Racist Experience at the White House

[Ban Hammer 13,346]

two posts removed and admin action taken.

[ready4ONE 5,400]

Wasn't trying to bait, just open a discussion.

No worries! I know that people experience racism all the time. They shouldn't but they do.

I just don't know if the person in the OP experienced it at the White House.

[Boiler 45,525]

Read her other reports.

This lady has a major chip on her shoulder.

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

Read her other reports.

This lady has a major chip on her shoulder.

I did, doesn't mean this didn't happen though.

No worries! I know that people experience racism all the time. They shouldn't but they do.

I just don't know if the person in the OP experienced it at the White House.

If it was just the stop and check, I would let it go, if they said that comment about the boston bombings, I would go off myself.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

If it was just the stop and check, I would let it go, if they said that comment about the boston bombings, I would go off myself.

I have a feeling she just heard things and took them the wrong way, as she was expecting a confrontation. The Boston bombing comment would be apropos to explain the heightened security, not just for her, but anyone else that wanted just to make a quick trip in and out of a secured area.

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

I have a feeling she just heard things and took them the wrong way, as she was expecting a confrontation. The Boston bombing comment would be apropos to explain the heightened security, not just for her, but anyone else that wanted just to make a quick trip in and out of a secured area.

And this might be the issue, had they said because of the bombing we are being more careful. But if they said you all, she was lumped into that group, and that's just wrong.

[Boiler 45,525]

Does not mean it did.

Unlikely to have happened as described.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

And this might be the issue, had they said because of the bombing we are being more careful. But if they said you all, she was lumped into that group, and that's just wrong.

The problem with pronouns, and "you all" is a common way to express the second person plural, is it doesn't always convey exactly what the speaker is talking about. It could be party crashers, Muslims, females, wives, or just the dozen or so people that day that don't want to get with the program.

The usual response to "y'all" or "you people" is, "What do you mean?" Hopefully, the demographic is not one being discriminated on the basis of race, creed, religious affiliation, gender, national origin, height, weight, or physical or mental capability.

[Karee 4,190]

Best not to talk to anyone you don't know. That way you don't have to be worried about being labeled a racist because of the way you use the words "you" and "all"

If you must speak to someone you don't know, choose your words carefully because people that want to be treated equally really don't want that at all. They want special treatment.

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

Best not to talk to anyone you don't know. That way you don't have to be worried about being labeled a racist because of the way you use the words "you" and "all"

If you must speak to someone you don't know, choose your words carefully because people that want to be treated equally really don't want that at all. They want special treatment.

You suck coming in this late. I'll get to you in the morning :-)

[Karee 4,190]

You suck coming in this late. I'll get to you in the morning :-)

You get up early like I do. I figured you'd be getting sleepy.

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

You get up early like I do. I figured you'd be getting sleepy.

Yep, in bed as we speak. Have to get up and get the wife to work, plus I never sleep past 0600 anyway. We will hash this out in the morning :-D

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

Racism: (def) Enforcing rules that I feel I should not have to follow because of my minority status or skin color because that contradicts my sense of entitlement

Exactly. I doubt seriously . I would love to hear the other side of the story.

Yep, in bed as we speak. Have to get up and get the wife to work, plus I never sleep past 0600 anyway. We will hash this out in the morning :-D

I had to get up to pee. I just don't have time to post anymore now that i don't work.

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

Exactly. I doubt seriously . I would love to hear the other side of the story.

I had to get up to pee. I just don't have time to post anymore now that i don't work.

Oh that's right, retired. I got around 22 months left before I can call it 20, and even then I will get another job cause I hate not working. Hope you enjoy the "vacation".

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

At 4 in the morning I don't think I've ever laughed so hard even when I watched it during the movie the first time.

I think the Dr. had a failure point in the first 5 minutes, really.

She could have asked security to retrieve her keys from her husband, and they most likely would have accomodated her.

Exactly what I was thinking.

No, she was ineffectual in getting the right security guy to tend to her needs. The dolt that was in front of her, though - yeesh !

Right. The security guy could have misspoke too or she misheard things based on her perception of what was happening. We only get to hear one side.

I haven't read her other stuff but I'm uncomfortable with what she wrote in her article with using the phrase, "white entitlement". I haven't really heard that phrase being thrown around until this year and I'm still trying to decide how I feel about that.

On one hand I empathize with those who feel discriminated against. On the other hand it goes both ways. I've felt it myself when phrases like "white entitlement" are thrown around and I realize that's maybe it's not the person's intention.

For example last Ramadan I joined my husband in fasting for the first time and also went to the Islamic center for the first time with him. The women meet in a separate area and when I entered they greeted me and we introduced ourselves. They asked me who I was or who I knew there and I said my husband. They asked who he was and I told them his name and they knew who he was and they gave each other looks. Then they said to me, "so you're the mysterious white western wife" of the new Egyptian doctor that goes here. They called me that. It was in their own words the description of me and I paused myself wondering how I should take that. I looked around knowing some being from Egypt themselves. Some from Indonesia. Some from Pakistan. Some from Yemen. Some from Algeria. I don't think they meant to be racist about it and it's true I was white. I thought rather that they may be teasing me since I was new to them, and I'd never been to the Islamic center before, and they knew nothing about me other than my husband went there, is a doctor from Egypt, and married to an american woman that none of them have ever met, heard much about or seen in the year that we'd been living in our newly adopted city.

Another time there was an Islamic meet-up and my husband told me to look for the American convert wife as she will be there and has three children. The women all gathered around the grill cooking and the men went to sit at the tables and chat while the children played on the park toys. So I looked around and by process of elimination of people I'd met prior there was only one person there that I didn't know. She happened to be white with three small children. So I asked her if she was the American convert. She said no that she was from Lebanon. The other women jumped on this and accused me of assuming she was American based on the color of her skin, but that wasn't the case at all, and I was so embarrassed because it certainly wasn't my intention to come off that way to people I was just getting to know. Then they made jokes about people assuming they're Egyptian because they're brown. True they were Egyptian and they were brown but the topic took such a skewed point I just didn't know what to say to them. I tried to explain it wasn't because she was white that I thought she was the American convert but that my husband told me to look for a women with three kids and she happened to be the only one there I hadn't met and had three kids with her. Also true I could have avoid the embarrassing situation if I'd introduced myself first and asked a more general question like where are you from thus avoiding the embarrassing situation.

Their sensitivity to discrimination made me feel sensitive about being seen as discriminatory when I'm not, nor intend to be. If they'd asked me to explain instead of assumed what I meant it may have gone better. Anyways it was a teaching moment for myself as well.

The part about this doctor assuming the security guy is racist because he's letting white women who say they were issued tickets (meaning that they themselves are journalist and not wives) but they didn't have the actual ticket on them to show security, while the doctor admittedly said she was a wife of a journalist knowing that security knows spouses aren't issued tickets to the dinner doesn't sit well with me as an issue of "white entitlement".

It's not an issue of white wife vs. (what is her ethnicity?) wife. It's an issue of Journalists who happen to be white and are permitted into the event vs. her who happens to be a wife of a journalist and isn't permitted into the event. Journalist are often known by face and name, especially when invited to a high profile event. Was she assuming the women were wives somehow getting in when she wasn't because women can't be journalists? She had a cell phone on her she could have taken a video of the racist accusation, and of the people they were admitting while they weren't admitting her, and she could have confronted them on video of being discriminatory towards her. Otherwise it's just her word against theirs.

Edited May 11, 2013 by Dr. A ♥ O