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I am sick to death of living in a society that is so damned stupid that every silly comment can be taken racially.
Yesterday I told a student to "stop acting like a monkey" because he was jumping around the class, shouting, and basically being a jerk. It's something we used to say to my sister, and my nephew, because they both act like little monkeys all the time. The student didn't take it wrong, but OTHER students decided it HAD to be racist, because he's black. It's now been spread all over the school that I'm racist. Frak. So now I have to have a conversation with this class, and of course I'm being told that "hey, that's what life is like, you can't say things like that." Now, the admin who tells me this (a black woman) also admits it isn't fair, that you could say "Barrack Obama is well-spoken" and someone would consider it a racist comment, but that doesn't really help.
I'm tired of feeling like I can't say anything to anyone because I'll be branded a racist. I'm tired of feeling like I simply cannot win because I'm a white man.
Yes, I know non-white people have faced far worse. And I know what racism does--I'm not ignorant to the reality of the world, and my family isn't all as white as I am--but how far can this go before it's no longer "awareness of racism" and it becomes another kind of racism? Do people understand that it's no less racist to assume a white person is racist for some comment like that than it is for a white man to assume that a black kid in hip-hop dress is a criminal?
Edit I should point out that I DO understand how the term could be considered racist. I just think the situation should have made it clear that it wasn't, and I'm frustrated that it doesn't.
Yesterday I told a student to "stop acting like a monkey" because he was jumping around the class, shouting, and basically being a jerk. It's something we used to say to my sister, and my nephew, because they both act like little monkeys all the time. The student didn't take it wrong, but OTHER students decided it HAD to be racist, because he's black. It's now been spread all over the school that I'm racist. Frak. So now I have to have a conversation with this class, and of course I'm being told that "hey, that's what life is like, you can't say things like that." Now, the admin who tells me this (a black woman) also admits it isn't fair, that you could say "Barrack Obama is well-spoken" and someone would consider it a racist comment, but that doesn't really help.
I'm tired of feeling like I can't say anything to anyone because I'll be branded a racist. I'm tired of feeling like I simply cannot win because I'm a white man.
Yes, I know non-white people have faced far worse. And I know what racism does--I'm not ignorant to the reality of the world, and my family isn't all as white as I am--but how far can this go before it's no longer "awareness of racism" and it becomes another kind of racism? Do people understand that it's no less racist to assume a white person is racist for some comment like that than it is for a white man to assume that a black kid in hip-hop dress is a criminal?
Edit I should point out that I DO understand how the term could be considered racist. I just think the situation should have made it clear that it wasn't, and I'm frustrated that it doesn't.