, I can't be racist because I don't hate
people for who they are. Maybe you
don't, but also, maybe you should stop to think when publishing things like:
"Why? Because he’s not a pathetic, overly sensitive
minority who is nothing more than a victim to the white hipsters in his
immediate environment. He’s a self-actualized man who can tell the difference
between real racism (like when he was falsely accused of shoplifting as a
teenager) and joke racism (like gifted soap)."
What is this? The 'if
I accept I'm a victim, I'm saying I'm weak' scenario? If I'm proud of my ethnicity, therefore I
don't stand for people to shit on it for no reason and especially for a cheap
laugh, than I'm not "self-actualized"? So because I don't appreciate when I show up
to something a few minutes late and a white person says, "Someone is on
colored people time" as a joke, than I'm "pathetic"? Because I don't like comments made to remind
me that I'm part of a racial minority that is stereotyped, underrepresented,
mistreated and oppressed (actions I don't wish to enable or allow) than I'm "overly
sensitive"?
The act of speaking out against racism in any fashion as a
minority is the MOST 'self-actualized' thing you can do. To confront white friends (at the risk of
being told you're 'over sensitive' or 'uppity') that their constant jokes
regarding your ethnicity are showing clear signs they are weirdly preoccupied
with it and that the shit they say is racist whether they mean it hatefully or
not, is anything but victimizing yourself.
Especially when this new 'hip' idea of making fun of racism by making
racist comments to friends or in your case, the person you date, is so
prevalent.
Your thought process here is so incredibly hurtful and
disheartening. I honestly don't want to
say anything to belittle or attack you personally. I wish you could just wake up and see how
devastatingly wrong you are. You
obviously seem to have some intelligence and have the ability to write and
spread your opinions, yet you've chosen to use that ability to defend the use of the word 'spic,' to tell minorities to stop being sensitive and complaining about
racism and to copy and paste someone's quote on their right as a non-black
person to use the n-word.
Please be aware that you can't possibly know what it feels
like to be called a 'spic' or the 'n-word.'
Those words will never carry the weight with you that they do for
Hispanic and Black people in this country.
There is a hurtful and hateful history behind those words. It's similar to when a man is angry with a
woman and calls her a 'bitch.' It's not
just a word. It's a reminder of your
place in society. It's being told that
you're nothing. You're less than
nothing. You're second-class. So no, I don't think it's oversensitive to not want to see it in a card
from someone I love.
The really sad part of your article was that you wrote it to
prove that you are not racist and ironic racism is totally okay when if fact,
all you've really proven here is that Lindy West is right. This new form of 'naive' racism is just as
fucking hurtful, except now as a minority experiencing it, you're not allowed to
confront these hateful words because the speaker can cover their comments with
"it's just a joke." In your great new form of racial humor, as minorities, we are meant to feel badly about
feeling badly. Thanks to the false idea of 'ironic racism' you don't only hear
'spic' from the random old racist you encounter, but from a friend or loved one
your age who is supposed to care about you.
What a great cause to so enthusiastically put all your white privilege behind in order to defend.
Sincerely,
Elicia Sanchez
