Weekly WTF: the election version

I haven’t had a WTF in a while, and I do try to keep the blog “all bugs, all the time.” But. 
People.
If one more person tells me we are in a “post-racial America” because a person of color is running for president, I’m gonna slap em.  How can ya’ll not see that some ugly stuff is boiling to the top of the pot?

I’m also mourning the loss of Studs Terkel, a great American voice.  Here’s an excerpt from his book Race: How Blacks and Whites think and feel about the American Obsession:

“‘I think you become an adult when you reach a point where you don’t need anyone underneath you. When you can look at yourself and say, “I’m okay the way I am.” One of the things that keeps my class of people from having any vision is race hatred. You’re so busy hating somebody else, you’re not going to realize how beautiful you are and how much you destroy all that’s good in the world.’”

He’s right. We need to Grow Up and learn to deal with difference. And embrace it, not fear it.  What made Studs great was his willingness to listen to anyone, anywhere.  He believed they had value, and their stories had meaning. For all of us.

I’m focusing on race in this post, but there is plenty of other hateful crap to call out–Christian litmus tests, demonizing of Atheists, and increased violence and hate speech against LGBT folks.

Here’s a partial list of things I’ve seen.  I’ll put it below the fold, since it’s depressingly long. Have you seen these? Have you been paying attention?

I hope all of you in the US will vote Tuesday, and if you see someone behaving badly at the polls–call them on it! Take photos. Make sure everyone knows that it isn’t ok to be a bigot.

2 comments

  1. douglaskev

    bug girl- good job… it bothers me too when people hold up obama as rationale to declare racism is dead.

    what bothers me the most is that when people like you or I bring up the topic of racism we are met with a look of confusion, contempt, or simply dismissed as a “conspiracy theorist” or, my personal favorite: we are responsible for racism by talking about it..

    people in this nation think that the ugly history of this nation, which was only officially ended in the 60′s has managed to be wiped clean from our daily reality within the span of one generation and now we are just one big happy family..