nothing to be ashamed of

[coppqueen5129]

Today a co-worker leaned towards me as we sat at our desks. "Did you hear about the coach in Salem [Oregon] who was arrested on sex charges?" I said I hadn't, but what a shame - there seemed to be a new case like this every month or so in our area. "And he's a brutha'," she whispered to me, clearly scandalized. I was surprised - Salem doesn't have a lot of black people. She nodded, "I'm so embarrassed."

I said, "Well, I'm not."

She laughed. "What? Oh, you always say that!"

I shrugged. "Why should I be embarrassed? I didn't molest anybody. He's the one who should be embarrassed. Maybe his parents want to be embarrassed. But it doesn't have nothing to do with me." I made a "pshaw" kind of sound.

My co-worker said, "I know, I know. You're right. But still ...." She shook her head in disbelief, "A brutha?"

I love my coworker, but she has some funny ideas about criminal behaviors being associated with particular races. So far as I know, only serial killers are overwhelmingly white males. Other than that, I think perversion and immorality are pretty non-race-specific. Reading Red Sorghum at the age of 14 was the beginning of that realization.

Comments

[blindness.livejournal.com]

No way should you be embarrassed. It's like me needing to apologize for being American these days. I think we all need to have self-respect despite the bad behavior of those who are also within our "group". Going around a being embarrassed is a sign that one has no identity of their own, IMO. If anything, feeling embarrassed only reinforces a belief that we should act as a group, and not as individuals.

[evanpoop.livejournal.com]

I'm so embarrassed because of the serial killers. What if everyone assumes that I'm one?
I meant that as a j0oke, but now that I'm thinking.

I could understand that logic, were I part of a small group of POC in a community of whites. I mean white people may easily make that assumption that one black person is a sex offender, so they all are. I mean, that only reinforces sexual stereotypes of blacks throughout US history. Obviously there is no logical reason to feel ashamed of what someone else did, but I could understand feeling concerned and embarrassed because white people are racist.

[counterword.livejournal.com]

I think it's unlikely that most serial killers are truly white men... it's just that when victims from non-white communities turn up hacked to bits nobody really pays attention.

[copperqueen.livejournal.com]

I dunno specific stats ... my friend J is the one who knows about that stuff. I just follow it casually.

But you could be right. Thing is, white serial killers don't prey on only other white people (c.i.p: the BTK killer and Jeffrey Dahmer)

I do know that 40% of missing persons in the US are people of color (excluding latinos). Who knows how many of them are just out there on the streets, lost to their families, and how many are dead?

Okay, that was depressing!

[people-like-us.livejournal.com]

i think serial killers are only overwhelmingly white because were the only ones dumb enough to kill more than once in the same way. ``well it worked last time...``