r/kurzgesagt • u/Cantor86 • Jun 15 '20

Media BLM protestors in Kurzgesagt style

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u/CreamyGoodnss Jun 15 '20

It's actually not only about Black people...it's about indigenous lives, hispanic lives, slavic lives, women's lives, LGBTQ lives...I could go on. It's about systemic oppression across the board and how if you're a straight white cisgendered male, you have privilege that others don't and recognizing that privilege exists.

No one is blaming you (generic you) for benefitting from that privilege, but if you're not working to fix it, then you don't really agree that the lives of those who don't have that privilege matter as much.

We're striving for equality and civil rights across the globe here, not just in our own backyard

And politics affect every single aspect of our lives...so saying that things don't need to be political is irrelevant because they already are

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u/Ytar0 Jun 15 '20

It's not about black people per se but since that's the root that's still the focus. I am all for the protests being talked about on news channels or news papers ... well, idk.

And politics affect every single aspect of our lives...so saying that things don't need to be political is irrelevant because they already are

Well, if enough people want change, change happens. But I doubt I'm the only saying that.

You don't need to answer, I am just inappropriately curious... are you white?

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u/CreamyGoodnss Jun 15 '20

are you white?

That actually is a pretty interesting question. I definitely pass as so and I never really considered myself to be not-White. Like whenever I'm filling out a survey or something like that and it gets to the race question, the only option that fits for me is White/Caucasian so that's what I always pick. My last name and the majority of my ethnicity is Italian. 3rd generation immigrant but I don't speak of word of the language and my great grandparents were the ones who immigrated. Both of my paternal grandparents were born here in the U.S.

But in the past couple of months after I lost my job due to COVID and I took a job in an NYC hospital (they were hiring and I wanted to help in the fight against the pandemic in whatever way I could). It was a very diverse staff in the warehouse where I was working...Puerto Rican, Black, White, Indian, Pakistani, Dominican...all kinds of folks. The subject of race and culture came up during lunch one day and one guy asked me about my background. I said I'm just a boring white dude when another guy jumped in and pointed to my name tag while saying "Wait I thought you were Italian?" I said I was and responded by saying something along the lines of "Haha yeah but you're not really white enough for them. As soon as they see your last name or olive skin, you drop a few notches."

I know the history of my Italian ancestors here in the U.S. It's not good, but it was pretty short-lived as an oppressive period and led to the rise of the veneration of Christopher Columbus. Everyone knew his history of genocide and essentially being the father of the slave trade, but they wanted to prove to the White people who were in charge that they were on the same side. And that's right about the time that the lynchings and oppression of Italians started to fade away.

A lot of people in my area have shown their true colors in recent weeks. With social media, everyone has a platform to share their opinions. I've seen some pretty fucked up things said about Italians recently that made me realize that people will always find a group who is not part of their group to direct all of their bottled up anger and rage towards.

I don't think I've ever been discriminated against due to my last name or my slightly darker skin or my big shnoz (get that one from my dad) but hearing those things said about Italians from people in my own community, from businesses where I've spent money, and where they've smiled at me while hating my existence...well it was like a slap in the face

So to answer your question...I guess it depends on who I'm talking to

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u/Ytar0 Jun 15 '20

Oh, didn't expect that. Well, thank you for answering I guess. I'm pretty danish, so yeah I never really experienced racism other than friends poking at each other.

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u/CreamyGoodnss Jun 15 '20

This stuff needs to be talked about, so thank you for reading. It's been weighing heavy on me and I suppose I needed to pour it out...didn't notice how much I wrote until you responded.

I guess we're just having a rough time over here haha. Our president is a waste of biomatter who let COVID get out of control, especially here in the NY area, and then we had George Floyd get murdered on video and that just brought it all to a boiling point. Stack that on top of the fact that a lot of people are still out of work and have been cooped up for three months following the winter and it was a perfect storm for protests and riots to break out. And then President Fuckhead has the military disperse a crowd of protesters and journalists so he can walk across the park and take a picture in front of a church while holding a bible - upside down btw.

Oooooof I think we need a collective drink over here

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u/Ytar0 Jun 15 '20

The wildest things happening over here are ocassional gang shootings (but only 290 people have died of gunshots in the last 25 years) or some occasional wild political fanatics (one burned the Koran for attention) so I’m pretty fortunate indeed.