I'm a 54-year-old White guy in the USA and I have to infer that there must have been -- at one time not too long ago -- racist codes for "let the White person go first". I was never taught them, but I have to infer this from a few decades now of observing the following:
When I am standing in a small family-run store checkout line, and elderly Black people are in front of me, if I have a cough or need to clear my throat, something very strange happens. All eyes swivel backwards to look at me, and the elderly Black people in front of me all but fall over themselves to waive me to the FRONT OF THE LINE. Sometimes if I lock eyes with the shop keeper at the register, HE waives me forwards. At this point, there is NO POLITE GETTING OUT OF IT. I can try saying "I'm so sorry, I have a cold", or "you are clearly in front of me, please proceed", and none of it will work. Instead, I am given excuses to help ME feel better about myself. "Oh, no, I'm in no hurry", or "I have not quite decided if I have everything yet", or "the shopkeeper and I were just talking, we will be awhile, so please checkout first".
To be clear, I'm not the one being hurt (they are), but I AM mortified and embarrassed.
I've had to develop special procedures to combat this. I always stand a little further back in line, NEVER make eye contact with anyone, look intently at merchandise while waiting to checkout, and UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES ever clear my throat no matter how much I may need to.
I was reminded of this today when I (with plenty of room) passed an older Black woman in an aisle and merely nodded hello. She said "excuse me" and stepped backwards to give me more space. Huh.
Younger Black people don't do this (happily). Older Black people sometimes seem startled, like they have not encountered a White person coughing behind them in a long time -- but then their automatic training kicks in...
When I think about racism, I usually think about the more egregious examples (lynchings, denial of voting rights) but I have to wonder -- what was it like to just go on a mundane daily shopping trip in 1960?
QUESTION: Older folks reading this. Did/does this cough/throat-clear signal actually exist??
OHF WEEKLY, Vol. 5 No. 39 including—
💛 Editor’s Letter by @sherrykappel
💛 “Gun Violence Comes from Mob Rule” by R Wayne Branch, PhD
💛 “Losing a White Friend Due to His Racism” by @williamfspivey
💛 “All Bigotry Is Ignorance, But Not All Ignorance Is Bigotry” by Walter Rhein
💛 and a quote by Dorothy Height.
African Americans have chosen to be aspirational in pursuit of freedom from oppression and injustice, as opposed to terrorism and deconstructionist thinking.
—R Wayne Branch, PhD
African Americans have chosen to be aspirational in pursuit of freedom from oppression and injustice, as opposed to terrorism and deconstructionist thinking.
—R Wayne Branch, PhD
African Americans have chosen to be aspirational in pursuit of freedom from oppression and injustice, as opposed to terrorism and deconstructionist thinking.
—R Wayne Branch, PhD
OHF WEEKLY, Vol. 5 No. 39 including—
💛 Editor’s Letter by @sherrykappel
💛 “Gun Violence Comes from Mob Rule” by R Wayne Branch, PhD
💛 “Losing a White Friend Due to His Racism” by @williamfspivey
💛 “All Bigotry Is Ignorance, But Not All Ignorance Is Bigotry” by Walter Rhein
💛 and a quote by Dorothy Height.
OHF WEEKLY, Vol. 5 No. 39 including—
💛 Editor’s Letter by @sherrykappel
💛 “Gun Violence Comes from Mob Rule” by R Wayne Branch, PhD
💛 “Losing a White Friend Due to His Racism” by @williamfspivey
💛 “All Bigotry Is Ignorance, But Not All Ignorance Is Bigotry” by Walter Rhein
💛 and a quote by Dorothy Height.
OHF WEEKLY, Vol. 5 No. 39 including—
💛 Editor’s Letter by @sherrykappel
💛 “Gun Violence Comes from Mob Rule” by R Wayne Branch, PhD
💛 “Losing a White Friend Due to His Racism” by @williamfspivey
💛 “All Bigotry Is Ignorance, But Not All Ignorance Is Bigotry” by Walter Rhein
💛 and a quote by Dorothy Height.
OHF WEEKLY, Vol. 5 No. 39 including—
💛 Editor’s Letter by @sherrykappel
💛 “Gun Violence Comes from Mob Rule” by R Wayne Branch, PhD
💛 “Losing a White Friend Due to His Racism” by @williamfspivey
💛 “All Bigotry Is Ignorance, But Not All Ignorance Is Bigotry” by Walter Rhein
💛 and a quote by Dorothy Height.
OHF WEEKLY, Vol. 5 No. 39 including—
💛 Editor’s Letter
💛 “Gun Violence Comes from Mob Rule”
💛 “Losing a White Friend Due to His Racism”
💛 “All Bigotry Is Ignorance, But Not All Ignorance Is Bigotry”
💛 and a quote by Dorothy Height.
OHF WEEKLY, Vol. 5 No. 39 including—
💛 Editor’s Letter by @sherrykappel
💛 “Gun Violence Comes from Mob Rule” by R Wayne Branch, PhD
💛 “Losing a White Friend Due to His Racism” by @williamfspivey
💛 “All Bigotry Is Ignorance, But Not All Ignorance Is Bigotry” by Walter Rhein
💛 and a quote by Dorothy Height.
OHF WEEKLY, Vol. 5 No. 39 including—
💛 Editor’s Letter by @sherrykappel
💛 “Gun Violence Comes from Mob Rule” by R Wayne Branch, PhD
💛 “Losing a White Friend Due to His Racism” by @williamfspivey
💛 “All Bigotry Is Ignorance, But Not All Ignorance Is Bigotry” by Walter Rhein
💛 and a quote by Dorothy Height.
💛 “Gun Violence Comes from Mob Rule, Not Thug Life”
Gun violence and mass casualties are acceptable in the U.S. due to the country’s tolerance of mob rule and the hypocrisy of its disdain for thug life.
–R. Wayne Branch, PhD
💛 “Gun Violence Comes from Mob Rule, Not Thug Life”
Gun violence and mass casualties are acceptable in the U.S. due to the country’s tolerance of mob rule and the hypocrisy of its disdain for thug life.
–R. Wayne Branch, PhD
“The county lines narrative has been used as a contrived new threat that falsely and cruelly legitimises the targeting of racialised communities, especially of young Black children & men”
“the government’s discovery of, and its responses to, ‘county lines’ … ultimately deepens the state’s pre-emptive & violent criminalisation of the ‘Black criminal other’ at a time of deep political crisis.“
💛 “Gun Violence Comes from Mob Rule, Not Thug Life”
Gun violence and mass casualties are acceptable in the U.S. due to the country’s tolerance of mob rule and the hypocrisy of its disdain for thug life.
–R. Wayne Branch, PhD
💛 “Gun Violence Comes from Mob Rule, Not Thug Life”
Gun violence and mass casualties are acceptable in the U.S. due to the country’s tolerance of mob rule and the hypocrisy of its disdain for thug life.
–R. Wayne Branch, PhD
Once you see the humanity in someone, you can never unsee it. —[email protected]
PLUS: “Barbie, Star Wars, and Why Revolutions Happen” and “Cadavers of the Poor and Black Dissected without Consent” by @TheConversationUS, and a quote by Quincy Jones.